July 13 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The head of the UN Integrated Mission for Transition Assistance in Sudan (UNITAMS) Volker Perthes, who was declared ‘persona non grata’ by the Sudanese authorities, has assured that the current government has lost control of the country.
Perthes has stated that the Government of Sudan “has lost the confidence of the countries of the region”, since the delegation of the authorities did not participate in the summit organized by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the main cooperation organization of the countries of East Africa, in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The special envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations to the African country has added in statements to the Al Jazeera chain that Khartoum’s impediment to allowing him to enter the country “affects the efforts of the UN.”
In response to these comments, a source from the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs consulted by the aforementioned television channel, has remarked that the authorities reject the envoy because his project “aims at fragmenting the country” and has indicated that the envoy “has lost the logic diplomatic and political.
The Government of Sudan announced in early June the declaration of ‘persona non grata’ to Perthes, in the midst of fighting between the Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). In 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.
The African country 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.
