United Nations Special Envoy to Sudan to Step Down

UN Special Representative in Sudan Volker Perthes speaks during a news conference in Khartoum, Sudan January 10, 2022. (Reuters)
UN Special Representative in Sudan Volker Perthes speaks during a news conference in Khartoum, Sudan January 10, 2022. (Reuters)
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United Nations Special Envoy to Sudan to Step Down

UN Special Representative in Sudan Volker Perthes speaks during a news conference in Khartoum, Sudan January 10, 2022. (Reuters)
UN Special Representative in Sudan Volker Perthes speaks during a news conference in Khartoum, Sudan January 10, 2022. (Reuters)

The United Nations special envoy to Sudan is stepping down, more than three months after Sudan declared him unwelcome after disagreements between rival factions erupted into war.

"I am grateful to the Secretary-General for that opportunity and for his confidence in me, but I have asked him to relieve me of this duty," envoy Volker Perthes told the UN Security Council on Wednesday, 2 -1/2 years after taking the job.

Sudan's army (SAF) - led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan - and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began fighting each other in April, sparking a humanitarian crisis. More than one million people have since fled ethnic and sexual violence to neighboring countries.

"What started as a conflict between two military formations could be morphing into a full-blown civil war," Perthes warned on Wednesday.

Perthes told the 15-member Security Council that there was "little doubt who is responsible for what" in the conflict.

"Often indiscriminate aerial bombing is conducted by those who have an airforce, which is the SAF. Most of the sexual violence, lootings and killings happen in areas controlled by the RSF and are conducted or tolerated by the RSF and their allies," he said during his last council briefing.

He also said that both sides were arbitrarily arresting, detaining, and "even torturing civilians" and there were reports of extrajudicial killings.

The war in Sudan began four years after a popular uprising ousted President Omar al-Bashir. Tensions between the army and RSF, which jointly staged a coup in 2021, erupted into fighting over a plan to integrate their forces as part of a transition to civilian rule. While several countries have tried to mediate, none has succeeded in bringing a halt to the fighting.

Burhan had previously expressed his disapproval of Perthes, and before the outbreak of war supporters of Bashir had protested in front of Perthes' mission.

Sudan declared Perthes persona non grata in June. Perthes had been working from outside Sudan since then. The United Nations said at the time that UN personnel cannot be made persona non grata.



UNRWA: Israel is Using Advanced Weaponry in Jenin Operation

A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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UNRWA: Israel is Using Advanced Weaponry in Jenin Operation

A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank Roland Friedrich said Wednesday that Israel is “using advanced weaponry and warfare methods including airstrikes” in its “massive operation” in the flashpoint West Bank town of Jenin.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces launched an operation in Jenin which Palestinian officials said killed 10 people, just days after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in the Gaza Strip.

Friedrich said Jenin Camp is “nearly uninhabitable, with some 2,000 families displaced since mid-December.”

“UNRWA has been unable to provide full services to the camp in this time,” he said on X.

“The operation comes merely a week before implementation of Israeli legislation that severely undermines UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank, including coordination of humanitarian access,” he said.

“It also threatens to undermine the fragile ceasefire reached just days ago in Gaza,” Friedrich added.