Washington warned the military leaders in Sudan against undermining the constitutional document and coup against democracy, while a member of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council accused the military component of the council of trying to control political life.

The White House said today, Friday, that the US envoy to the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, will visit Sudan next week to affirm US support for the Sudanese government.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed, in a phone call with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, today, Friday, the Biden administration's commitment to supporting the civilian-led transition to democracy in Sudan, and opposing any obstruction of the will of the Sudanese people.

"Any attempt by the military to undermine the parameters of the constitutional declaration will have dire consequences for bilateral relations," Sullivan said.

According to the White House, Sullivan and Hamdok discussed the importance of the transitional government making progress in achieving economic and security stability under civilian leadership.

The White House said President Biden looks forward to hosting and meeting with Prime Minister Hamdok in the near future.

Since August 21, 2019, Sudan has been living a 53-month transitional period that ends with elections in early 2024, during which power is shared by the army, civilian forces and armed movements that signed a peace agreement with the government on the third of last October.

Sudanese authorities said they thwarted a coup attempt last Tuesday, accusing conspirators loyal to ousted President Omar al-Bashir of trying to undermine the revolution that toppled him in 2019 and heralded the transition to democracy in Sudan.

After the coup attempt, the civil and military cadres within the ruling Sovereign Council publicly exchanged accusations regarding responsibility for the political division and the deterioration of the economic and living conditions in the country.


trying to dominate

In a related context, a member of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Muhammad al-Faki Suleiman, accused the military component, the partner of the transitional authority in the country, of trying to control the political situation.

Al-Faki said in an interview with the official Sudan TV today, Friday, "There is an attempt by the military component to modify the political equation, and this violates the partnership process," considering that this is the real coup and a white coup.

He added that the military component, by talking about differences within the forces of freedom and change, aims to control the political process and appoint specific people (he did not mention them) to power, and this is rejected.

And he added, "The head of the Sovereign Council, Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, is not a guardian of the political process in the country. I reject his talk about the guardianship of the military component over the political process."

Al-Faki acknowledged that there is incompatibility between the military and civilian components of the Sovereignty Council, stressing that the political climate in Sudan requires courageous discussion instead of blaming and trying to evade commitments.

He stressed that the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change will discuss the issue of civilians assuming the presidency of the Sovereignty Council in the middle of next week, stressing that the interpretation of the civilian component of the constitutional document indicates that they will assume the presidency of the Sovereignty Council next November.


Arrest of participants in the coup

On the other hand, Sudanese media said today, Friday, that the authorities arrested 5 civilians on charges of cutting communications during the failed coup attempt that took place last Tuesday.

The newspaper "Al-Sudani" (privately) reported that the armed forces managed yesterday, Thursday, to arrest 5 civilians whose mission was to blow up the main communications lines of Zain and Sudani, with the aim of completely cutting off communications from subscribers throughout the country.

She added that those involved in the coup were communicating through the SIM cards of the MTN telecommunications company, and they aimed to cut off communications from subscribers in Zain and Sudany, because they have the largest number of subscribers in telecommunications in Sudan, in order to facilitate the task of the putschists in controlling the country.

And the newspaper added, "Civilians removed the cover from the main communications cable channel, and while they were descending into the channel, an explosive device in their possession exploded and their mission failed, as they were exposed to serious burns on their bodies, and they did not go to receive an ambulance in the hospital so that they would not be exposed, and they went to a special place south of Khartoum".

And last Tuesday, the Sudanese Minister of Defense, Yassin Ibrahim, announced that a coup attempt led by Major General Abdul-Baqi al-Hassan Othman Bakrawi, along with 22 other officers of different ranks, non-commissioned officers and soldiers, had been thwarted.

Officials accused figures from the former regime of being behind the failed coup attempt on Tuesday, at a time when the former ruling National Congress Party during Al-Bashir's era denied this accusation.

In a related context, protesters demonstrated in the eastern El-Dium area in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to denounce the coup attempt, which the Sudanese army announced that it had thwarted a few days ago.

The participants in the demonstration chanted slogans against the President of the Sovereign Council and his deputy and called for a civilian government. The protesters also demanded justice for the victims of the sit-in and demonstrations during the revolution that toppled the regime of ousted President Omar al-Bashir.


Tensions in the East

In eastern Sudan, the Supreme Council of Beja Opticals and Al-Amoudiya announced the complete closure of the road leading to the city of Port Sudan, in the east of the country.

The council said that it will prevent cars and buses from crossing into and out of Port Sudan at Aqaba, noting that the closure has been partially lifted at Port Sudan airport for 72 hours.

The Council stressed that this step comes within the framework of the escalation taken by the Council in the face of the transitional government to push it to implement a number of political demands, foremost of which is the dismissal of the government and the formation of a military council in which all regions of the country are represented, in addition to canceling what is known as the Eastern Sudan track in the Juba peace negotiations.

On the other hand, Sudanese sources said that the Public Prosecution Office in Kassala State, in the east of the country, has started judicial procedures against Muhammad Al-Amin Turk, head of the Supreme Council of Beja Opticals and Independent Al-Amoudiya in eastern Sudan.

Those sources stated that the Public Prosecution had filed the case as a matter of public right and endangering others in accordance with the criminal law, as these sources put it.

For his part, the overseer, Muhammad Al-Amin Turk, described legal procedures against him in Kassala State as a new sedition and a move motivated by the Sudanese left.

In a telephone interview with Al Jazeera, Turk acknowledged the continuation of negotiations with Khartoum, adding that they presented the government with new ideas to overcome the crisis.

These ideas include giving up the idea of ​​self-determination in exchange for canceling the eastern Sudan track contained in the Juba Peace Agreement, or holding a free referendum, but the government did not respond to that, he said.

Turk had launched a violent attack on Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, and demanded his resignation, saying that Hamdok should prosecute those accused of the failed coup attempt or confessing lies to the people and the international community.