Coup Atlas Research Database
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62509121990ConspiracyMilitary coup

Sudan, 1990 — military coup conspiracy

Sudan (SDN)North Africa, AfricaSeptember 12, 1990

Event Summary

This entry is coded 12 September 1990, corresponding to the September 1990 coup attempt against Lieutenant General Omar al-Bashir's regime in Sudan, a distinct episode from the better-known Ramadan coup of 23 April 1990. In its 1990 report Human Rights Watch recorded that, in addition to the twenty-eight senior officers summarily tried and executed after the April attempt, ten further executions followed a September coup attempt against the government. This second 1990 plot came as the Bashir regime deepened its repression and international isolation, having declared support for Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, which prompted the United States to begin publicly criticizing Sudan's human rights record.

Through this period the regime maintained strict censorship, dissolved trade unions, and pursued its war against the Sudan People's Liberation Army, bombing relief centers in the south in September 1990. The 12 September 1990 coding sits at this September 1990 coup attempt, after which ten officers were executed, in the first year and a half of Bashir's National Islamic Front-backed rule.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Bashir suppressed the September 1990 plot, executing ten officers, and remained in power until 2019
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Lieutenant General Omar al-Bashir (target)
the ten executed officers of the September plot
the National Islamic Front regime

Sources

In April 1990 twenty-eight senior officers were summarily tried and executed, and ten executions followed the September 1990 coup attempt against the Bashir government.
SOURCE REVIEWED Human Rights Watch World Report 1990: Sudan open source ↗
Following the Bashir government's declared support for the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the Bush administration began criticizing Sudan's human rights record publicly, and in September condemned the government's bombing of relief centers in the south.
SOURCE REVIEWED Human Rights Watch World Report 1990: Sudan open source ↗
Bashir presided over strict censorship, permitting only government-controlled newspapers, and in August 1990 a journalist was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted by a military tribunal of producing seditious literature.
SOURCE REVIEWED Human Rights Watch World Report 1990: Sudan open source ↗
Bashir issued purges and executions of people whom he alleged to be coup leaders in the upper ranks of the army, along with the banning of associations, political parties, and independent newspapers, in the early period of his rule.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Omar al-Bashir open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 12 Sep 1990 corresponds to the September 1990 coup attempt (distinct from the 23 Apr 1990 Ramadan coup), after which HRW recorded ten executions. Verified as a distinct September 1990 plot. Second of two Sudan records in this batch, split by phase from the March 1990 pre-Ramadan context entry.

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
62509121990

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Bashir suppressed the September 1990 plot, executing ten officers, and remained in power until 2019.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. 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.

Middle East Contemporary Survey 1990

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

The Gazette

“Coup try reported in Sudan:[Final Edition],” September 23, 1990

The Guardian

“Sudanese junta leaders ’crush coup plotters’,” September 22, 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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