Sudan demands immediate end to UN mission in crisis state
Sudan has called on the United Nations to end the UN stabilization mission in the civil war-torn country. The government has decided that the Unitams mission with more than 400 mainly civilian employees must be terminated with immediate effect, according to a letter from the country's UN representation citing the Foreign Ministry in Khartoum.
The letter, addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, was obtained by the German Press Agency. It has already been shared with the member states of the Security Council.
An armed conflict broke out in Sudan in mid-April. The army is fighting under the leadership of commander and de facto President of Sudan, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Vice President Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, who was dismissed in the course of the conflict. The two generals had jointly seized power in 2021, but later fell out. Neither side has been able to gain the upper hand so far. The UN mission in the country has been in place since 2020 and blue helmets are not deployed there.
Reaction of the UN
Relations between the government and the United Nations have been tense for months. Sudan's Foreign Ministry declared the German special envoy Volker Perthes persona non grata in June. In September, Perthes finally resigned and moved to head the UN mission in Iraq. Al-Burhan had accused Perthes of fomenting the conflict in Sudan.
A UN spokesperson commented on Khartoum's demand when asked that a strategic review of the mission in Sudan should be initiated anyway in order to adapt it to the war conditions in the country in north-east Africa.
"The letter will be taken into account as part of this work," it said. If a host country prohibits a UN mission from continuing its work, there is usually not much the United Nations can do about it and it has to comply, as was recently the case in the civil war country of Mali. There, the withdrawal of a much larger peacekeeping mission is in full swing.
- Despite the ongoing conflicts between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is now faced with Sudan's demand to immediately end the UN stabilization mission, Unitams, in the country due to tensions between the government and the UN.
- The demand from Sudan to halt the Unitams mission, which includes over 400 mainly civilian employees, could potentially impact the use of diplomacy and international intervention to resolve the violent conflicts between the military factions, as this mission has been instrumental in promoting peace and stability in the region.
- Antonio Guterres and the UN must now weigh the potential consequences of complying with Sudan's demand, as it could harm ongoing efforts to resolve the ongoing conflicts in the region, and potentially set a precedent for other countries to likewise curtail UN missions, such as the peacekeeping efforts underway in Mali.
Source: www.dpa.com
