SUDAN STATE MEDIA REPORT ‘FAILED’ COUP ATTEMPT; SUSPECTS ARRESTED

Tue 21 September 2021:

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”.

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”.

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.

Sudanese authorities reported that the military remains in 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,” 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 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.

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

Sudan has been on a fragile path to democratic rule since the military’s ouster of the country’s longtime ruler Omar 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.

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