KHARTOUM [SMN] – Sudan says that people linked to the ousted President Omar al-Bashir were behind Tuesday’s failed coup attempt.
A spokesman blamed “forces of darkness” adding that those involved have been arrested.
Bashir, who had been in power for three decades, was toppled two years ago.
The current administration – involving the military, civilian representatives and protest groups – was then established as part of a power-sharing agreement.
The coup plotters had tried to take over a building housing the state media, AFP news agency reports.
Earlier reports from the capital Khartoum and nearby Omdurman described intense military activity, and the main bridge across the River Nile was shut.
“We’re not going back… there are people trying to turn back the hands of time,” said Information Minister Hamza Baloul in a statement read on state TV, blaming “remnants” of the old regime for Tuesday’s failed putsch.
He added that “forces of darkness were targeting the revolution” started by mass popular protests against then-President Bashir, but said government bodies would be the “first line of defence” protecting Sudan’s transition.
Several coup attempts have taken place in Sudan in the years since President Bashir was toppled, the BBC’s media monitoring service reports.
There has been tension within the Sovereign Council which is supposed to be overseeing a return to civilian rule. BBC Monitoring adds that some are claiming the security lapses in parts of the country may be an attempt by the military to obstruct the transfer of power back to civilians.
Correspondents say elements within the military are thought to be behind several days of protests in Port Sudan in the east of the country.
The Sudanese government says the situation in the country is now “under control”.
Video footage shared on Tuesday morning appeared to show armoured vehicles on city streets, but AFP news agency reports that traffic is now flowing smoothly in central Khartoum.
Mohanad Hashim, a journalist for government-run Sudan TV in Khartoum, reports that the Bashir loyalists blamed for the coup say they are disgruntled with Sudan’s tough economic situation.
The BBC’s Africa correspondent Catherine Byaruhanga says Sudan’s transitional government is under pressure to deliver economic and political reforms amid competing demands from conservative and liberal constituencies.
Source: BBC
