Gambia, 2006 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 23 March 2006, corresponding to the March 2006 coup attempt against President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, led by former Chief of Defence Staff Colonel Ndure Cham. On 21 March 2006 security forces uncovered a plot said to be at an advanced stage: Cham and a dozen or so officers planned to seize key sites such as the presidential offices and the radio and television stations on the evening of 21 March. When word leaked to other senior officers hours ahead, Cham abandoned the plot and fled, reportedly to neighbouring Senegal.
Jammeh, who was in Mauritania at the time, cut short his trip and returned to Banjul. Around 50 people were detained, and the government named a new defence chief and intelligence chief in an apparent purge; in April 2007 ten former officers were convicted, four of them sentenced to life. Some observers doubted the plot, suspecting Jammeh was purging critics ahead of the September 2006 election, and the country's later Truth Commission heard testimony that detainees were tortured.
The 23 March 2006 coding matches the government's public announcement and the wave of arrests.
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
42003232006
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Jammeh foiled the plot, purged the security chiefs, and won re-election in 2006.
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
CSP
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
New York Beacon
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 →