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KHARTOUM — Sudan's fragile transitional government said it foiled an attempted coup early Tuesday involving military officers and civilians linked to the ousted regime of longtime President Omar Al Bashir.

Information Minister Hamza Baloul said the coup attempt was thwarted and those behind it "brought under control".

"We assure the Sudanese people that order has been restored and the leaders of the attempted coup, both military and civilian, have been arrested and are being investigated," he said in a televised address.

"Authorities are pursuing supporters of the defunct regime who participated in the coup attempt."

Top military and government sources had told AFP that the plotters had attempted to take over the state media building but "failed" and the officers involved were "immediately suspended".

State television broadcast patriotic songs as it announced the coup attempt and urged "the people to confront it".

The Cabinet said "all those involved in the attempt have been detained".

Traffic appeared to be flowing smoothly in central Khartoum, AFP correspondents reported, including around army headquarters, where protesters staged a months-long sit-in that eventually led to Bashir's overthrow in a palace coup by the army in 2019.

Security forces did, however, close the main bridge across the White Nile connecting Khartoum to its twin city Omdurman.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said the coup attempt was the "latest manifestation of the national crisis".

The plotters "made extensive preparations, which were showcased in the security breakdown in cities ... blocking of national roads, closure of ports and persistent instigation against the civilian government", he said in a televised speech.

Demonstrators have since Friday blocked key roads as well as the country’s main trade hub, Port Sudan, to protest a peace deal the transitional government signed with rebel groups last year.

There have been previous coup attempts since Bashir’s ouster which officials have blamed on Islamist supporters of the former president and members of his now-defunct ruling party.

Sudan has had a long history of coups. Bashir, a one-time general himself, came to power on the back of an Islamist-backed military coup in 1989.

Since his ouster, the ex-president has been kept in Khartoum’s high security Kober Prison and is facing trial over the coup which brought him to power.

He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide for his prosecution of a deadly scorched-earth campaign against ethnic minority rebels in Darfur.

During a visit to Khartoum last month, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan signed a cooperation deal with the transitional authorities that marked another step towards Bashir facing trial in The Hague.

In an address to troops on Tuesday, powerful paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo said: “We will not allow a coup to take place.”

“We want real democratic transition through free and fair elections, not like in the past,” said the commander, widely known as Hemeti.

Under an August 2019 power-sharing deal, Sudan is ruled by a transitional government composed of both civilian and military representatives, and tasked with overseeing a return to full civilian rule.

The deal originally provided for the formation of a legislative assembly during a three-year transition, but that period was reset when Sudan signed the peace deal with rebel groups last October.

Two years under transition 

More than two years into the transition, the country remains plagued by chronic economic problems inherited from the Bashir regime as well as deep divisions among the various factions steering the transition.

The promised legislative assembly has yet to materialise.

In June, Hamdok had warned of worrying divisions within Sudan’s military and security establishment.

“The coup [attempt]... clearly indicates the importance of reform to the military and security sectors,” the premier said on Tuesday.

Civilians and former rebel groups have stepped up calls for armed groups and paramilitary forces to be merged into the regular army.

In recent months, tensions have reportedly simmered between paramilitaries and army commanders over the integration process.

The transitional government headed by Hamdok has also vowed to dismantle Bashir’s legacy and fix the battered economy.

It has launched a package of tough economic reforms to qualify for debt relief from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The steps, which included slashing subsidies and a managed float of the Sudanese pound, were seen by many Sudanese as too harsh.

Sporadic protests have broken out against the IMF-backed reforms and the rising cost of living, as well as delays in delivering justice to the families of those killed under Bashir.

BAGHDAD — War-scarred Iraq will hold a parliamentary election next month but Sajad, a 23-year-old man sitting with his friends in a Baghdad cafe, doesn't really care.

"I see the politicians' posters in the street, but I don't know the names or the programmes," says the man with a shaved head and tattooed forearms.

"I think they all have the same programme: 'We will do this, we will do that.' It's all promises," he scoffs, a sentiment shared by his friends.

