Sudan: Sudan has formally informed the United Nations that it has designated Volker Perthes, the special representative of the UN Secretary-General in Sudan and head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission, Sudan (UNITAMS), as “persona non grata.”

The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on 8th June 2023 declaring Mr. Perthes’s status. At the time, Mr. Perthes was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, engaging in diplomatic talks, according to the UN mission’s Twitter feed.

Last month, Sudanese army chief Mr. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan reportedly sent a letter to UN chief Antonio Guterres requesting the replacement of Mr. Perthes, which shocked Guterres. However, Mr. Guterres expressed his confidence in Mr. Perthes and praised his work as the special envoy. Mr. Perthes, who has been leading the Sudan mission since 2021, has vehemently defended the UN against allegations of exacerbating the conflict, blaming the two warring generals instead.

The ongoing clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have inflicted severe damage on Khartoum, the capital, and the western region of Darfur. Basic amenities such as water and electricity are scarce in many districts of Khartoum, while a significant number of hospitals in conflict zones are non-operational. The violence has internally displaced over 1.4 million people within Sudan and forced another 476,800 to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, adding to the burden of nations already grappling with poverty and internal strife, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The fighting has resulted in at least 780 civilian deaths, with additional casualties reported in the city of el-Geneina in West Darfur. More than half of Sudan’s population, around 25 million people, now require humanitarian assistance, and aid reaching approximately 2.2 million individuals has been delivered since late May, as per the UN’s estimates. The recent extension of UNITAMS’s mandate for only six months by the Security Council underscored the fragile position of the UN in Sudan. Initially created in June 2020 to support Sudan’s transition to democracy following the ousting of former ruler Omar al-Bashir, UNITAMS had previously received annual renewals.

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