Sudan thwarts coup attempt by pro-al Bashir remnants

Khartoum, Sep 21 (EFE).- The Sudanese authorities on Tuesday said they aborted a coup attempt orchestrated by “remnants” of the Omar al-Bashir regime, that was overthrown in 2019 after ruling the African country for three decades.

A total of “21 officers and several NCOs and soldiers” have been arrested after trying “in the early hours of the morning today (…) to seize power in the country,” the military said in a statement.

The army “has recovered all the positions the coup members controlled and the search continues to arrest the others involved,” without providing further details.

Over 40 army members belonging to the armored division of the Umm Durman and Wadi Sidna military zones, including a general, were arrested and sent to a military prison for questioning, a military source told Efe.

They sought to control the headquarters of the state-run radio and television and then arrest members of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, led by general Abdul Fattah al-Burhan and the government of Abdullah Hamdok.

“What happened is a planned coup by some parts of the Armed Forces inside and outside” the military, Hamdok said in a televised speech, blaming the attempt on “remnants” of the ousted regime.

“This coup is one aspect of the national crisis … and clearly indicates the importance of reforming the military and security organs,” he added.

Al-Burhan, meanwhile, said that it is not clear whether the coup members have links to any entity.

Al-Bashir, who was toppled by the army in the wake of mass protests, is prisoned and faces several trials over corruption charges and his role in the 1989 coup that led him to power.

The Sudanese authorities agreed to hand him over to the International Criminal Court to be tried for war crimes that allegedly occurred in Darfur where nearly 300,000 people were killed between 2003 and 2008. EFE