German UN diplomat Perthes unwanted in Sudan – DW – 09.06.2023

Sudan’s military ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan holds the German-born UN diplomat Volker Perthes responsible for the outbreak of fighting between his army and the paramilitary RSF militia of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. The special envoy of the United Nations (UN) was therefore expelled from the country. UN Secretary-General António Guterres had been informed that Perthes had been declared persona non grata, i.e. an undesirable person, the foreign ministry said in the capital Khartoum. Perthes was recently in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa for diplomatic talks, the UN said.

In a letter to the United Nations, al-Burhan accused the German diplomat of having “concealed” the “explosive situation” in Khartoum in his reports before the fighting began in mid-April. Without these “lies” “Daglo would not have started his military actions,” said the military ruler.

Since the end of last year, leading military and Islamists have repeatedly protested against Perthes and the UN mission he heads in war-torn Sudan. You spoke of “foreign interference”.

UN mandate extended for just six months

Guterres recently assured Perthes, who used to be director of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in Berlin, “his complete trust”. At the beginning of June, the United Nations Security Council in New York extended the mandate for the UN mission, but only by six months. Previously, the mandate of the UNITAMS mission, which was set up in June 2020, was always valid for twelve months.

With the help of the UN, Sudan’s transition to democratic structures after the overthrow of the authoritarian head of state Omar al-Bashir should be supported. However, the path to civilian government was cut short in 2021 when al-Burhan and Daglo seized power together in a coup before falling out.

More than 1800 dead – 1.2 million displaced

According to non-governmental organizations, more than 1,800 people have been killed in the heavy fighting that has been raging since mid-April, mainly in Khartoum and the western region of Darfur. According to the UN, 1.2 million citizens fled the fighting, more than 425,000 of them left the country. The United Nations estimates that around 25 million people – more than half of the Sudanese population – are in urgent need of help and protection.

Since the beginning of the escalation of violence in the north-east African country, there have been various cease-fire agreements, but they have repeatedly been broken. The last ceasefire expired last Saturday. Negotiations between the conflicting parties in the Saudi city of Jeddah, moderated by the USA and Saudi Arabia, have been suspended until further notice.

se/AR (afp, rtr, epd)