President raps failed coup bid

SUDAN’S president Omar el-Bashir called on his people to train and prepare to defend their government and country against internal and external enemies, reacting angrily to what authorities said was a foiled coup plot.

Meanwhile, the United Nations’ top human rights official said Sudan is in denial about the extent of rape in refugee camps in its traumatised Darfur region, where fear and distrust of the government is pervasive.

Mr El-Bashir spoke to crowds north of Khartoum as authorities in the capital, where troops were out in force, disclosed more details about the failed coup in which the plotters were said to have planned to abduct and kill more than three dozen senior government officials and blow up key sites in the capital.