United Nations backs Sudan envoy as army seeks to expel him
Sources at the Sudanese foreign ministry told Al Jazeera that Volker Perthes will not be allowed to enter the war-torn country.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he was “appalled” by a letter from Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, allegedly requesting the replacement of Special Envoy Volker Perthes.
Perthes and the UN mission in Sudan have been the target of several protests from thousands of military and other supporters who repeatedly accused him of “foreign intervention” and demanded his resignation.
“[Guterres] is proud of the work of Volker Perthes and reaffirms its full confidence in its Special Representative,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said late Friday. “The Secretary-General is shocked by the letter he has received from General al-Burhan.”
Sources within the Sudanese foreign ministry told Al Jazeera that Perthes will not be allowed back into the war-torn country.
Perthes is currently in New York City, where he briefed the UN Security Council on the situation in Sudan earlier this week. No information is available on when he should return to Sudan, where authorities have not issued visas to foreigners since the start of the war.
Al-Burhan accused Perthes of increasing division in the country by excluding voices that should have been involved in the transition to civilian government.
Al-Burhan’s army is currently at war with his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The rival factions are currently on the fifth day of a week-long ceasefire brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia in which they have repeatedly accused each other of ceasefire violations.
‘Not really a surprise’
Neither the military nor the UN have released official copies of al-Burhan’s letter, which allegedly requested the resignation of Perthes as Guterres’s envoy to Sudan.
It was the latest in a series of moves from al-Burhan, who last week officially dismissed Hemedti as his deputy on the ruling sovereign council, gathered hardline military supporters in his inner circle and is now seeking to bolster army ranks.
Observers say the UN mission’s presence in Sudan has been problematic for the military since the Darfur conflict in the 2000s and the 2021 coup.
“The Sudanese regime has for a long time never really accepted the role of the UN. The departure of Mr. Volker Perthes does not really come as a surprise. He knew that the future in Sudan was rather bleak for himself,” said Aicha Elbasri, a former spokeswoman for the African Union and UN mission in Darfur.
The Sudanese defense ministry on Friday called on “retired military personnel … and all those who can bear arms” to go to the nearest military commando unit and “arm themselves to protect themselves”, their families and their neighbours.
A statement later in the day redirected the call back to only “reservists” and “retirees” of the military.
More than 1,800 people have been killed in recent fighting in Sudan, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
More than a million people have been displaced within Sudan, in addition to 300,000 who have fled to neighboring countries, the UN says.