Hentet fra AlJazeera | Av Arwa Ibrahim
Sudan’s prime minister Abdalla Hamdok says Tuesday’s coup attempt was organised by elements in and outside the military establishment.
He added that previous attempts to create insecurity, especially in the country’s east, had been made in the past.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Sudanese government said military officers and civilians linked to the deposed regime of longtime deposed President Omar al-Bashir had attempted a coup but that it was swiftly brought under control.
Interrogation of suspects involved in the attempted coup was under way after several arrests were made, spokesman Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman said.
Sudan has been on a fragile path to democratic rule since the military’s overthrow of al-Bashir in April 2019, following four months of mass protests.
The country is now ruled by a joint civilian and military government that faces towering economic and security challenges.
Sudan PM says coup plotters arrested for ‘first time’
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok says the coup attempt was organised by members within and outside the military establishment.
Hamdok said: “For the first time, people involved in the attempt were arrested… They are being interviewed to discover their intentions and the truth behind this. There is a special committee investigating what has happened.”
Hamdok said that Monday’s coup attempt was preceded by others attempting to create insecurity, especially in the east of Sudan.
“What happened in this coup attempt, is an extension of previous attempts against the Transitional Council… They tried to take advantage of the situation in different towns by closing ports and roads… tried to stop us from moving forward during this transitional period,” he added.
Sudanese Prime Minister Hamdok says coup attempt was preceded by others [File: Marwan Ali/AP]Coup attempt a ‘boost’ to military
Jonas Horner, senior analyst at International Crisis Group, says the recent events had boosted the position of the military in Sudan.
“There is some concern that this attempt was a test balloon to see how the street might respond to this coup if something larger were to come along in the future,” he said.
“Perhaps there was an idea that the street might respond differently. But people in Khartoum have been quite relaxed and calm with regards to the coup,” he added.
Sudanese soldiers walk in front of the office of the Sudanese Council of Ministers in Khartoum [Marwan Ali/AP]Sudan says failed coup linked to deposed gov’t
The Sudanese government says military officers and civilians linked to the deposed regime of deposed President Omar al-Bashir had attempted a coup but were swiftly brought under control.
“We brought under control a coup attempt by military officers early Tuesday,” said Information Minister Hamza Baloul.
Authorities “have arrested leaders of the failed plot, which involved military officers and civilians belonging to the defunct regime”, he added.
Failed coup attempt leaders arrested, says gov’t spokesman
The leaders of the failed coup attempt in Sudan have been arrested, a government spokesman said on state TV.
“Remnants” of the regime of overthrown Sudanese President al-Bashir participated in the attempt, he said.
More than 40 officers arrested
“More than 40 officers have been arrested,” reported Al Jazeera’s Zeinab Salih from Omdurman, the Sudanese capital’s twin city.
“It is important to note that this follows agitation after the closure of highways connecting Khartoum to Port Sudan by supporters of former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir,” she added.
Cars drive past pedestrians walking along Nile Street adjacent to the Blue Nile in [Ashraf Shazly/AFP]Information on coup helped thwart attempt
A government source tells Al Jazeera that information about the coup attempt was made available to the government on Monday evening, which helped thwart it quickly.
“We still don’t know why there was a coup attempt, but military sources we spoke to said they had the information from last night, which made it easier to foil,” reported Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan from Khartoum.
“There is still no word from the government as to why there was a coup attempt. There has been a war of words between the parties who are the ruling coalition, so lots of tensions, lots of politics which could potentially be the reason as to why there was an attempted coup,” she added.
Lack of leadership, vision
“The question is not why there has been an attempt for a coup, the question is what are these officers trying to achieve,” Waleed Madibo, founder and president of Sudan Policy Forum, told Al Jazeera.
“The legislative body was supposed to be formulated three months after the revolution, now it has been three years and there aren’t any signals that the civilian component of the government is trying to formulate that body,” he added, speaking from Doha, Qatar.
“It seems that there is a total lack of leadership and a total lack of vision that can lead the country out of this quagmire,” said Madibo.
Sudanese protesters gather outside the main entrance to the southern port in Port Sudan [File: Ibrahim Ishaq/AFP]‘Coup attempt thwarted’, says gov’t official
A coup attempt was foiled in Sudan and the situation is under control, the country’s military said on Tuesday in a statement read on state TV.
“An authorised source in the presidency of the council of ministers said that security and military authorities have thwarted a coup attempt at dawn today,” the Sudan News Agency said via Twitter.
“The situation is under control, and those involved in it [the coup attempt] have been arrested and investigations are under way,” added the statement.
Return to normal
Traffic appeared to be flowing smoothly in central Khartoum, including around army headquarters, where months of mass protests prompted the ousting of President al-Bashir in a palace coup two years ago.
Sudanese security forces did however close the main bridge across the Nile connecting Khartoum to its twin city Omdurman.
Weapons handover
“The army said it was still containing the area where the arms depot is and that some officers were still inside,” said Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reporting from Khartoum.
“They are negotiating to hand over their weapons and come out,” she added.
“They [the army] say that interrogations with the officers they have already arrested will begin shortly but, again, we are waiting for that official statement from the Sovereignty Council and the military,” said Morgan.
‘Many questions remain’
“There are still a lot of questions about which group exactly is behind this and the purpose of the coup,” Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reports from Khartoum.
Morgan said that Khartoum woke up to “what seemed like a pretty normal morning” with the exception that one of the bridges leading to Omdurman, the capital’s twin city, being blocked.
“There were tanks on the bridge preventing civilians from crossing and there were questions from the people as to why there were tanks,” explained Morgan. “Then came the report that there was a failed coup attempt.”
“Who exactly that group is and why exactly they staged a coup, that’s the question we are waiting to hear answers from the Sovereignty Council,” said Morgan.
‘All is under control’, say Sudanese authorities
Sudanese authorities reports that the military remains under control, while Sudan’s state-run television called on the public “to counter” the attempt but did not provide further details.
“All is under control. The revolution is victorious,” Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman, 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 an unspecified number of officers from the armoured corps was behind the attempt and that they tried to take over several government institutions but had been stopped.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media, said many officers, including high-ranking ones, were arrested.
Plotters try to control radio, TV building
Asharq News also reported that the plotters “tried to take control of the radio and television building” in Khartoum.
A source told Reuters that the coup attempt included efforts to control Omdurman Radio, which is located on the other side of the city across the Nile from the capital, Khartoum.
Officers take control of armored corps
Military sources told Al-Arabiya that a number of officers, led by Major General Abdel-Baqi Bakrawi, took control of the armoured corps of the Sudanese army.
They added that some pockets in the armoured corps are still being dealt with by the security forces.
Heavy deployment of tanks
According to Al-Arabiya (Arabic), tanks moved from the army’s medical division and closed the road towards the old Omdurman Bridge, near the Sudanese Parliament, amid a heavy deployment of military forces in the area.
Simultaneously, Muhammad al-Faki Suleiman, a member of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council and the official spokesman for the Council, appealed to all Sudanese to defend the country. In a comment on his Facebook account, he said, “Run to defend your country and protect the transition”.
Coup attempt ‘failed’
An attempted coup in Sudan “failed” early on Tuesday, state media reported, without identifying the plotters.
“There has been a failed coup attempt, the people should confront it,” state media reported.
A top government source told AFP news agency the plotters had attempted to take over the state media building but “they failed”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/21/sudan-coup-attempt-suspects-arrested-over-failed-plot-live