A coup attempt in Sudan was sabotaged early Tuesday, state media reported, as the country struggles with a frail transition since the 2019 reinstatement of longtime president Omar al-Bashir.
Top military and government sources told AFP that the attempt involved a group of officers who were “immediately suspended” after they “failed” to take over the state media building.
“There has been a failed coup attempt, the people should confront it,” state television said, without elaborating.
Higher-up of Sudan’s ruling body, Taher Abuhaja, stated that “an attempt to seize power has been thwarted.” Another senior ruling body member, Mohamed al-Fekki said: “Everything is under control and the revolution is victorious.”
Traffic appeared to be moving seamlessly in central Khartoum, AFP correspondents reported, including around army headquarters, where protesters held a mass sit-in that eventually led to Bashir’s ouster in a palace coup.
Security forces did however close the main bridge across the Nile connecting Khartoum to its twin city Omdurman.
Sudan is currently ruled by a transitional government composed of both civilian and military representatives that was installed in the aftermath of Bashir’s April 2019 overthrow and is tasked with overseeing a return to full civilian rule.
The government, led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, has vowed to fix the country’s battered economy and forge peace with rebel groups who fought the Bashir regime.
On Monday, civilians blocked key roads as well as the country’s key trade hub, Port Sudan, to protest the peace deal signed with rebel groups last year.
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