KHARTOUM, 26 September 2004 — The Sudanese government imposed a security clampdown yesterday after announcing that it had foiled a coup attempt by supporters of jailed former Islamist ally Hassan Turabi, a claim derided by anti-government rebels.
Security forces set up road blocks at strategic locations in and around the capital and searched vehicles and people in an effort to round up suspects, including the alleged coup leader, Al-Haj Adam Youssef, witnesses said. A statement said Islamists led by Youssef, the party’s communications secretary, had planned to execute the conspiracy in Khartoum at 2 p.m.(1100 GMT) following the Friday prayers.
Nearly all those involved were arrested, except Youssef, the Interior Ministry said.
The state Sudan News Agency said two senior military officers and several soldiers were detained on suspicion of involvement.
Security forces also uncovered a large arms cache outside Khartoum before dawn yesterday, Interior Minister Abdulrahim Mohammed Hussein told state radio.
The cache found in the village of Um Al-Qura, 30 kilometers north of the capital, included 300 Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and ammunition, the minister said. However, Sudan’s main rebel group swiftly accused Khartoum of lying about the alleged coup attempt in order to ward off foreign pressure over its failure to pacify the war-torn western region of Darfur.
“It is all made up to divert international attention and pressure it (Sudanese government) is getting over the Darfur conflict and other related issues,” Sudan People’s Liberation Movement Army spokesman Samson Kwaje told AFP in Nairobi, where the two sides are engaged in peace talks.
Another government opponent also dismissed the claim, saying it was an attempt to rein in political opponents.
“I do not believe that this information is true,” said retired Gen. Abul Rahman Saeed, vice chairman of the National Democratic Alliance, a grouping of northern and southern opposition groups. Saeed, a former army deputy chief of staff for operations, said he could not imagine a civilian institution like Turabi’s Popular Congress (PC) party attempting to overthrow a military regime.
“You need a good number of troops and vehicles. If you do not have these capabilities you cannot stage a coup,” he added.
The government simply wanted an excuse to clamp down on the PC, which it has accused of supporting Darfur-based rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement and sabotaging peace negotiations with the group. The PC was already targeted by a major clampdown earlier this month after the authorities announced they had discovered a string of arms caches around the capital.
Turabi himself was moved from house arrest to jail, while more than 30 of his leading supporters were detained.
The Interior Ministry said information obtained during the earlier clampdown had enabled it to foil Friday’s coup attempt, adding that those arrested have “confessed in detail”.