Iraq is emerging from almost two decades of war and insurgency since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled longtime leader Saddam Hussein and promised to bring freedom and democracy.

Although parliamentary polls are to be held on October 10, there is little popular hope for major change through the ballot box, and widespread disillusionment about a political caste widely seen as inept and corrupt.

Sajad, who works in a media production company, says he has no plans to vote.

Many people feel the same, and there are fears voter turnout could drop below the official rate of 44.5 per cent from the most recent legislative election in 2018.

In Iraq's public squares and along main avenues there are banners of candidates, and rallies, often attended by local notables and tribal chiefs, have sought to mobilise support.

But overall, there has been little buzz as most Iraqis worry more about a painful economic crisis deepened by low oil prices and the COVID pandemic.

'Why should I vote?' 

The polls were initially scheduled for 2022 but moved forward to June this year by Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhemi, then postponed to October.

The early polls were a concession to a protest movement that broke out in the autumn of 2019, venting anger against corruption, soaring youth unemployment and crumbling public services.

Nearly 25 million Iraqis are eligible to vote, to elect 329 lawmakers from a field of more than 3,200 candidates in 83 constituencies.

A 25 per cent quota has been reserved for women in the Council of Representatives, the unicameral assembly located inside Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone.

A new electoral law expands the number of constituencies and scraps list-based voting in favour of votes for individual candidates.

But candidates can still run on behalf of a party or coalition, meaning the traditional blocs and patronage networks will likely remain powerful.

Mohammed, an economics graduate who works in a shop selling olive-, almond and other types of oils, says he feels “the election won’t bring change”.

At age 30, he keeps postponing the idea of marriage because of the searing economic difficulties.

“Basic services are not provided to me. Why should I go to vote?” he said, as the country suffers daily power cuts.

“The last time roads were paved in my neighbourhood was before 2003,” added Mohammed, who like many Iraqis prefers not to give his full name when discussing politics.

In his Baghdad constituency, he said he knows two of the five candidates, but hasn’t bothered to check their electoral platforms.

“The political factions have been the same since 2003; the only thing that changes are the faces,” he said.

He denounced Iraq’s entrenched clientelism, saying “the only people who vote are those who’ve been promised a job, or people who vote for someone close to them or from their tribe”.

‘Proliferation 

of weapons’ 

It is difficult to predict a winner in the race, where powerful blocs include the pro-Iran Shiite camp around the Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary network and the Sadrist camp of popular Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr.

Political scientist Marsin Alshamary said the election will be held in a climate of “apathy and despair, especially among young people”.

“Most people think that these elections will achieve nothing,” added the researcher from the US-based Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs.

Voter turnout “has been declining over previous elections cycles”, she said. “In 2018 it was very bad. There is a very strong likelihood that this election will be worse.”

The gloom has deepened after the protest movement that started in October 2019 ended with little change and many dashed expectations.

Many activists were murdered, kidnapped or intimidated. No one has claimed responsibility for the violence and no one has been held accountable.

The activists blame the “militias” in a country where Iranian-funded armed groups have steadily gained influence.

Another Iraqi who said he won’t cast his ballot is 28-year-old Ali, who argues that he does not want to be complicit in the “crime” the election represents for him.

“There will be no transparent elections,” the young man said.

“The money of politicians dominates, there is a proliferation of weapons in all the constituencies. Whoever has the weapons will win.”

BEIRUT — Iranian fuel has entered Lebanon without state authorisation and despite US sanctions following arrangements by Shiite group Hizbollah, consecrating the party’s status as the main powerhouse in the crisis-hit country.

“This latest event gives yet another confirmation that Hizbollah has considerably increased its sway over the Lebanese state,” said political scientist Karim Emile Bitar.

“It is no longer even trying to hide behind the veneer of legality offered by official institutions,” he said.

Lebanon, grappling with its worst-ever financial crisis, defaulted on its debt last year and can no longer afford to import key goods, including petrol for vehicles and diesel for generators during almost round-the-clock power cuts.

Fuel shortages have forced motorists to queue for hours — sometimes days — while electricity outages have plunged the country into darkness, paralysing hospitals, schools and government offices.

