Armored vehicles are the decisive weapon of coups.. Who is the leader of Sudan's failed coup and who participated in the suicide?

KHARTOUM -

On a helicopter, the army evacuated the leaders of what it considered a coup attempt by the armored corps in the Shagara suburb, south of Khartoum, to enter it aboard the cars of the Vice-President of the Sovereign Council, Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his deputy, "Hemedti", for whom this military area was forbidden.

During the rebel sit-in in front of the army command in 2019, the commander of the Armored Corps, Major General Nasr El-Din Abdel-Fattah, and the second commander of the Armored Corps, Brigadier Abdel-Baqi Bakraoui, confronted the commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Lieutenant-General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti” on more than one occasion.

At that time, the Rapid Support Forces were stationed in front of most of the army units, apparently to control any movement, but the Brigadier General, at the time, Bakrawi, refused any presence of the Rapid Support Forces near the armored vehicles, threatening to use force, forcing them to withdraw.

According to a senior army officer, Zamel Major General Abdel-Baqi Bakrawi, leader of the coup attempt, which the government announced thwarted at dawn yesterday, Tuesday, Bakrawi, who comes from northern Sudan, is an ambitious, courageous and charismatic person.

Bakraoui, the rebel armored man,

says the officer who accompanied Bakraoui for a long time that when he heard of his involvement in the coup attempt, he did not rule out that due to his ambition, in addition to his emotional and confrontational personality.

He adds that, throughout his service, the man joined armored vehicles, the decisive weapon in Sudan's coups, except for the periods when he moved to the theaters of operations in southern Sudan.

After the sit-in was dispersed, Al-Burhan held a meeting with senior officers in the armored vehicles, and the commander of the arms, "Major General Nasr Al-Din," expressed opinions that were not accepted by the Military Council, so that he would be referred to retirement.

Subsequently, the commander of the second armored vehicle, "Bakrawi", broadcast an audio recording criticizing the Rapid Support Forces and its commander Hemedti, so that Bakrawi was placed in severe detention, while his rank at the time "brigadier" required that he be brought to trial or referred to retirement.

The high-ranking officer, who preferred to remain anonymous, says, "Later on, a trial was held for Bakraoui, but it did not try him clearly. Then he deserved a promotion and was promoted, although according to the regulations it was necessary to decide in his court before the promotion."

He continued, "It seems that the decision-maker was not keen on referring him to retirement, but rather was keen on promoting him to the rank of major general."

What was the leader of the coup attempt in Egypt doing?

The officer points out that the man was then attached to the Officers' Affairs Department and remained without assignments. According to his rank, he was supposed to be a weapon commander or an administrative director at the General Command.

Later, the leader of the coup attempt traveled to Cairo for treatment and returned to the country a few days ago, after his leg was amputated, to be declared the leader of a failed coup attempt.

Although the second commander of the Armored Corps, Brigadier General Ayoub Abdel Qader, is also currently in Egypt on a hospitalization trip, the high-ranking officer rules out his participation in the coup attempt due to the divergence of convictions between him and Bakraoui.

He confirms that Bakrawi is not one of the Islamist cadres in the army, but what boosted his chances of continuing in the army is his great capabilities and ability to confront and make decisions, as well as the charisma of leadership that he gained from practicing guidance at the Higher Military Academy, the highest educational institute for the army.

Major General Abdel-Baqi Bakraoui joined the army through the Military Academy, batch 39, one year before the coup of ousted President Omar al-Bashir in June 1989.

Bakrawi is rooted in Romi Al-Bakry in the Northern State, but he grew up and studied his studies in Kosti, White Nile State.

Who are the rest of the participants in the failed military coup?

According to leaked information received by Al Jazeera Net, the coup involved a brigade and four officers at the rank of brigadier general, six at the rank of colonel, two at the rank of lieutenant colonel, three at the rank of major, the same at the rank of captain and two at the rank of first lieutenant, along with a retired officer at the rank of colonel.

Al-Burhan's media advisor, Brigadier-General Taher Abu Haja, had announced the arrest of 21 officers and a number of soldiers, while subsequent information indicated an increase in the number of officers participating in it.

The following are the names of the officers arrested in connection with the coup attempt and who were investigated by the army leadership to see if there were civilians involved in the coup, especially after the coup cell destroyed communications chips designated for the coup officers before their arrest.

Major General Abdel Baqi Bakrawi, Brigadier General Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Brigadier General Maher Ali Hassan, Brigadier General Khaled Al Sadiq, Brigadier General Abdel Halim Jibril, Colonel Bushra Abdel Rahman, Colonel Zaki Abdullah Khairallah, Colonel Amer Hajo, Colonel Yassin Muhammad Mustafa, Colonel Essam El Din Eid Allah Ahmad Colonel Musab Al-Hassan, Lieutenant-Colonel Mamoun Abdel-Qader, Lieutenant-Colonel Bashir Ibrahim Hamed, Major Mustafa Qamar, Major Ali Fath Al-Rahman Ali Al-Amin, Major Amer Al-Obeid, Captain Muhammad Mukhtar, Captain Essam Al-Din Al-Tom, Captain Ayman Mahmoud Abdullah Al-Haj, First Lieutenant Musab Abu Bakr Al-Hajj, First Lieutenant Muhammad Al-Mawdudi and retired Colonel Imad Abu Dis.

It is noteworthy that the four deans are from the 41st batch of the Military College, whose graduation was supervised by the ousted al-Bashir, including the second commander of the Parachute Corps, Brigadier General Ibrahim Mansouri, and another paratrooper, Brigadier General Maher Hassan.

What is the story of the Armored Corps with coups?

According to the information, four weapons participated in the coup attempt: armored vehicles, parachutes, the air force and the administration's corps.

The Armored Corps has always represented the decisive factor in all the coups that took place in Sudan, followed by the importance of the Parachute Corps.

Major General "M" Corner "M" Abdul Rahman Arbab Mersal explains to Al Jazeera Net that it is customary for coups to rely on weapons and units located inside the capital, Khartoum, because they are strong and well-armed, and they always have one vision for their presence in one place.

It is noteworthy that the reliance on armored vehicles in military coups stems from the intense fire of armored vehicles and their fearsome shape, as well as their use in closing roads and bridges.

Mersal says that the parachute force also has tasks in coups that are no less important than armored vehicles due to the strength of its anchors and the high training of its members.

Was the atmosphere ripe for a military coup?

Despite the availability of armored personnel and paratroopers, Mersal says that the success of any coup depends on the political atmosphere and the current atmosphere in Sudan does not help the success of any coup, even if all the army participates.

He considered the recent coup attempt a "suicide operation" that might have been behind a party plot or an external party that rode the army's horse, and it is not excluded that Islamists were behind the latest military move.

He expected that the coup group would not be prosecuted like the group that was accused of a coup after the sit-in was dispersed under the leadership of Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Hashim Abdel Muttalib.

Since its independence in early 1956, Sudan has witnessed three successful coups carried out by Lieutenant-General Ibrahim Abboud in 1958, Colonel Jaafar Nimeiri in 1969 and Brigadier General Omar al-Bashir in 1989, in contrast to a large number of failed coups thwarted during the eras of military and democratic rule.