SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources – Sudan military says it thwarted coup attempt, army chief of staff arrested

24/7/19: Multiple sources – Sudan military says it thwarted coup attempt, army chief of staff arrested

• Reuters, by Khalid Abdelaziz

• AP,by Samy Magdy

• Bloomberg, by Mohammed Alamin and Zaid Sabah

 Sudan’s military council said it arrested several senior officers for an alleged coup attempt to restore to power the National Congress Party (NCP), the now-outlawed party of ousted President Omar al-Bashir.

 The alleged coup attempt involved General Hashim Abdel Mottalib Ahmed, head of the joint chiefs of staff; high-ranking army and intelligence officers and NCP and Islamist leaders.

 Among those detained was General Bakri Hassan Saleh, a leading figure in the 1989 coup that brought al-Bashir to power, who served as his prime minister shortly before he was ousted.

 Also detained was former foreign minister Ali Karty, believed to be Sudan’s central Islamist figure since Al Bashir’s ousting. Al-Zubair Ahmed Hassan, a former finance minister who was secretary general of the Islamic Movement until Bashir’s was deposed, was also detained.

 Some analysts have labelled the arrests a fabrication aimed at consolidating power.