UN says Sudan’s decision to declare Perthes ‘persona non grata’ not ‘enforceable’

The “status” of the head of the mission in Sudan “has not changed”, according to the spokesman for the secretary general

June 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, has assured this Friday that Sudan’s declaration of ‘persona non grata’ against the head of the UN Integrated Mission for Transition Assistance in Sudan (UNITAMS) Volker Perthes is “contrary” to the principles of the United Nations and cannot be “applicable”.

“Right now, Perthes is in Addis Ababa,” Dujarric said at a press conference, adding that “his status has not changed” and that “the position of the secretary general continues to be the one he expressed before the UN Security Council last week”.

Dujarric has also indicated, when asked about the possibility that Perthes leaves Sudan and cannot return to the country, that “any announcement about a possible trip” by the head of the UN mission in Sudan will be communicated to the press.

At the beginning of May, dozens of people demonstrated in front of the residence of the UN envoy in the country to demand his “immediate expulsion”. In recent months, people affiliated with the army and Sudanese Islamist groups have staged various demonstrations against Perthes, which has also been the target of death threats.

In April, the United Nations expressed its “deep concern” over a video circulating on social networks in which a man calls for a ‘fatwa’ (Islamic edict) to be issued to justify the murder of Perthes, head of the Integrated Mission of UN Transition Assistance in Sudan (UNITAMS).

It is not the first time that the Sudanese authorities have shown their rejection of Guterres’s envoy, since the head of the Army and president of the Sovereign Transition Council, Abdelfatá al Burhan, asked Perthes last year to stop “interfering in internal affairs ” of the country, threatening him with expulsion from the territory of the African country.

Sudan was governed before the outbreak of the fighting by a junta led by the head of the Army, Abdelfatá al Burhan, who had as “number two” the military leader of the RSF, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias “Hemedti”. The discrepancies between the two regarding the integration of the paramilitaries in a future unified Army –an agreement prior to the formation of a new unity government led by civilians– ended up degenerating into the conflict that the country is currently experiencing.