Liberia, 1984 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 19 August 1984, during the August 1984 socialist plot affair against the government of Samuel Doe in Liberia. In August 1984 ten alleged ringleaders of a socialist plot to overthrow the government were arrested, the most prominent being Amos Sawyer, a University of Liberia professor and dean. On 22 August 1984 security forces opened fire on university students demonstrating against these arrests, wounding 70, with unofficial sources claiming some students were killed and secretly buried.
This came as Doe, who had seized power in the 1980 coup that killed President Tolbert, was consolidating his rule ahead of the October 1985 elections: the People's Redemption Council had been dissolved and replaced by the Interim National Assembly on 22 July 1984, a new constitution had been ratified, and the ban on political activity was lifted on 26 July 1984. Doe frequently charged opponents with treason and used recurring alleged plots to crack down on opposition. The 19 August 1984 coding sits at this socialist-plot arrest, days before the 22 August student shootings.
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
45008191984
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Doe survived and rigged the 1985 elections; he was overthrown and killed in 1990.
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
New York Times
Washington Post
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 →