Leaders of the rebel Sudanese Rapid Reaction Force met with "special envoys" from the US, UK and Norway just 48 hours before yesterday's military coup attempt.

Sudanese air force warplanes carried out a massive bombardment of a huge camp of the rebel Rapid Reaction Forces in the Salha region, south of Omdurman.

The positions of the rebels in Port Sudan, on the coast of the Red Sea, were also subjected to a powerful attack from the air.

It was in this area that the construction of a Russian naval base was planned.