Sudan’s military rulers say they thwarted several coup attempts

Sudan’s military rulers said on Thursday they had thwarted several coup attempts against them.

Two different groups of people who had attempted coups had been arrested, the Transitional Military Council’s spokesman said.

One group consisted of five people while the other had more than 12 members, he said.

The military council for the first time on Thursday admitted it had ordered the June 3 dispersal of a Khartoum protest sit-in that left dozens dead and hundreds wounded.

“The military council decided to disperse the sit-in and a plan was made... but we regret that some mistakes happened,” spokesman Shamseddine Kabbashi told reporters.

He said the military would not allow any further protest camps to be set up near armed forces sites, after the sit-in outside army headquarters in central Khartoum was cleared.

Kabbashi said the findings of an investigation into the events of June 3 would be released on Saturday.

The military rulers said that Ethiopia’s prime minister had suggested that negotiations between the rulers and the Sudanese opposition on a transition to democracy move to Addis Ababa.

The Transitional Military Council rejected that proposal, the council’s spokesman said.