Sudanese general ignored U.S. warning as army rolled out coup plan

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Hours before Sudan’s army seized power and dissolved its government, a senior U.S. envoy warned the country’s top general not to take any steps against the civilian administration that was overseeing a democratic transition, diplomats said.

Jeffrey Feltman, President Joe Biden’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, flew into Khartoum two days before Monday’s coup, as concerns mounted that the transition was running into trouble due to mounting tension between the generals and civilians.

But instead of heeding the warning, the army did just the opposite, acting on a plan to seize power that two diplomats and three Sudanese official sources said had been developed over the preceding weeks.

The coup brought an abrupt halt to a political transition that began after a popular uprising led to the overthrow of former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, and was meant to end with elections in late 2023.

After Feltman flew out, uniformed soldiers rounded up the civilian cabinet in pre-dawn raids, before Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced the dissolution of the government.

Until the last moment, the military was hoping to persuade Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to dismiss his cabinet so they could tighten their grip on the transition without using force while keeping him in office, according to the diplomats and two of Hamdok’s aides. Hamdok refused to cooperate.

The decision to ignore warnings from the United States — which had thrown diplomatic and financial weight behind the transition — and move forward with what one of the diplomats and Sudanese sources with knowledge of the matter described as a “plan B” without Hamdok, reflected the stakes for the army, which analysts say saw growing risks from continued civilian rule.

In his last meeting with Burhan, Feltman “put Burhan under big pressure not to do anything against the cabinet, to de-escalate”, said one diplomat briefed on the meeting, declining to be identified.

But Burhan was also under pressure from factions in the army and his deputy in the Sovereign Council that had been steering the transition, the powerful head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to take a hard line with the civilians, the diplomat said.

“During the meeting they decided to go with Plan B. This was the last chance to get Hamdok to take part,” he said.

Sudan’s military did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters about Feltman’s meetings in Khartoum.

Feltman received no heads-up about the military intervention, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Monday.

“It is not something that we were apprised of beforehand by anyone, and we would have made very clear of the profound implications that any such move would have,” he said.

Feltman had urged authorities to agree a date for transferring…