Mali, 2012 — military coup attempt

Event Summary

On 30 April to 1 May 2012 a violent counter-coupi was attempted in Mali by soldiers loyal to the ousted democratic order against the military juntai of Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, who had seized power just weeks earlier. Sanogo's junta had taken over in a coup on 22 March 2012, overthrowing the elected president Amadou Toumani Toure amid anger over the government's failure to contain the Tuareg and Islamist rebellion in the north, a takeover that backfired catastrophically as the rebels seized the entire northern half of the country in the ensuing chaos. Under intense international pressure, Sanogo had nominally handed power to a civilian transitional government, but he retained real control.

On the night of 30 April, elite red beret paratroopers loyal to the deposedi president and to the presidential guard, opposed to Sanogo's continued dominance, launched an assault, seizing the state broadcaster, the airport, and a military camp in Bamako in a bid to dislodge the juntai. But Sanogo's forces, the green berets, counterattacked and crushed the revolt after heavy fighting that killed at least a couple dozen people, and the junta then hunted down and brutally detained, tortured, and in some cases killed the red beret rebels.