Togo, 1991 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
On 3 December 1991 soldiers loyal to President Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo captured the transitional prime minister Joseph Kokou Koffigoh in a heavy assault on his official residence in Lome, using tanks and machine guns, in the decisive blow of the military campaign to reverse the country's democratic transition. Koffigoh, installed by the August 1991 national conference to lead Togo to elections while Eyadema was reduced to a ceremonial president, had resisted weeks of escalating military pressure, but his appeals to France for protection were rebuffed and the army, loyal to Eyadema, pressed its advantage. The attackers overran the residence and seized Koffigoh, taking him to meet Eyadema; later that day Eyadema announced that he and Koffigoh would form a new transitional government to replace Koffigoh's previous one.
Eyadema disclaimed responsibility for the soldiers' actions but was widely believed to have directed them. Koffigoh remained nominally in office, but his power was gutted; the new government he formed at year's end included members of Eyadema's party, and the president had effectively clawed back control, dooming the transition.
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
46112031991
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Prime Minister Joseph Kokou Koffigoh was captured in the 3 December 1991 tank assault, his authority gutted by Eyadema.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; placed under house arrest. 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
Chicago Tribune
New York 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 →