Coup Atlas Research Database
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40408082008ConspiracyMilitary coup

Guinea-Bissau, 2008 — military coup conspiracy

Guinea-Bissau (GNB)West Africa, AfricaAugust 8, 2008

Event Summary

This entry is coded 8 August 2008, corresponding to the alleged August 2008 coup attempt against President Joao Bernardo Vieira of Guinea-Bissau. On 6 August 2008 Rear-Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto, the head of the Navy, was suspended and placed under house arrest, and on 8 August the army announced that military officers had tried to stage a coup about a week earlier. The episode unfolded amid deep political turmoil: the PAIGC had pulled out of the national unity government in late July 2008, and Guinea-Bissau, a major transit hub for cocaine trafficking, was riven by chronic military and political instability.

Bubo Na Tchuto later fled the country. The instability continued through a failed attack on Vieira's residence on 23 November 2008 and culminated in Vieira's assassination by soldiers on 2 March 2009. The 8 August 2008 coding matches the army's announcement of the foiled coup.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Vieira survived the August 2008 plot but was assassinated by soldiers in March 2009
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
President Joao Bernardo Vieira (target)
Navy chief Rear-Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto (suspended, later fled)
the military high command

Sources

On 6 August 2008 Rear-Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto, the head of the Navy, was suspended and put under house arrest, and on 8 August the army said military officers had tried to stage a coup a week earlier.
SOURCE REVIEWED Al Jazeera: Timeline, Guinea-Bissau open source ↗
The July 2008 period saw the opposition PAIGC announce it was pulling out of the national unity government after its representatives were sacked from senior financial posts, deepening political turmoil.
SOURCE REVIEWED Al Jazeera: Timeline, Guinea-Bissau open source ↗
On 23 November 2008 President Vieira survived attacks by dissident soldiers armed with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades, after which the interior ministry recruited a 400-strong presidential bodyguard.
SOURCE REVIEWED Al Jazeera: Timeline, Guinea-Bissau open source ↗
Vieira was assassinated by soldiers at the presidential palace on 2 March 2009, in presumed retaliation for the killing of armed forces chief of staff Tagme Na Waie a day earlier.
SOURCE REVIEWED Al Jazeera: Timeline, Guinea-Bissau open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 8 Aug 2008 matches the army's announcement of the foiled coup (Bubo Na Tchuto suspended 6 Aug). Verified as a discrete event, part of the instability that led to Vieira's March 2009 assassination. Third Guinea-Bissau record in the run (after Nov 1985 and Dec 2001).

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
40408082008

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Vieira survived the August 2008 plot but was assassinated by soldiers in March 2009.

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.

The Gazette

“Navy chief held in coup bid,” August 9, 2008

Edmonton Journal

“Admiral arrested after coup attempt,” August 9, 2008

Al Jazeera

“Guinea-Bissau ‘coup plotter’ held,” August 19, 2008

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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