Mauritania, 2004 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 10 August 2004, corresponding to the alleged August 2004 coup plot against President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya of Mauritania. Taya, who had ruled since a 1984 coup and had angered many in the staunchly Muslim country by establishing diplomatic ties with Israel and cracking down on Islamists, had survived a violent June 2003 coup attempt led by former army Major Saleh Ould Hanenna, who then went underground and formed an opposition group called the Knights of Change. In August 2004 the government confirmed a fresh coup plot and made arrests, describing it as an August plot to assassinate Taya.
The authorities attributed this attempt, along with a further one the following month, to Ould Hanenna's network, alleging backing from Libya and Burkina Faso, a charge both countries denied. Ould Hanenna was captured on 9 October 2004 and sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2005 along with other alleged plotters. Taya was himself overthrown in a military coup in August 2005.
The 10 August 2004 coding matches the government's confirmation of the August 2004 plot and the accompanying arrests.
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
43508102004
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Taya's government confirmed and suppressed the August 2004 plot; he was ousted 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
Wikipedia
Xinhua News Agency
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 →