Coup Atlas Research Database
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43803101969ConspiracyMilitary coup

Guinea, 1969 — military coup conspiracy

Guinea (GIN)West Africa, AfricaMarch 10, 1969

Event Summary

This entry is coded 10 March 1969, corresponding to the alleged military plot known as the Labe plot or Kaman-Fodeba plot against President Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea. Deeply shaken by the 1968 overthrow of Mali's Modibo Keita and long distrustful of the army, Sekou Toure had in early 1969 imposed political supervision of the officer corps by placing a party committee, often headed by a junior militant, in each barracks. On 23 February 1969 the state opened an investigation into a supposed conspiracy said to have begun with indiscreet talk by officers at a ball in Labe, in the Fula homeland, about seizing the president.

The alleged Fula-secession angle was later dropped and the accusations widened, with over 1,000 Guineans arrested. Sekou Toure publicly announced the plot in mid-March 1969, naming Deputy Chief of Staff Colonel Kaman Diaby and Defense and Security Minister Fodeba Keita as principal instigators. On 14 May 1969 a revolutionary tribunal sentenced 13 accused to death; they were executed at Camp Boiro.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Sekou Toure survived and used the plot to purge the army; Kaman Diaby, Fodeba Keita and others were executed at Camp Boiro
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Ahmed Sekou Toure (president, target)
Colonel Kaman Diaby (deputy army chief of staff, executed)
Fodeba Keita (defense and security minister, executed)

Sources

In February 1969 the Guinean government moved against the armed forces after alleging a plot centred in Labe to assassinate Sekou Toure and seize power, or force the secession of Middle Guinea; the Fula connection was later dropped and over 1,000 Guineans were arrested.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Republic of Guinea Armed Forces open source ↗
On 22 March 1969 Sekou Toure publicly accused Kaman Diaby of being one of the main instigators of the plot, claiming Diaby had received instructions from Paris as early as 1958.
SOURCE REVIEWED Qui est Qui en Guinee: Biography of Kaman Diaby open source ↗
The plot resulted in the arrests of Colonel Kaman Diaby, Deputy Chief of Army Staff, and Fodeba Keita, Secretary of State for Defence, accused of a French-backed plot; both were shot on 27 May 1969.
SOURCE REVIEWED Adeyinka Makinde: Rethinking the Legacy of Ahmed Sekou Toure open source ↗
The investigation into the military plot, initially called the plot of the Labe paratroopers' camp, was opened on 23 February 1969 by the Secretary of State for the Interior and Security.
SOURCE REVIEWED Dakarmidi: Le coup monte par Sekou Toure contre Keita Fodeba, Kaman Diaby open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 10 Mar 1969 falls within the Feb-March 1969 escalation of the Labe/Kaman-Fodeba affair (investigation opened 23 Feb, public announcement mid-March, Diaby named 22 March). Verified. The charges are widely regarded as fabricated; Diaby and others have since been rehabilitated. Second Guinea conspiracy in the run (after the Nov 1965 traders' plot in batch 8).

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
43803101969

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Sekou Toure survived and used the plot to purge the army; Kaman Diaby, Fodeba Keita and others were executed at Camp Boiro.

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

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Afro-American

“IN GUINEA: France tied to coup try,” March 29, 1969

New York Times

“Guinea Rallies Back Toure,” March 23, 1969

Washington Post

“30 Held In Guinea As Plotters,” May 12, 1969

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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