2007 Zimbabwean coup d'état attempt

The Zimbabwean government foiled an alleged coup d'état attempt involving almost 400 soldiers and high-ranking members of the military that would have occurred on June 2 or June 15, 2007. The alleged leaders of the coup, all of whom have been arrested and charged with treason, are retired army Captain Albert Matapo, Spokesman for the Zimbabwe National Army Ben Ncube, Major General Engelbert Rugeje, and Air Vice Marshal Elson Moyo.

According to the government the soldiers planned on forcibly removing President Robert Mugabe from office and asking Rural Housing Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa to form a government with the heads of the armed forces. The government first heard of the plot when a former army officer who opposed the coup contacted the police in Paris, France, giving them a map and a list of those involved. Mnangagwa and State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa both said they did not know about the plot, Mnangagwa calling it "stupid."

Some analysts have speculated that rival successors to Mugabe, such as former Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army leader Solomon Mujuru, may be trying to discredit Mnangagwa.

Gilbert Kagodora, treasurer for the Movement for Democratic Change political party in Mashonaland Central, said he and Matapo were arrested by men whom he suspects work for the Central Intelligence Organization at 2pm on May 29 in Harare.

Kagodora said he and Matapo were put in a basement where he believes Military Intelligence Unit officials tortured him, using electrical rods to elicit confessions. Interrogators asked about MDC terror camps in South Africa, leaders and financiers of the plot, petrol bombers in the MDC, and the Democratic Resistance Committee. On June 1 Kagodora came into the custody of the Law and Order section at Harare Central Police Station. He said he heard interrogators asking Matapo to reveal the names of army and police officers with ties to the coup d'état. Police released Kagadora on June 4.

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Wikipedia