Zambia, 1981 — dissident coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 14 June 1981, during the continued fallout of the October 1980 coup plot against President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and a period of intense labor confrontation. Through mid-1981 the UNIP government was still pursuing conspirators linked to the 1980 plot, capturing the absconding military figure Godfrey Miyanda in Zaire and serving him with a presidential detention order on 22 May 1981. At the same time, the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions under chairman Frederick Chiluba mounted wildcat strikes that paralyzed much of the copper-dependent economy, and in 1981 Kaunda detained Chiluba and several other union leaders, detentions later ruled unconstitutional by a judge.
This convergence of continued coup-plot arrests and labor-driven confrontation deepened the crisis of Kaunda's one-party state. The June 1981 coding sits in this period of ongoing anti-Kaunda subversion and unrest, roughly eight months after the October 1980 coup attempt.
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
55106141981
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Kaunda contained the plots and labor unrest but his one-party rule ended when Chiluba's MMD defeated him in 1991.
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
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 →