Sudan govt presents vision for UNITAMS role in democratic transition

Acting Undersecretary of the Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Nader Youssef El Tayeb, has handed over a matrix to members of the UN Security Council in New York, that includes the government’s requirements from the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) to assist with democratic transition in Sudan.

Ambassador El Tayeb, who is currently visiting New York to meet with the leadership of the United Nations and some member states of the UN Security Council, met with UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, yesterday. According to the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA), El Tayeb indicated that all the competent authorities in Sudan have participated in the development of a comprehensive matrix that includes the vision of the government of Sudan for the role that UNITAMS should play in accordance with its mandate.

Sudan’s ruling junta, under Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, who seized power in a military coup in October 2021, says that the most prominent axes of this vision and priorities are the implementation of the Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan, support for implementation of the protocols, mobilisation of resources, logistical support for capacity building, support for national human rights mechanisms, assistance in the establishment and support of the Commission for Disarmament and Reintegration and the transitional justice mechanism, besides reconstruction and development mechanism.

Relations between the government of Sudan and UNITAMS have been strained over recent weeks, following the March 29 briefing by UNITAMS head, Volker Perthes, to the UN Security Council (UNSC) about Sudan’s deteriorating economic, humanitarian, and security situation. Perthes pleaded with the UNSC, saying: “Time is not on Sudan’s side, and I speak to you today with a sense of urgency which is also increasingly felt by Sudanese stakeholders concerned about the stability and the very existence of their country.”

As retort, the Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that UNITAMS “should focus on the other basic aspects of its mandate, instead of focusing most of its activities on only the political side”.

The head of Sudan’s ruling junta, Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, subsequently threatened to expel Perthes from Sudan, accusing him of “overstepping the mandate of the UN mission” and interfering in Sudanese affairs.

Most recently, on Monday, Perthes reacted angrily via social media to what he called an inflammatory article in Sudan’s Armed Forces newspaper, El Jaish, and accused the newspaper of writing an article that incited violence against political leaders in Sudan, thus bearing the hallmarks of a “hate crime”.