LEAD: Sudan authorities abort coup, authors arrested
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) – The crisis-plagued government in Sudan on Tuesday said it thwarted a coup d’état in the early hours of the day and placed the planners in custody for interrogation.
Two statements -- one from Amy General Command and another from the Council of Ministers -- said the Armed Forces aborted a coup attempt at dawn.
Brigadier General Al-Taher Abu Haja, media adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan Armed Forces, was quoted by the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) as saying that the Armed Forces thwarted the coup attempt and that the situation was now fully under control in Khartoum.
The current government, a hybrid of civilian and army elements, took power after a popular revolt ended 30 years of military dictatorship by President Omar Bashir in 2019.
It helped end Sudan’s isolation from the international community and deleted its name from the US government's list of state sponsors of international terrorism.
But to gain access to sources of financing and to shake off the burden of over US$60 billion of foreign debts, the government adopted hash economic measures, including lifting of subsidies on bread, fuel and allowing the market to decide the value of the national currency, the Sudanese pound.
The policies have seen prices sky rocket and inflation soaring to over 400 percent.
And although active military and armed rebellion has ceased, communal violence and threats of strikes and sit-ins have marred the political scene in Sudan and created a climate in which rumours of coups prevail.
It was no surprise that Khartoum on Tuesday awoke to the announcement that a coup had been aborted, the first since the end of the 30-year military rule.
The Army and the Council of Ministers said further details would be provided as the interrogators finish their work with the authors of the foiled coup.
-0- PANA MO/MA 21Sept2021
