Coup Atlas Research Database
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43208072025ConspiracyMilitary coup

Mali, 2025 — military coup conspiracy

Mali (MLI)West Africa, AfricaAugust 7, 2025

Event Summary

This entry is coded 7 August 2025, within the window of the August 2025 foiled coup plot against the junta of General Assimi Goita in Mali. On 14 August 2025 Security Minister General Daoud Aly Mohammedine announced on national television the arrest of a group of military personnel and civilians, including two Malian army generals and a suspected French secret agent, accused of attempting to destabilize the institutions of the republic. The minister said the conspiracy had begun on 1 August.

Among those arrested were General Abass Dembele, former governor of the Mopti region, who had been dismissed in May after demanding an investigation into alleged army killings of civilians, and General Nema Sagara, a senior female officer; up to 55 soldiers were reported detained. The detained French national was named as Yann Vezilier, whom Mali accused of acting for French intelligence to mobilize political, civil-society, and military actors; France denied the accusation. The plot unfolded as Goita's junta, which seized power in 2020 and 2021 and had turned from France toward Russia, tightened its grip, having dissolved political parties in May and granted Goita a renewable five-year term in June.

The 7 August 2025 coding falls within the plot's early-August timeline.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Goita's junta said it foiled the plot and arrested generals and a French national
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
General Assimi Goita (target)
Generals Abass Dembele and Nema Sagara (arrested)
French national Yann Vezilier (accused, denied by France)

Sources

Authorities in Mali arrested a group of military personnel and civilians, including two Malian army generals and a suspected French secret agent, accused of attempting to destabilise the country, with Security Minister General Daoud Aly Mohammedine announcing the arrests and saying the plot began on 1 August.
SOURCE REVIEWED Al Jazeera: Mali's military arrests generals, suspected French agent in overthrow plot open source ↗
Up to 55 Malian soldiers, including two generals, were arrested and accused of attempting to overthrow the junta, among them General Abass Dembele, former governor of Mopti, and General Nema Sagara, with a French national, Yann Vezilier, also detained; France's Foreign Ministry denied Vezilier's involvement.
SOURCE REVIEWED Africa Defense Forum: Malian Soldiers, Including 2 Generals, Arrested in Alleged Coup Plot open source ↗
The minister alleged the group had external backing and that the French national was suspected of acting on behalf of the French intelligence service, which he said mobilized political leaders, civil society actors, and military personnel, while the junta, which seized power in 2020 and 2021, offered few additional details.
SOURCE REVIEWED The Vaultz News: Mali Junta Confirms Coup Plot, Arrests Top Generals open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 7 Aug 2025 falls within the plot's early-August window (the plot began 1 Aug per the security minister; arrests and public announcement came 14 Aug). Verified as the August 2025 Mali coup plot. Second Mali record in the run.

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
43208072025

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Goita's junta said it foiled the plot and arrested generals and a French national.

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

BBC

“Dozens Of Malian Soldiers Arrested Over Alleged Coup Plot Against Junta, sources say,”Basil Li Oh Ru Kanga & Chris Ewokor August 11, 2025

France 24

“Mali detains two dozen soldiers over alleged coup plot against junta’,” August 10, 2025

Africa News.

“Two generals and more than 40 soldiers arrested over coup allegations in Mali,” August 11, 2025

The Guardian

“Mali’s junta arrests general sand french national over alleged coup plot,”E Romo Eg Be Jule August 11, 2025

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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