Guinea-Bissau, 2012 — dissident coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an event coded as an attempted dissident coup in Guinea-Bissau on 21 October 2012 against the transitional government that had itself been installed by a military coup earlier that year. In April 2012 the army had seized power between the two rounds of a presidential election, detaining the front runner, former prime minister Carlos Gomes Junior, and blocking the vote; under regional pressure, the junta installed a transitional civilian government while the military, dominated by the drug linked general Antonio Indjai, retained real control. On 21 October 2012 an armed group attacked a military barracks near the capital Bissau in what the transitional authorities described as an attempted coup or destabilization aimed at restoring the ousted order, with several people killed in the clash.
The transitional government, backed by the entrenched military leadership, put down the attack. Guinea-Bissau's chronic instability, deeply entangled with its role as a major cocaine trafficking corridor and the military's habitual interference in politics, continued to churn; the country slowly returned to elected government in 2014, but coups, plots, and mutinies would persist for years.
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
40410212012
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Guinea-Bissau's transitional authority put down the October 2012 barracks attack aimed at restoring the ousted order.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. 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
The Daily Telegraph
Cihan News Agency
The Ottawa Citizen
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 →