Sudan foils attempted coup of loyalists of former Islamist dictator

Sudan foils attempted coup involving loyalists of former Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir as 40 officers are arrested

• Loyalists to ousted president Omar al-Bashir blocked bridges, roads and ports 
• Authorities say all involved have been arrested and the coup has been quelled
• The attempted uprising comes two years after the overthrow of al-Bashir 

Sudanese authorities have thwarted an attempted military coup by soldiers supporting the jailed former president Omar al-Bashir and arrested ‘all those involved’.

The country’s ruling council and military remain in control of the fragile nation after bridges, ports and roads were blocked by the rebels who also tried to seize a building housing the state media and the military headquarters. 

The attempted uprising comes more than two years after the military’s overthrow of longtime Islamist autocrat al-Bashir amid a public backlash against his three-decade rule.

Sudanese soldiers block the road after a failed coup attempt in Qhartoum by supporters of the ousted president 

Sudanese protesters gather outside the main entrance to the southern port in Port Sudan as demonstrators blocked key roads 

Authorities accused the loyalists of the ousted president of trying to reverse the revolution that removed him from power in 2019 and ushered in a transition to democracy. 

Sudan’s state-run television called on the public ‘to counter’ the coup attempt but did not provide further details.

‘All is under control. The revolution is victorious,’ Mohammed al-Fiky Suliman, a member of the ruling military-civilian council, wrote on Facebook. He also called on the Sudanese to protect the transition.

A military official said around 40 troops from the armoured corps were behind the attempt and that they tried to take over several government institutions but were stopped in their tracks and arrested.

He said they had aimed to seize the military headquarters and the state television.

Bridges, ports and roads were blocked by the rebels who also tried to seize a building housing the state media

The attempted uprising comes more than two years after the military’s overthrow of longtime autocrat al-Bashir (pictured during his recent trial over the 1989 military coup that brought him to power)

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media, said over three dozen troops, including high-ranking officers, have been arrested. 

He did not provide further details, saying that a military statement would be released shorty.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said the coup in was organised by elements inside and outside the military establishment.

The failed attempt was preceded by attempts to sow insecurity, especially in the east of Sudan, but had failed to undermine the country’s democratic transition, Hamdok said in a televised statement. 

The coup attempt points to the difficult path facing a government that has reoriented Sudan since 2019, winning Western debt relief and taking steps to normalise ties with Israel, while battling a severe economic crisis and facing down challenges from those still loyal to Bashir.

A ruling body known as the Sovereign Council has run Sudan under a fragile power-sharing deal between the military and civilians since the overthrow of Bashir, an Islamist shunned by the West who presided over Sudan for nearly three decades.

Elections are expected in 2024 and Bashir is currently in prison in Khartoum, where he faces several trials and is also being sought by the International Criminal Court over alleged atrocities committed in Darfur in the early 2000s.

The state-run SUNA news agency quoted Brig. Al-Tahir Abu Haja, a media consultant for the military’s chief, as saying that the armed forces ‘thwarted the attempted coup and that all is completely under control.’

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok addresses his cabinet after quelling the attempted coup on Tuesday

The agency said all troops taking part in the attempt were detained and that investigations have started. It did not provide further details.

Footage circulated online showing troops and armoured vehicles deployed to main roads and intersections in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Security was also boosted at the military headquarters and other government buildings in the city.

Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi, a member of the sovereign council, called the attempt a ‘foolish and bad choice.’

‘The option of military coups has left us only a failed and weak country,’ he wrote on Twitter. 

‘The path towards democratic transition and securing the country’s political future and unity remains one option.’

Later, in a statement read on the state-run TV, Culture and Information Minister Hamza Baloul said security forces have arrested civilian and military leaders of the coup attempt, and that they have been interrogated after the military managed to get the armoured corps camp south of Khartoum under control.

Baloul, who is also the government spokesman, said authorities were chasing others ‘from the remnants’ of al-Bashir’s regime who were suspects in orchestrated the attempted coup. He did not give further details.

Sudan has been on a fragile path to democratic rule since the military’s ouster of al-Bashir in April 2019, following four months of mass protests. The country is now ruled by a joint civilian and military government.

The transitional government has been under increasing pressure to end wars with rebel groups as it seeks to rehabilitate the country’s battered economy, attract much-needed foreign aid and deliver the democracy it promised.

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