Sudan Declares UN Envoy Volker Perthes “Persona Non Grata”

Jihane
Jihane
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Volker Perthes

Sudan has declared UN envoy Volker Perthes “persona non grata”, two weeks after the army chief called for his dismissal. The diplomat was in Addis Ababa on Thursday for a series of diplomatic talks, according to a tweet from the UN mission.

The head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, had already said that he was “shocked” by the letter from the head of the Sudanese army, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing Mr. Perthes of having exacerbated the fighting between the two armies.

Reacting to this request, Mr. Guterres said he was proud of the work accomplished by Volker Perthes and reaffirmed his full confidence in his special representative, according to a press release issued at the time.

Despite the diplomat’s dismissal, Al Jazeera reported from ministry sources that the mission would be allowed to continue its work.

A correspondent for the same newspaper reported that some of the mission’s staff are in Port Sudan, while most of the mission’s members have been evacuated following fighting between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army.

Sudan has been in chaos since the fighting began. Entire districts of Khartoum no longer have running water or electricity, and 75% of the hospitals in the combat zones are non-functional.

According to estimates by the International Organisation for Migration, more than 1.4 million people have been displaced within Sudan and a further 476,800 have fled to neighboring countries.

Jihan Rmili

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