Coup Atlas Research Database
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62504231990AttemptedMilitary coup

Sudan, 1990 — military coup attempt

Sudan (SDN)North Africa, AfricaApril 23, 1990

Event Summary

The dataset records an event coded as an attempted military coup in Sudan on 23 April 1990 against the Islamist military regime of Lieutenant General Omar al-Bashir, who had seized power in a June 1989 coup that overthrew the elected government and installed a dictatorship aligned with Hassan al-Turabi's National Islamic Front. In April 1990 a group of army officers, reportedly retired and serving loyalists of the ousted democratic order, mounted a coup attempt against Bashir's still consolidating regime. It was crushed, and Bashir's government responded with brutal swiftness: twenty eight officers were summarily tried and executed, a purge that shocked the army and signaled the regime's ruthlessness in stamping out internal opposition.

The failed coup helped Bashir and the National Islamic Front tighten their grip, purging the officer corps of suspected disloyalty and entrenching the Islamist security state. Bashir went on to rule Sudan for three decades, prosecuting devastating civil wars in the south and in Darfur, until he was himself finally overthrown in a popular uprising and military coup in 2019.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Lieutenant General Omar al-Bashir crushed the April 1990 coup attempt and executed 28 officers
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Omar al-Bashir (military ruler of Sudan, target)
army officers (plotters, executed)

Sources

An attempt on 23 April 1990, allegedly orchestrated by retired officers and junior loyalists, aimed to overthrow the ruling military junta led by Lieutenant General Omar al-Bashir.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Coups d'etat in Sudan open source ↗
Omar al-Bashir seized power in a June 1989 coup that overthrew the elected government of Sadiq al-Mahdi and installed an Islamist dictatorship aligned with Hassan al-Turabi.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Coups d'etat in Sudan open source ↗
Bashir's regime responded to coup plots with executions of officers as it consolidated the Islamist security state.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Omar al-Bashir open source ↗
Bashir ruled Sudan for three decades until he was overthrown in a popular uprising and military coup in 2019.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Omar al-Bashir open source ↗

Editorial Note

Date match to the 23 April 1990 coup attempt against Bashir. Dataset codes it a military coup with leader unharmed, accurate for Bashir. Verified via the Sudan coups list and Bashir biography; the reported execution of 28 officers is noted from general accounts and the fine detail is lightly sourced this session. Continues the long Sudan run into the Bashir era.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
62504231990

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Lieutenant General Omar al-Bashir crushed the April 1990 coup attempt and executed 28 officers.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Wall Street Journal

“World-Wide [3],” April 25, 1990

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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