Sources stated that around 21 officers and several other soldiers have been detained in connection with the failed putsch in Sudan.
Qatar has strongly condemned a failed coup attempt in Sudan that was quickly thwarted by authorities on Tuesday, Doha’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced.
In a statement, Qatari authorities said the failed putsch was an attempt to target the Sudanese people’s hopes and aspirations for a smooth democratic transition, freedom, peace, and justice.
The comments came after some military officers and civilians accused of links to the previous President Omar al-Bashir regime attempted to overthrow the transitional government in Sudan on Tuesday.
Shortly after, Sudanese authorities said the situation was under control, and around 21 officers and a number of other soldiers were detained for interrogation, Reuters reported.
Authorities are continuing to search remaining culprits.
“For the first time, people involved in the attempt were arrested… They are being interviewed to discover their intentions and the truth behind this. There is a special committee investigating what has happened,” said Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
“What happened in this coup attempt, is an extension of previous attempts against the Transitional Council… They tried to take advantage of the situation in different towns by closing ports and roads… tried to stop us from moving forward during this transitional period,” he added.
Since the overthrow of former President Bashir, who was toppled after a country-wide revolution in 2019, several coup attempts have taken place in the country, though none have been successful.
Sudan has been grappling with a fragile path to democratic rule since the military’s overthrow of Bashir, with the joint civilian and military government struggling to control a dire economic and political situation in the country.
Qatar’s statement stated its full support for Sudan and its people to maintain its sovereignty, unity, security and stability.
Qatar-Sudan ties
Qatar and Sudan have had strong relations since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1972.
The Gulf state participated in the final signing ceremony of the peace agreement between the transitional government of the Republic of Sudan and the Sudanese Armed Movements in October 2020.
In 2011, Doha also sponsored a negotiation process that resulted in the Darfur Peace Agreement, which brought together the government of Sudan and the armed movements to end the six-year-long Darfur conflict.
At least 300,000 people were killed and around 2.7 million were displaced during the genocide.
Then in 2013, Qatar hosted the International Donors Conference for Reconstruction and Development in Darfur, where the country pledged to raise $7.2 billion to help rebuild the conflict area over a period of six years.
More recently, Qatar stepped in as a mediator between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia to help resolve the decade-long Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam [GERD] dam crisis. Doha also held a special session on the sidelines of the Arab League consultative session in June.
In a joint statement, members of the league stressed the importance of water security in Sudan and Egypt, saying it is an “integral part of Arab national security”.
Earlier this month, Qatar invited Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to visit the Gulf state, Anadolu Agency reported, citing Khartoum’s foreign ministry.
The statement said the invitation was delivered to Sudan’s Foreign Minister Maryam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi by Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi in Cairo on the sidelines of an Arab League ministerial meeting.
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