Despite being an integral part of the state — it holds seats in parliament and backs several Cabinet ministers — Hizbollah has bemoaned the state’s failure and vowed to step in with its own solution.

The party, which is designated by the US as a terrorist group and is the only militia to have kept its arsenal after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 war, arranged for dozens of trucks carrying Iranian fuel to enter Lebanon via Syria last week.

The delivery was not officially approved by the government and the trucks entered via an illegal crossing for a transaction that violates US and other sanctions.

The move, although a first, falls in line with the Iran-backed party’s long-standing autonomy from a weak centralised state that has stood idly on the sidelines as the group deployed in Syria in 2013 and repeatedly engaged in military confrontations with southern neighbour Israel.

“Hizbollah’s latest move weakens the state and perceptions of the state,” political activist and energy expert Laury Haytayan told AFP.

“It’s very clear that the state is unable to stop Hizbollah. The state is watching and it’s paralysed and it can’t take any action.”

‘Violation of sovereignty’ 

A total of 80 trucks carrying 4 million litres of Iranian fuel oil entered Lebanon on Thursday, days after a first Iranian ship reached the Syrian port of Baniyas.

Three more Iranian ships are expected to deliver fuel oil and petrol in the coming weeks, according to Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

The shipments were purchased by Lebanese businessmen, according to Iran, most likely with ties to Hizbollah.

The Lebanese government, headed by Prime Minister Najib Mikati and which was finally formed last week after a year-long delay, has distanced itself from the scheme.

Speaking to CNN last week, Mikati described the Hizbollah delivery as “a violation of Lebanese sovereignty” but said he believed Lebanon would not be hit by US sanctions because the government had not authorised the shipment.

The first fuel delivery — which Hizbollah’s Al Manar TV says can only cover the needs of a single major institution such as a hospital for one month — is a “test”, Haytayan said.

If it goes unanswered by the US, then many traders may be emboldened to stock up despite the threat of sanctions, especially if shortages persist, the expert said.

Distribution 

Fuel distribution will be managed by Hizbollah auxiliaries that are already sanctioned and run no additional risk.

Al Amana, a fuel distribution company which is owned by Hizbollah and has been under US sanctions since February 2020, distributed a first batch of around 100,000 litres of fuel oil in the southern Hizbollah stronghold of Tyre and Beirut on Saturday, Al Manar reported, without specifying the exact beneficiaries.

On Sunday, Al Amana distributed another 100,000 litres of fuel oil in Mount Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley which is widely considered a Hizbollah bastion, Al Manar said.

The first deliveries were all free of charge after Nasrallah on Monday said his group would donate fuel to government hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, water pumping stations, municipalities, civil defence units, firefighter brigades and the Lebanese Red Cross.

The rest will be sold on the market in Lebanese pounds at a price less than the subsidised rate set by the state, Al Amana said on Sunday, making it a serious competitor for official importers selling stocks in US dollars at a much higher price.

Nasrallah said last week he hopes municipalities will oversee distribution.

But he stressed individual institutions could also source fuel directly from Hizbollah if a particular municipality refuses to engage with it for political reasons.

Dispelling rumours that the fuel will only benefit Hizbollah’s own community, Nasrallah said it was intended “for all regions and for all Lebanese” regardless of their political or sectarian affiliation.

TEHRAN — Iran said on Sunday it is willing to sell fuel to Lebanon’s government to help ease shortages, days after a first delivery of Iranian fuel arranged by Hizbollah entered the country.

“If the Lebanese government wants to buy fuel from us to resolve the problems faced by its population, we will supply it,” foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

He told a news conference that the Islamic republic had already sold fuel to a “Lebanese businessman”, without naming Hizbollah.

Tehran-backed Hizbollah promised in August to bring fuel from Iran to alleviate the shortages sowing chaos in Lebanon, in defiance of US sanctions.

On Thursday, dozens of tanker trucks carrying Iranian fuel arranged by Hizbollah arrived in Lebanon and were due to fill the tanks of fuel distribution firm owned by Hizbollah, which has been under US sanctions.

