Coup Atlas Research Database
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43706122012ConspiracyMilitary coup

Cote d'Ivoire, 2012 — military coup conspiracy

Cote d'Ivoire (CIV)West Africa, AfricaJune 12, 2012

Event Summary

This entry is coded 12 June 2012, corresponding to the June 2012 alleged coup plot against President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d'Ivoire. On 13 June 2012 Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko announced on national television that state security had foiled a plot by exiled military officers loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo, who had been arrested in April 2011 and was awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court. Bakayoko said a group of officers in exile in Accra, Ghana, had been preparing a military operation to destabilize the country and install a transitional military council, and he played a seized video in which uniformed men led by a colonel proclaimed the dissolution of state institutions, footage intended for broadcast after a takeover.

Documents outlining the plan were seized, and former defence minister Moise Lida Kouassi, a Gbagbo loyalist, was arrested in Togo, extradited, and acknowledged awareness of the plot. The episode was linked to broader pro-Gbagbo and Liberian mercenary violence in western Cote d'Ivoire, including the killing of seven United Nations peacekeepers days earlier. Gbagbo's party dismissed the plot as fabricated.

The 12 June 2012 coding sits at this mid-June 2012 plot.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Ouattara's government said it foiled the pro-Gbagbo plot and arrested those involved
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
President Alassane Ouattara (target)
exiled pro-Gbagbo officers led by Col Kate Gnatoa
former defence minister Moise Lida Kouassi

Sources

The 2012 Ivorian coup attempt was a failed coup by exiled military officers loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo to overthrow President Alassane Ouattara's administration, with state security seizing documents that outlined plans to replace the elected leader with a transitional military council.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 2012 Ivorian coup attempt open source ↗
Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said there was precise indication that a group of officers in exile in Accra had planned a military operation in Ivory Coast with the objective of destabilisation, and played a recorded video in which a group led by Colonel Kate Gnatoa proclaimed the dissolution of the country's institutions.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 2012 Ivorian coup attempt open source ↗
Former defence minister Moise Lida Kouassi, a Gbagbo loyalist, was arrested in Togo, extradited, and questioned, and acknowledged awareness of the plot, saying documents seized at his house in Lome concerned a transition and crisis communication in Ivory Coast.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 2012 Ivorian coup attempt open source ↗
A member of Gbagbo's Popular Front party said the foiled coup was a figment of the government's imagination with no real evidence, as the plot was linked to recent violence including the killing of seven UN peacekeepers blamed on pro-Gbagbo militiamen and Liberian mercenaries.
SOURCE REVIEWED VOA: Foiled Ivory Coast Coup Plot a Fake, says Gbagbo Supporter open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 12 Jun 2012 sits at the mid-June 2012 pro-Gbagbo plot (announced 13 Jun by Interior Minister Bakayoko); the Crisis Group notes plots revealed in June, September, and October 2012 orchestrated from Ghana. Verified as a discrete event, disputed by Gbagbo's camp. First Cote d'Ivoire record in the run.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
43706122012

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Ouattara's government said it foiled the pro-Gbagbo plot and arrested those involved.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Wall Street Journal

“World News: Ivory Coast Says It Thwarted Coup Plot,” June 14, 2012

The Economist

“Better late than never; Cote d’Ivoire’s capital,” June 16, 2012

New York Beacon

“WHAT’S GOING ON,” June 21, 2012

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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