Ethiopia, 1966 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 12 November 1966, during the later reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, in the climate of latent conspiracy that persisted after the failed December 1960 coup by the Imperial Bodyguard. That coup, led by Brigadier General Mengistu Neway and his brother Germame Neway while the emperor was abroad in Brazil, had been the most serious threat to Haile Selassie's rule between 1941 and his 1974 deposition, and it exposed deep dissidence among western-educated modernists, middle-level officials and army officers frustrated by the autocratic imperial order and slow reform. In its aftermath the emperor relied heavily on constant shuffling of top officials and the longstanding practice of assigning potential troublemakers abroad to preempt plots.
The November 1966 coding sits in this continuing environment of suppressed dissent and guarded imperial vigilance, rather than a single well-documented coup attempt on that date.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
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
53011121966
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Haile Selassie retained his throne throughout this period; he was not deposed until the 1974 revolution.
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
Baseline Source-Document Entries
The Jerusalem Post
New York Times
Washington Post, Times Herald
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 →