Sierra Leone, 1967 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 1 February 1967, in the tense pre-election period that preceded Sierra Leone's first military coups, which came in March 1967. Prime Minister Albert Margai, whose Sierra Leone People's Party had been accused of corruption, favoritism toward the Mende, and moves toward a one-party state, was pushing in early 1967 a republican constitution that would replace the Governor-General with a Margai-appointed executive president. Ahead of the 17 March 1967 general election, Margai ran a heavy-handed campaign against the opposition All People's Congress led by Siaka Stevens, and the period was marked by plot and counter-plot, including the reported arrest of Brigadier John Bangura, accused of plotting to kill Margai and army commander David Lansana.
After the APC won the election, Lansana staged Sierra Leone's first coup on 21 March 1967, only to be overthrown two days later by a counter-coup that established the National Reformation Council. The February coding sits in this pre-election plotting phase.
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
45102011967
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Margai lost the March 1967 election; the ensuing coups blocked Stevens' inauguration before a counter-coup installed the National Reformation Council.
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
New York Times
The Sun
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 →