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Military Coup Fails In Sudan, At Least 40 Officers Arrested

(Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Michael Ginsberg Congressional Correspondent
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At least 40 military officers were arrested in Sudan on Tuesday after they attempted to overthrow the country’s transitional government.

The officers attempted to take over Sudan’s state television station and the main military installation in Khartoum, CNN reported. The officers supported former president Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown in 2019 and is currently in jail on corruption charges, a government spokesman said in a statement.

Bashir will face charges of genocide at the International Criminal Court (ICC) after he is released from Sudanese prison. The Sudanese transitional government has agreed to hand Bashir over to the ICC for trial over the 2004 Darfur genocide, when the Sudanese army government-backed militias killed as many as 200,000 ethnic minorities.

“There has been a failed coup attempt by military officers remnants of the former regime, we are confirming as the transitional council that we are coordinating fully and we are comforting the Sudanese people that the situation is completely under control,” the spokesman, Hamza Baloul, said, according to CNN.

“We’re not going back… there are people trying to turn back the hands of time,” he continued.

Sudan is currently led by a transitional government headed by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Hamdok and other government officials have expressed a desire to hold parliamentary elections, which are tentatively scheduled for 2022. The country has faced economic shocks and rampant food insecurity since the overthrow of Bashir. (RELATED: REPORT: Sudan Agrees To Join Abraham Accords, Will Normalize Ties With Israel)

Sudan has frequently dealt with military coups. Bashir came to power in a 1989 coup against Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi. Al-Mahdi was elected to office in 1986, following a 1985 coup.