Sudan's Ex-Intelligence Chief among 13 Held in 'Plot'

Sudan on Thursday said it arrested 13 people including the former head of the country's powerful intelligence service for an alleged plot to sabotage national security.

A witness saw armored vehicles moving in the streets of the capital before daybreak, as state-linked media first reported that the "plot" had been averted.

Sudan has experienced seven coups or attempted coups in its 56-year history but senior ruling party official Rabbie Abdelatti Ebaid told AFP: "I don't think this is a coup".

Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman told reporters the most prominent figure held was retired general Salah Gosh, longtime chief of the national intelligence service.

President Omar al-Bashir replaced Gosh with Gosh's number two, General Mohamed Atta al-Moula, in August 2009.

Gosh then became presidential security adviser until he was sacked early last year. He had been pushing for dialogue with the political opposition.

Also detained were security services General Adil al-Tayeb and Brigadier Mohammed Ibrahim of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Osman said.

Ibrahim was deputy commander of an operation earlier this year to retake Sudan's Heglig oil fields after a brief occupation by South Sudan.

Osman said civilians were also detained in connection with the plot which "targeted the stability of the state and some leaders of the state".

He did not release any other names.

The detainees are under investigation in connection with the scheme initially planned for November 15 but was delayed until Thursday.

"Authorities decided to stop them before they implemented it," Osman said.

"The security and intelligence service early today stopped a plot to disturb security," said the Sudanese Media Center, which is close to the security apparatus.

"This plot is led by some opposition party leaders," it said.

Farouk Abu Issa, spokesman for an alliance of more than 20 opposition parties, told AFP that he had heard about the plot allegation, "but I think it is fake".

He said the opposition supports democratic, peaceful change through strikes and demonstrations against Bashir's 23-year Islamist regime.

"The government knows that," he said, adding that no opposition politicians were detained over the alleged incident.

A witness told AFP that he saw troops moving early Thursday.

"About 2:00 am (2300 GMT) while passing Obeid Khatim Street I saw some tanks and vehicles with military equipment and soldiers coming from a southerly direction and heading downtown," said the witness, who asked for anonymity.

Obeid Khatim Street is a wide thoroughfare running alongside Khartoum's military and civilian airports, leading into the downtown area where government buildings are located.

There were no signs of extra troops downtown later Thursday.

Islamist reformers charge that corruption and other problems have left the government Islamic only in name and question how much longer Bashir should remain in power.

"A lot of people are saying 23 years is too long a time, and what's the difference between him and Mubarak and Assad?" a Sudan analyst who asked for anonymity said earlier.

He was referring to ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

In June and July scattered youth-driven protests called for an end to the regime in line with calls by Arab Spring demonstrators throughout the region.

Sudan's protests petered out in the face of widespread arrests.

"They themselves are afraid of their people uprising and saying 'no' to their policies," Issa said. "At the same time, there are differences between different factions" in the ruling apparatus, he added.

Analysts say the security forces themselves do not uniformly support the regime, which is fighting rebellions in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, as well as unrest in Darfur, while tensions have resurfaced on the unmarked border with South Sudan.