By PARROTS UG Correspondents,
Sudanese authorities have contained a failed coup attempt and the situation has been brought under control, a member of the country’s ruling council told Reuters on Tuesday.
Interrogation of suspects involved in the attempted coup was due to begin and the military would issue a statement shortly, spokesman Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman said.
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.
‘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 reported 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 twin city of the capital, 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.
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.
Asharq News also reported that the plotters “tried to take control of the radio and television building” in Khartoum.
حاولوا السيطرة على مبنى الإذاعة والتلفزيون.. السلطات السودانية تعلن إحباط محاولة انقلابية قامت بها مجموعة عسكرية
التفاصيل: https://t.co/nDsGhEKQ61#الشرق #الشرق_للأخبارpic.twitter.com/nCIcVT0nHn
— Asharq News الشرق للأخبار (@AsharqNews) September 21, 2021
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.
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.
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”.
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”.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
