Sudanese cabinet calls for prosecution of coup plotters

The Sudanese cabinet called during an emergency meeting on Saturday for the prosecution of those involved in a plot to overthrow the government.

Chaired by First Vice President Ali Osman Taha, the cabinet also called on the national and political powers in Sudan to unite their will against such a plot in order to preserve the country's unity and stability.

In their speeches at the meeting, both the minister of defense and the minister of interior uncovered that Friday's coup attempt was meant to cause chaos and confusion in security.

The plotters were expecting some supply from a foreign country as well as some support from the Darfur rebels, they added without elaboration.

The Sudanese Interior Ministry announced in a statement on Friday that its security forces foiled a plot by Islamists to overthrow the government.

The statement said some elements of the Popular Congress (PC) planned to carry out the plot Friday afternoon and to assassinate dozens of the state leaders.

Nearly all those involved in the plot have been arrested except the alleged ringleader Al-Haj Adam Youssef, a communications official of the opposition party, it said.

The PC has been suspended in the country since April, when it was accused of inciting tribal tensions in the troubled western region of Darfur.

Its leader Hassan al-Turabi, a former mentor of Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, was arrested at that time and is facing charges of incitement to sedition and subversion of the current regime.