Sudan’s military ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has called for the dismissal of UN special envoy Volker Perthes. In a letter to the UN, al-Burhan accuses the German of fueling the conflict with ‘deception and disinformation’.
Sudan’s military ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has called for the dismissal of UN special envoy Volker Perthes. In a letter to the UN, available to the AFP news agency, al-Burhan accuses the German of using “deception and disinformation” to fuel the conflict in the north-east African country. UN Secretary-General António Guterres was “shocked” by the letter.
The skirmishes between al-Burhan’s army and the paramilitary RSF militia of his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, ignited in mid-April over the planned incorporation of the RSF into the army. Since then, around 1,800 people have been killed and more than 1.3 million others displaced.
For the past year, Perthes and the UN mission in Sudan have been the target of protests by supporters of the military government who have accused the special envoy of “foreign interference”.
Perthes had always maintained his “optimism” and was “surprised” by the outbreak of the conflict.
In his letter, al-Burhan said Perthes had painted a misleading picture of “unity” in Sudan in his reports to the UN. “Without these signals of encouragement, rebel leader Daglo would not have started his military actions,” argues the military ruler. So far, however, it has not been possible to independently determine who fired the first shots in the conflict.
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Guterres was “proud of Volker Perthes’ work” and reaffirmed “his full confidence in his special envoy”.
A ceasefire negotiated with the help of the United States and Saudi Arabia has been in force in Sudan for five days. In a joint statement, the mediators attested to the conflicting parties’ “improved respect for the agreement”, although there was still “sporadic gunfire” in the capital Khartoum.
Perthes is currently in New York, where he briefed the UN Security Council on the situation in Sudan last Monday. He replied to those who “accused the UN” that those responsible were “the two generals”. It is still unclear whether Sudan Perthes will allow re-entry.