Word: coups
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...manganese in the franc zone, and its magnetic deposits of iron ore (1 billion tons) are just beginning to be tapped. Hence French President Charles de Gaulle's sudden interest last week in a political upheaval in the steaming, rain-forested republic. No sooner had an army coup toppled Gabon's President Léon Mba than De Gaulle came to the rescue. With a lightning strike of planes and paratroopers, he restored Mba to power and demonstrated that the grand Gaullist manner extends to darkest Africa as well as to Europe and America...
...humid harbor. The sleeping President was hauled from his bed with a revolver in his side, then found himself quickly spirited off to the Baraka military camp outside the capital. When Libreville awoke, the rebels had control of the airport, post office, radio station and government buildings. The coup committee announced that "Léon Mba and his acolytes" had been thrown out, named Aubame provisional Prime Minister, and looting got under...
...followed in the ignominious path of Dahomey's Hubert Maga and the Congo Republic's Fulbert Youlou, both of whose governments were toppled last year. De Gaulle did not choose to intervene in those insurrections. This time, however, more was at stake. Claiming that the Gabon coup did not have popular support, De Gaulle implemented a "mutual defense" agreement signed in 1960 when Gabon became independent. Eleven hours after Mba's rude awakening, French help...
...companies of paratroopers under the overall command of General René Cogny, the hero of Dienbienphu. At 2 p.m. they began landing at the Libreville airport, where the rebels providentially had failed to erect obstacles on the runway. The troopers swept through the city with little resistance, but the coup leaders made a stand at Baraka. Sending Mba off under guard to a village near Dr. Albert Schweitzer's hospital at Lambarene, the rebels prepared to meet the imminent French attack. It came next morning as French fighters stooped like falcons from the tropic sky, sent ball and tracer...
...five hours, mortars and machine guns pounded the stronghold. Then, guns blazing, the paratroopers bulled through the gate, and the coup was countered-less than 42 hours after it began. One paratrooper and 15 rebels died in the fight...