40 officers, civilians arrested in Sudan over failed coup

Over 40 people including military officers have been arrested in Sudan in connection with a coup attempt foiled in the early hours of Tuesday.

The Sudanese government confirmed that military officers and civilians linked to the deposed regime of longtime President Omar al-Bashir attempted the coup.

“We brought under control a coup attempt by military officers early Tuesday,” said Information Minister Hamza Baloul.

He added that the authorities “have arrested leaders of the failed plot, which involved military officers and civilians belonging to the defunct regime.”

Al Jazeera’s Zeinab Salih reported that over 40 officers had been arrested in connection with the failed coup.

“It is important to note that this follows agitation after the closure of highways connecting Khartoum to Port Sudan by supporters of former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir,” she added.

A government source confirmed to Al Jazeera that information about the coup attempt was made available to the government on Monday evening, which helped thwart it quickly.

“There is still no word from the government as to why there was a coup attempt. There has been a war of words between the parties who are the ruling coalition, so lots of tensions, lots of politics which could potentially be the reason as to why there was an attempted coup,” she added.

“The question is not why there has been an attempt for a coup, the question is what are these officers trying to achieve,” Waleed Madibo, founder and president of Sudan Policy Forum, told Al Jazeera.

“The legislative body was supposed to be formulated three months after the revolution, now it has been three years and there aren’t any signals that the civilian component of the government is trying to formulate that body,” he added, speaking from Doha, Qatar.

“It seems that there is a total lack of leadership and a total lack of vision that can lead the country out of this quagmire,” said Madibo.