On November 19, 1968 a group of young Malian army officers led by Lieutenant Moussa Traore staged a bloodless coup that overthrew President Modibo Keita, the socialist father of Malian independence, ending eight years of one-party rule. Keita had governed since 1960 through the Sudanese Union party, but his socialist economy foundered, and in 1966 he had suspended the constitution and parliament, ruling through a Committee of National Defense of the Revolution with full powers; a disastrous 1968 harvest deepened the economic crisis and popular discontent. Before dawn on November 19 the plotters cut the telephone network and arrested Sudanese Union cadres, then intercepted Keita's convoy as he returned to Bamako from Mopti; his car was blocked near the capital and, when he refused to abandon his socialist policies, officers forced him into an armored personnel carrier and brought him to the capital by late morning.
The fourteen officers formed the Military Committee for National Liberation with Traore as chairman. Keita and other regime figures were imprisoned in the remote north; Keita died in captivity in Bamako in 1977. Traore was proclaimed president in 1969 and ruled until 1991.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Modibo Keita, arrested during the November 19, 1968 coup as he returned to Bamako and imprisoned in the north; he died in captivity in 1977.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Modibo Keita (deposed president, imprisoned)
Moussa Traore (lieutenant, coup leader and new head of state)
Tiecoro Bagayoko (officer who arrested Keita)
The Military Committee for National Liberation (the ruling junta)
Sources
The 1968 Malian coup was a bloodless military coup staged on 19 November 1968 against the government of President Modibo Keita, led by Lieutenant Moussa Traore, who became head of state; Modibo Keita and other members of the previous regime were imprisoned in Kidal and Taoudenni, and Keita died in captivity in Bamako in 1977.
The telephone network was cut off at 2 am and US-RDA cadres were arrested before dawn; the soldiers stopped Keita's convoy as he returned to Bamako from Mopti, his Citroen was blocked at 10 am at Kayo a few kilometers from Bamako, and Lieutenant Bagayoko asked him to make himself available to the army before officers forced him into a BTR-152 armored personnel carrier, bringing him to the capital by 11:30, after Keita refused to abandon his socialist policy.
Moussa Traore, a lieutenant, led the military ousting of President Modibo Keita on 19 November 1968 and served as head of state until March 1991 when he was overthrown by popular protests and a military coup; during his tenure political activity was banned and he dismantled the socialist economic policies of his predecessor.
A history account records that the first President Modibo Keita suffered the junior officers' putsch of Bamako 1968, when a dissatisfied military faction led by the young Moussa Traore took advantage of Keita's absence to seize the city with ruthless efficiency, easily disarming Keita's People's Militia, so that Keita had been deposed before he knew it and was arrested on his way back to the capital, later dying in captivity.
SOURCE REVIEWEDDemocracy in Africa, President Keita falls to a coup in Maliopen source ↗
Editorial Note
Fate coding: Keita was arrested and imprisoned in the remote north (Kidal and Taoudenni), matching the dataset's arrested or jailed fate; he died in captivity in Bamako in 1977, recorded here as the outcome without editorializing on the cause. Coding note: the coup was bloodless and well received by a population weary of economic hardship. Cast note: the coup introduces Moussa Traore, who ruled Mali for 23 years until his own overthrow by popular protest in 1991, a separate later dataset event; his right-hand man Tiecoro Bagayoko, who physically arrested Keita, later ran the regime's surveillance apparatus.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Modibo Keita, arrested during the November 19, 1968 coup as he returned to Bamako and imprisoned in the north; he died in captivity in 1977..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; arrested or jailed. 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
“President of Mali is Ousted by Army,” by Lloyd Garrison, November 20, 1968
“Victim of Mali Coup Modibo Keita,” November 20, 1968
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 →