Sudan threatened to end UNITAMS if Perthes’ participated in Security Council meeting
August 9, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – The UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, Volker Perthes, was unable to brief a Security Council meeting on Wednesday due to threats from the Sudanese government to terminate UNITAMS.
The Security Council convened on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, and Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, provided the briefing during the meeting.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Ambassador and President of the Security Council for August, informed reporters afterwards that UNITAMS Head Perthes was unable to address the Sudan situation during the meeting.
She stated, “As I told the Council just now, while we were grateful for the ASG’s participation, we had expected that SRSG Perthes was going to brief the Council. We now know that the Sudanese government threatened to end the UN Mission in Sudan if the SRSG participated in this briefing. And that was really outrageous, and I did make that point in the Council.”
“No country should be able to bully a briefer into silence, let alone the United Nations.”
Responding to a question, Thomas-Greenfield disclosed that they were informed on Tuesday that Volker would be delivering the briefing to the Council. However, on Wednesday morning, his participation was withdrawn.
“We understand that that happened because the Sudanese government threatened to pull UNITAMS out of Sudan if he briefed the Council. And I spoke directly to him about that. And he told me he was under instructions,” she reiterated.
On June 9th, the Sudanese military-led government labelled Volker Perthes, the leader of the United Nations mission in Sudan, as “persona non grata,” following accusations from the army chief two weeks prior, alleging Perthes’ involvement in escalating the conflict and demanding his ousting.
The Sudan Tribune obtained the written statement that Perthes was supposed to deliver before the Security Council.
In his address, the UNITAMS head emphasized the necessity of a negotiated solution to end the ongoing war as soon as possible.
“There is no other alternative. Calls by some to continue the war in order to achieve a military victory will only contribute to destroying the country,” he emphasized.
On her part, Pobee briefed the Security Council on the situation in Sudan. She highlighted that the conflict continues to have severe repercussions on the country and its people, urging an end to this “senseless war and a return to negotiations.”
Wosornu informed the Council about the particularly alarming situation in Khartoum, as well as the Darfur and Kordofan regions.
She added that 80 per cent of hospitals across the country are non-operational and that 14 million children in Sudan – half of all children in the country – are in need of humanitarian support.
(ST)