KHARTOUM — Sudan's fragile transitional government
said it foiled an attempted coup Tuesday involving military officers and
civilians linked to the ousted regime of longtime autocrat Omar Al-Bashir.
اضافة اعلان
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said the coup attempt was the
"latest manifestation of the national crisis," referring to deep
divisions during
Sudan's move to democracy.
In a televised speech, he said the plotters had "made
extensive preparations, which were showcased in the security breakdown in
cities ... blocking of national roads, closure of ports and persistent
instigation against the civilian government."
Information Minister Hamza Baloul said later the coup
attempt had been thwarted.
"Order has been restored and the leaders of the
attempted coup, both military and civilian, have been arrested," he said.
"Authorities are pursuing supporters of the defunct regime" who took
part.
The military said "most" of those involved had
been apprehended, including 11 officers.
"The army regained control over the sites that
perpetrators sought to seize," it said. "Searches and investigations
are still ongoing for others involved."
Sudan's army commander and head of the sovereign council
Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan visited the military camp in south Khartoum where the
coup attempt reportedly began.
"Had it succeeded, the attempt could have had
devastating consequences on the unity of the army, security forces, and the
country," he said.
State television had aired patriotic songs and urged people
to "confront" the coup attempt.
In Khartoum, traffic flowed smoothly, including around the
army headquarters, where protesters staged a months-long sit-in that eventually
led to Bashir's overthrow in a palace coup by the army in 2019.
Anti-coup demonstrations broke out in several cities.
At Port Sudan in the east, protesters raised Sudanese flags
and chanted "No to military rule" and "No to coup",
eyewitness Mohamed Hassan said.
'We will not allow a coup'
Britain, Norway and the US voiced "strong support"
for Sudan's government.
"The Troika... rejects any attempts to derail or
disrupt the Sudanese people's efforts to establish a democratic, peaceful, and
prosperous future," they said in a statement.
The UN condemned any attempt "to undermine the
democratic political transition".
Sudan has had a long history of coups, including since
Bashir's ouster, but those were small scale and immediately foiled.
Officials have often blamed them Bashir's Islamist
supporters of being behind them. Bashir, a one-time general, came to power on
the back of an Islamist-backed military coup in 1989.
Since his ouster, the ex-president has been jailed in
Khartoum awaiting trial over the coup that brought him to power.
He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court on
charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide for his prosecution
of a deadly scorched-earth campaign against ethnic minority rebels in Darfur.
During a visit to Khartoum last month, ICC prosecutor Karim
Khan signed a cooperation deal with the transitional authorities that marked
another step towards Bashir facing trial in The Hague.
In an address to troops on Tuesday, powerful paramilitary
commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo said: "We will not allow a coup to take
place.
"We want real democratic transition through free and
fair elections, not like in the past," said the commander, widely known as
Hemeti.
Under an August 2019 power-sharing deal, Sudan is ruled by a
transitional government composed of both civilian and military representatives,
and tasked with overseeing a return to full civilian rule.
The deal originally provided for the formation of a
legislative assembly during a three-year transition, but that period was reset
when Sudan signed the peace deal with rebel groups last October.
Two years under transition
Sudan remains plagued by chronic economic problems as well
as deep divisions among the various factions steering the transition.
The promised legislative assembly has yet to materialize.
In June, Hamdok had warned of worrying divisions within
Sudan's military and security establishment.
"The coup (attempt) ... clearly indicates the
importance of reform to the military and security sectors," he said on
Tuesday.
Civilians and former rebels have stepped up calls for armed
groups and paramilitary forces to be merged into the regular army.
In recent months, tensions have reportedly simmered between
paramilitaries and army commanders over the integration process.
The transitional government has launched a package of tough
economic reforms to qualify for debt relief from the International Monetary
Fund, seen by many Sudanese as too harsh.
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