1980 Liberian coup d'état | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Government of Liberia | Armed Forces of Liberia faction | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
William R. Tolbert Jr. | Samuel Doe |
The 1980 Liberian coup d'état happened on April 12, 1980, when President William R. Tolbert Jr. was overthrown and murdered in a violent coup. The coup was staged by an indigenous Liberian faction of the Armed Forces of Liberia under the command of Master Sargent Samuel Doe. Following a period of transition Doe would go on to rule the country throughout the 1980s until his murder on 9 September 1990 during the First Liberian Civil War.
Events[]
In the early hours of April 12, 1980, 17 non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia led by Master Sergeant Samuel Doe launched a violent coup d'état. All of the conspirators were indigenous Liberians, while Tolbert was a member of Americo-Liberian community (which had ruled Liberia since independence in 1847). The group entered the Executive Mansion (presidential palace) and killed Tolbert, whose body was dumped into a mass grave together with 27 other victims of the coup. A crowd of angry Liberians gathered to shout insults and throw rocks at the bodies.[when?][1]
Aftermath[]
By the end of April, most of the cabinet members of the Tolbert administration had been put on trial in a kangaroo court and sentenced to death. Many of them were publicly executed on 22 April at a beach near the Barclay Training Center in Monrovia. Only four members of the Tolbert administration survived the coup and its aftermath; among them was the Minister of Finance, future President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,[2] and the Vice President Bennie Dee Warner.[3]
Following the coup, Doe assumed the rank of General and established the People's Redemption Council (PRC), composed of himself and 14 other low-ranking officers, to rule the country. The PRC was dissolved after the 1985 general election, in which Doe was elected President; he was sworn in on 6 February 1986. Doe continued to rule the country until he was murdered on 9 September 1990 by the INPFC, led by Prince Johnson, during the First Liberian Civil War.
References[]
- ↑ "LIBERIA: After the Takeover, Revenge". 1980-04-18. Archived from the original on September 28, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080928150953/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C924057%2C00.html.
- ↑ Johnson Sirleaf, E: This Child Will Be Great, p. 103. HarperCollins, 2009.
- ↑ "Tolbert's Aide in U.S.". April 13, 1980. https://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0A12FC395D17728DDDAA0994DC405B8084F1D3. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
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