Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1992 — military coup attempt

Event Summary

The dataset records an event coded as an attempted military coupi in Zaire, present day Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 22 January 1992 against the long ruling dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, during the chaotic period of unrest and stalled democratic transition that gripped the country in the early 1990s. Mobutu, in power since his 1965 coup, was under intense pressure from a sovereign national conference demanding reform, from a collapsing economy, and from a mutinous, unpaid army that had rioted and looted Kinshasa in September and October 1991. In January 1992 Mobutu suspended the national conference, and his elite Special Presidential Division brutally suppressed protests demanding its continuation, amid continued military mutinies and disorder.

A coup attempt or army mutiny in late January 1992 arose within this turbulent atmosphere and did not dislodge Mobutu, who clung to power by playing factions against one another, tolerating chaos he blamed on his opponents, and relying on his loyal presidential guard. He survived the crisis and the years of paralysis that followed, ruling until he was finally overthrown by Laurent Kabila's rebels in the 1997 First Congo War.