Sierra Leone, 1971 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an attempted military coup in Sierra Leone on 23 March 1971, during the government of Prime Minister Siaka Stevens, who had survived earlier military interventions and was consolidating his All People's Congress rule. In late March 1971 elements of the Sierra Leone military, reportedly led by the force commander Brigadier John Bangura, moved against Stevens's government, and shots were fired at the prime minister's residence. Fearing for his survival, Stevens called on neighboring Guinea, whose president Ahmed Sekou Toure sent troops to Freetown to shore up the government under a defense pact.
The coup attempt failed, Bangura was arrested, tried, and executed, and Stevens moved to secure his position, declaring Sierra Leone a republic in April 1971 with himself as executive president. Stevens went on to entrench a one-party state and dominate Sierra Leonean politics until 1985.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
45103231971- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-451-1971-03-23
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Prime Minister Siaka Stevens survived with Guinean military help and consolidated power as executive president.
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
Wikipedia
New York Times
Irish 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 →