NAIROBI — Authorities in Sudan thwarted a coup attempt Tuesday morning at dawn, officials in the country announced on state media.

       A statement from the prime minister’s office said those who were involved had been arrested, though the people who plotted the coup were not identified.

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       Hamza Baloul, minister of culture and spokesman for the government, described those behind the attempt as “remnants of the past regime.” Sudan was led for 30 years by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir before massive demonstrations led to his ousting in 2019.

       Baloul said on Sudanese state TV that the government would keep people updated on “the failed coup attempt that is trying to turn back the hands of time.”

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       “We assure the Sudanese people that the situation is under total control,” he said. “The leaders of the coup attempt have been detained, including military personnel and civilians, and they are now being interrogated.”

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       Videos on social media showed some tanks on the streets of Khartoum Tuesday morning.

       Since popular demonstrations led to the ousting of Bashir two years ago, the country has since been governed by a power-sharing agreement that involves the military, civilian representatives and protest groups.

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       In a briefing this month to the U.N. Security Council, special representative Volker Perthes, who also heads the U.N. transition assistance mission, said there has been “some progress in Sudan’s transition as well as continued setbacks and challenges.”

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       Economic hardships — including massive inflation, trade and fiscal deficits and high rates of unemployment and poverty — continue to be major problems, he said. But because of economic reforms the government made, the country has been eligible for debt relief, which “will unlock critical financial resources to strengthen Sudan’s economy and improve social conditions.”

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       Jonas Horner, senior Sudan analyst at the International Crisis Group, said that any successful coup would have likely meant the end of international aid dollars that the new government has been increasingly successful at getting. He said that although many in Sudan are frustrated with the government — particularly amid the ongoing economic crisis — there is still wide support for the transition process.

       “The thought is that this coup attempt may have been a test balloon, to see how the streets react,” he said. “The coup attempt by armored divisions based in and around Khartoum seems to have been speedily quashed.”

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       It is possible that the groups behind the coup were threatened by recent signs the economy might be improving following reforms made by the transitional government, Horner said, including Sudan’s trade deficient decreasing and inflation slowing for the first time in two years — though still at 388 percent last month. Those apparent success of those reforms could show the government is less fragile than many have thought, he said.

       Ellen Francis in London contributed to this report.

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