Tanzania, 1983 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 13 January 1983, corresponding to the coup plot against President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania uncovered in mid-January 1983. An undisclosed number of soldiers and civilians were arrested in connection with an attempt to overthrow Nyerere's socialist government, disclosed publicly by the authorities around 21-22 January in a guarded statement describing an attempt to incite unrest. The plot was discovered before it could be acted on, amid Tanzania's worst economic crisis since independence, with persistent food shortages and mounting criticism of Nyerere's centralized planning and distribution methods.
Sources reported that a highly placed army officer was involved, though the government denied that the armed forces as a whole were implicated. This plot, which combined civilian and military conspirators drawn from relatively isolated pockets of the lower officer ranks, came only months after the failed August 1982 coup attempt in neighboring Kenya. The 13 January 1983 coding aligns with the mid-January discovery of the conspiracy, roughly a week before its public disclosure.
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
51001131983
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Nyerere maintained civilian control and averted the coup, remaining president until 1985.
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
Boston Globe
Christian Science Monitor
Africa Report
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 →