Mauritania, 1981 — dissident coup attempt
Event Summary
On 16 March 1981 a group of dissidents attempted a coup in Mauritania against the military government of President Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla, who had taken power in a bloodless coup in 1980 within the ruling Military Committee for National Salvation. The attempt was led by former officials and officers linked to the exiled opposition Alliance for a Democratic Mauritania, and was reportedly supported by Morocco, reflecting the bitter regional tensions arising from the Western Sahara conflict, in which Mauritania had earlier been embroiled before withdrawing its claim in 1979. The plotters, some of whom infiltrated from abroad, seized points in the capital Nouakchott but were defeated by loyalist forces after fighting.
The coup failed, and several of its leaders, including former army officers, were captured and executed. Haidalla survived this attempt but continued to face instability; he was himself overthrown in December 1984 by his army chief of staff Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya, who would go on to rule Mauritania for two decades.
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
43503161981
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla crushed the March 1981 coup attempt and executed its leaders.
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
New York Times
Times of India
Globe and Mail
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 →