Coup attempt fails Democratic Republic of the Sudan Revolutionary Council Maj. Hashem al Atta Col. Babikir al-Nur OsmanMaj.

The orthodox wing, led by party secretary general Abd al Khaliq Mahjub, demanded a popular front government with communists participating as equal partners.

The coup occurred on 19 July 1971, when one of the plotters, Major Hisham al Atta, surprised Nimeiri and the RCC meeting in the presidential palace and seized them along with a number of pro-Nimeiri officers.

With Khartoum relatively quiet Atta moved tanks into positions around government buildings, capturing the Presidential Palace and taking Nimeiry and several dozen of his followers prisoner.

[1] At this point Atta declared himself, Babiker Al Nour, and Farouk Osman Hamdallah in charge of the government, proclaiming a new Revolutionary Council.

Upon being informed of the success of the coup the two wound up their affairs and prepared to fly back to Khartoum, with Al Nour being slated to serve as Chief of Staff in the new government.

Gaddafi's response was far more extreme than Sadat's, and he dispatched two Libyan fighter jets to force down the British Airlines jetliner which was ferrying Al Nour and Hamdallah from London back to Khartoum.

Baghdad dispatched an airliner to Khartoum carrying an Iraqi delegation to congratulate Atta and his new government, although this crashed under mysterious circumstances whilst crossing Saudi Arabia.

[2] Unaware that Al Nour and Hamdallah's plane had been forced down in Libya, Atta travelled to Khartoum International Airport on the morning of the 22 July expecting to welcome the two back to Sudan.

[2] Upon learning of the status of the plane, Atta travelled to the center of Khartoum to address a rally that he had called to welcome back Al Nour and Hamdullah.

Al Nour and Hamdullah were returned to Khartoum by Gaddafi, and were executed alongside Atta and a half dozen other coup leaders.

In his foreign policy, Nimeiry expelled East German security advisers and denounced the Soviet Union and most of its European allies for their attitude to the attempted coup.