Aborted coup attempt in Sudan

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) announced the abortion of a coup attempt that took place today at dawn. According to government sources, those involved have been arrested.

The security and military authorities thwarted at dawn today a coup attempt. Media advisor to the SAF General Commander, Brig Gen El Taher Abu Haja, said that the armed forces thwarted the coup attempt and that the situation is under full control, according to the Sudan News Agency (SUNA).

According to state television, soldiers tried to seize control of the state media building in Omdurman.

An authorised source in the Council of Ministers said that those involved have been arrested and that investigations are underway. 

A former deputy chief of staff to Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok told the New York Times that the latest events underscored the urgent need to get Sudan’s military under full civilian control: “There will be no stability without civilian oversight over all the state apparatus, including the military and intelligence agencies”.

According to the New York Times, two officials of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) said that the coup attempt was led by the military commander in charge of the Omdurman region.

21 officers and multiple soldiers have been detained in connection to the coup attempt according to the military. 

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Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok said that "what happened is an orchestrated coup by factions inside and outside the armed forces and this is an extension of the attempts by remnants since the fall of the former regime to abort the civilian democratic transition". 

He further said that the attempted coup was "preceded by extensive preparations represented by lawlessness in the cities and the exploitation of the situation in the east of the country, attempts to close national roads and ports and block oil production".

Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism Hamza Baloul delivered a statement on television in which he said: "Today, Tuesday, September 21, 2021, a failed coup attempt was brought under control by a group of armed forces officers from the remnants of the former regime".

He added: "We assure the Sudanese people that the situation is under complete control as the leaders of the military and civilian coup attempt were arrested and are being investigated now, after the last pockets of the coup were liquidated in the Shagara camp, and as the competent authorities continue to pursue the remnants of the defunct regime involved in the failed attempt."

"We call on all the forces of the revolution, including resistance committees, political and civil forces, peace parties, professional and trade union bodies, and all sectors of the Sudanese people to be vigilant and pay attention to the repeated attempts that seek to abort the glorious December revolution."

The minister also added that the government will provide full details of the failed coup attempt later.

Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments Nasreldin Mofreh also strongly condemned the coup attempt. The minister wrote on social media that "the enemies of the homeland are still trying to abort this great national project, but the forces of the revolution will remain alive, and the ill-intentioned attempts of the corrupt, the remnants of the former regime, will not succeed".

He underlined that the time has come to clean our political and military institutions from 'the enemies of the revolution' and called on 'comrades of the struggle', resistance committees, the forces of freedom and change, and the armed struggle movements, to guard this noble and true project.

Last month, Commander of the Rapid Support Forces Mohamed Hamdan 'Hemeti' Dagalo and Deputy Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) had assured his forces that "we, the military, will not allow a coup to happen… We want a real democratic transformation through free and fair elections, not like what happened in the past from cheating".