Eritrea, 2013 — military coup attempt

Event Summary

On 21 January 2013 a group of some 100 to 200 mutinous soldiers in Eritrea, in an episode known as the Forto mutiny, seized the Ministry of Information building in the capital Asmara and forced state television to broadcast a demand for the release of political prisoners and the implementation of the long shelved 1997 constitution, in a rare open challenge to the totalitarian rule of President Isaias Afwerki. Eritrea, one of the world's most repressive and closed states, had been ruled by Isaias without elections, a constitution, or a free press since independence in 1993, its population subjected to indefinite military conscription that drove tens of thousands to flee the country each year. In the mutiny, the soldiers occupied the information ministry at Forto, overlooking Asmara, and briefly commandeered the state broadcaster before the transmission was cut off mid sentence.

The action was not backed by a broader uprising and was contained within a day; the mutineers reportedly dispersed or were arrested, and some leaders were said to have been killed or to have taken their own lives. Isaias, who did not appear in public for days afterward, survived the challenge and tightened his iron grip, continuing his rule unbroken.