Sudan Designates UN Envoy as 'Unwelcome Element'

The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a statement that the United Nations envoy is now considered an 'unwelcome element' and that this has been communicated to Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General. This brief statement comes just weeks after a letter from General Abdel Fattah Burhan, the head of the Sudanese army, to Volker Perthes, the UN envoy to Sudan, in which Burhan called for Perthes' resignation. In the letter, Burhan accused Perthes of bias and harming negotiations prior to the outbreak of conflict between army generals and pro-democracy groups. Since his appointment as special envoy to Sudan in 2021, Perthes has acted as a key mediator during the unsuccessful transition to democracy and the subsequent outbreak of conflict between the army and Rapid Support Forces. Volker Perthes is a German national. A spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that the German government supports Perthes, stating he will continue his activities from Kenya. Neither Volker Perthes nor the United Nations has yet responded to the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' action. In another development, the United States and Saudi Arabia issued a joint statement announcing that late on Friday local time, the two sides agreed to a 24-hour ceasefire that will begin on Saturday at 6 a.m. local time. This is the eighth ceasefire agreement between the army and the Rapid Support Forces, with all previous agreements having been violated. Since April 15 of this year, Sudan has been the scene of clashes between the army led by Abdel Fattah Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. During these deadly clashes, over 860 people have been killed and nearly two million Sudanese have been displaced from their homes.