Lebanon’s new Prime Minister Najib Mikati had told CNN the shipment “was not approved by the Lebanese government”.

He was “saddened” by “the violation of Lebanese sovereignty”.

Hizbollah is a major political force in Lebanon and the only group to have kept its arsenal of weapons following the end of the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.

Lebanon is facing one of its worst-ever economic crises, with more than three out of four Lebanese considered to be under the poverty line.

Last year, it defaulted on its foreign debt and can no longer afford to import key goods, including petrol and diesel.

Mains electricity are only available a handful of hours a day, while the Lebanese are struggling to find petrol, bread and medicine.

ALGIERS — Algeria on Sunday buried Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the North African country's longest-serving president, at a cemetery for its independence heroes, but without the honours accorded to his predecessors.

Bouteflika died on Friday aged 84, after a career which took him from being the world's youngest foreign minister to one of its oldest heads of state, but ended with a humbling fall from power.

The veteran politician had lived as a recluse since quitting office in April 2019 after the military abandoned him following weeks of street protests sparked by his bid to run for a fifth presidential term.

His muted funeral, with no lying in state and just three days of national mourning instead of eight, reflected a mixed legacy that left many Algerians indifferent to the ceremony.

"Frankly, I've got better things to do than follow the funeral of a president who left the country in a terrible state," retired financial sector employee Fares told AFP in the capital Algiers.

But after the burial, around 200 mourners gathered around his tomb and placed flowers on it, an AFP photographer said.

Bouteflika, who had first served as foreign minister in the mid-1960s, swept to the presidency in 1999 on a wave of popular support as his amnesty offer to Islamist militants helped bring an end to a decade-long civil war.

But despite economic progress amid high oil prices in the early years of his rule, crude exporter Algeria later saw growing corruption and unemployment which became key drivers of the Hirak pro-democracy movement that eventually ousted him.

Muted ceremony 

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune flanked by top government officials attended Sunday's funeral, while the minister for independence fighters, Laid Rebiga, read an eulogy.

An armoured vehicle towed his flag-draped coffin on a gun carriage adorned with flowers and escorted by lines of police on motorcycles.

Apart from family members, government members and foreign diplomats attended the ceremony, guarded by blue- and black-uniformed security officers.

The procession travelled from Bouteflika's residence to the cemetery east of downtown Algiers, as bystanders filmed it with their mobile phones.

Tebboune, who succeeded Bouteflika and once served as his premier, placed a wreath of the freshly-dug tomb amid a gun-salute, the official APS news agency reported.

Only journalists from state media were given access to the ceremony which was not broadcast live, in contrast to the fanfare of previous presidential deaths.

The People’s Palace, where other presidents had lain in state, appeared to have been prepared to display his remains before the interment, but this was cancelled.

Ill health and protests 

Bouteflika had wanted to outdo his mentor, the country’s second president Houari Boumediene, by boosting Algeria’s regional influence and turning the page on a civil war in the 1990s which killed around 200,000 people, University of Algiers politics lecturer Louisa Dris Ait Hamadouche said.

Instead, “the institutions of the state have never been so weakened, so divided or so discredited”, she said.

Algeria was largely spared the uprisings that swept the Arab world in 2011, something many credited to memories of the civil war and a boost in state handouts.

But graft under Bouteflika and his circle left Africa’s largest nation by surface area, with vast oil wealth, with poor infrastructure and high unemployment.

Bouteflika also faced criticism from rights groups and opponents who accused him of being authoritarian.

He suffered a mini-stroke in April 2013 that affected his speech, and he was forced to use a wheelchair, barely appearing in public during a presidential campaign the following year.

His bid in 2019 for a fifth term sparked protests that soon grew into the Hirak pro-democracy movement.

Some Bouteflika-era figures were eventually jailed, including his powerful brother Said, who was however permitted to attend Sunday’s funeral. But many members of the old guard are still running the country.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI was the first head of state to send condolences to Tebboune, despite tensions between the two neighbours.

And French President Emmanuel Macron described Bouteflika as a “major figure” in contemporary Algeria.