Coup Atlas Research Database
← Back to explorer
62509252004ConspiracyRebel coup

Sudan, 2004 — rebel coup conspiracy

Sudan (SDN)North Africa, AfricaSeptember 25, 2004

Event Summary

This entry is coded 25 September 2004, corresponding to the second of the two 2004 coup attempts against President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. In March 2004 the government said it had foiled a coup attempt against Bashir and his cabinet, inspired by opposition leaders and the Islamist ideologue Hassan al-Turabi, and detained al-Turabi along with members of his Popular Congress party and some military officers; al-Turabi, once Bashir's ally and the alleged architect of the 1989 coup but purged from power in 1999, was held from March 2004 until July 2005. A second attempted coup was staged in September 2004.

These events unfolded against the backdrop of the escalating Darfur crisis, which the United States that same month described as genocide, and the tail end of Sudan's long civil war. The 25 September 2004 coding matches this second, September 2004 coup attempt, part of the recurring opposition and Islamist-linked plotting against Bashir's National Congress Party regime.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Bashir put down both 2004 attempts and detained Turabi, ruling until 2019
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
President Omar al-Bashir (target)
Hassan al-Turabi and his Popular Congress party
the army officers arrested in the plots

Sources

The 2004 Sudanese coup attempt was against President Omar al-Bashir and his cabinet, inspired by opposition leaders and Hassan al-Turabi, ending with the arrests of army officers over the next few days, and a second attempted coup was staged in September 2004.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 2004 Sudanese coup attempt open source ↗
The March and September 2004 attempts against al-Bashir and his cabinet were inspired by opposition leaders and Hassan al-Turabi, and ended with the arrests of army officers over the following days.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Coups d'etat in Sudan open source ↗
The government lodged a complaint against al-Turabi, detained with members of his Popular Congress party and some military officers, for an alleged plot to overthrow President Bashir, the first time the government accused the detained Islamist leader of involvement in specific criminal acts.
SOURCE REVIEWED Al Jazeera: Khartoum accuses al-Turabi of plot open source ↗
Al-Turabi, imprisoned on al-Bashir's orders on conspiracy allegations in 2000 and released in October 2003, was again imprisoned in March 2004 for allegedly being part of a plot to overthrow the government and released in July 2005.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Hassan al-Turabi open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 25 Sep 2004 matches the second (September 2004) of the two 2004 coup attempts against Bashir, linked to opposition and Turabi's Popular Congress network. Verified as a discrete event (the March 2004 attempt is its documented companion). Sixth Sudan record in the run.

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
62509252004

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Bashir put down both 2004 attempts and detained Turabi, ruling 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.

Irish Examiner

“President raps failed coup bid,” September 27, 2004

Globe and Mail

“Reported coup attempt meets skepticism in Sudan,” September 27, 2004

Irish Times

“Opposition defector says former colleagues planned plot in Sudan,” September 25, 2004

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 →

Know something about this event?
Tips are reviewed against sources before anything is added.