Sierra Leone, 1992 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an event coded as an attempted military coup in Sierra Leone on 29 December 1992 against the young military government of Captain Valentine Strasser, who had himself seized power in a coup only eight months earlier, in April 1992, at the head of the National Provisional Ruling Council. Strasser, one of the youngest heads of state in the world, had taken over amid the deepening civil war against the Revolutionary United Front insurgency and the collapse of the discredited APC one party state. His junta was itself unstable, riven by rivalries and threatened by counterplots from within the army and from ousted figures, and in late December 1992 an alleged coup plot against the NPRC was uncovered.
The regime responded with brutal swiftness, executing a number of accused plotters and detainees, an act that drew international condemnation. Strasser survived this and other challenges, ruling until he was himself overthrown by his deputy Julius Maada Bio in a palace coup in January 1996, as the ruinous civil war that would devastate Sierra Leone through the decade ground on.
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
45112291992
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Captain Valentine Strasser crushed the December 1992 plot against his NPRC junta and executed accused plotters.
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
Powell and Thyne
Wikipedia
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 →