The head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITMAS), Volker Perthes, revealed that he had received death threats from unnamed extremists.
Perthes said during a local TV interview that he received the threats via the Internet, asserting that he was comfortable in Sudan and that those who threatened him did not reflect the Sudanese or Islamic culture.
Groups affiliated with Islamists and supporters of the regime of ousted President Omar al-Bashir are hostile to the UN mission and consider it an obstacle to their return to power.
They also directed sharp criticism at the head of the mission, organizing several demonstrations against him near the mission's headquarters in Khartoum and calling for his deportation.
The groups consider the head of the UN mission a supporter of their opponents, the Forces for Freedom and Change, which led the December 2018 revolution against the al-Bashir regime and the Islamists.
Meanwhile, the Trilateral Mechanism, consisting of the United Nations, the African Union (AU), and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Africa (IGAD), announced that it would support the ongoing political process in Sudan to reach a final agreement to form a "credible" civilian government for a two-year transitional period, which ends with free and fair elections.
The Trilateral Mechanism had a constructive discussion with IGAD Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu on efforts to support Sudanese stakeholders to reach a final political agreement that would lead to the formation of a credible civilian government capable of addressing key priorities during the transition.
Gebeyehu arrived in Khartoum on an official visit to hold consultations with several senior Sudanese military and civilian officials to support the Sudanese parties in completing the democratic transition process in cooperation with the AU and other partners.
After Gebeyehu met with the Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, he said that the meeting came within the directives related to essential issues from the head of IGAD.
Since the outbreak of the crisis in Sudan, IGAD has been active in converging views between the political parties.
The organization participates as a permanent envoy in the Trilateral Mechanism, which “facilitates” the ongoing political process to push for a civilian transitional government and addresses the political and security crisis that the country has been experiencing since the overthrow of the civilian government in October 2021.
The former Sudanese Foreign Minister, Asma Mohamed Abdullah, threatened to withdraw from IGAD, and the organization's leaders abandoned the tradition of presidency rotation and resorted to voting, which Djibouti won.
However, the Djibouti President, Ismail Gelle, relinquished the presidency to Sudan, putting Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok as the head of IGAD.
However, after the Sudanese army overthrew the civilian government, the organization witnessed a new conflict over the continuation of Sudan's presidency of the organization.
IGAD Executive Secretary Gebeyehu quickly called for a summit of heads of member states in Nairobi in May 2022, ignoring the organization's traditions, which stipulate that the president should send invites to hold meetings.
Sudan rejected Gebeyehu's move and re-submitted invitations to heads of state to participate in the summit. The action retained Burhan's presidency of the organization due to the vacancy of the position after Hamdok's government was overthrown.
Gebeyehu said IGAD's position was much more robust in the face of the significant challenges of the past year, especially after Sudan and Ethiopia resumed their relations, and the severe tensions ended, thanks to the efforts of the Authority.
He indicated the importance of coordination, cooperation, and concerted efforts among all member states to support essential issues in the region, including peace in South Sudan and the drought issue suffered by three member states led by Somalia.
