Mauritania, 1987 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 22 October 1987, corresponding to the alleged coup plot by Afro-Mauritanian military officers against the government of Colonel Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, which the Interior Minister announced on 28 October 1987. Taya, who had seized power in a bloodless 1984 coup and pursued Arab-nationalist policies that marginalized the country's black population, faced a plot said to have been organized primarily by Halpulaar (Peul or Fulani) officers, with the government identifying the navy as its chief architect. More than fifty people, almost all from the southern black ethnic groups, were tried for conspiracy by a special tribunal presided over by a senior army officer with no legal training, charged with endangering state security by plotting to depose the government.
One trial ended in the execution of three army lieutenants, with harsh prison sentences for others, and the affair precipitated a wide purge of black officers from the military and civil service. The 22 October 1987 coding sits at this plot, days before its public announcement, at the start of the wider anti-black repression of 1986 to 1992.
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
43510221987
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Taya crushed the plot, purged black officers, and ruled until his own overthrow in 2005.
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
Times of India
New York Times
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 →