UNITAMS head ‘profoundly distressed’ by killing of aid worker in Blue Nile, Sudan

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), Volker Perthes, has strongly condemned the killing of an aid worker in Sudan’s Blue Nile state, saying that “such acts will not diminish the resolve of the United Nations to continue supporting the people and the government of Sudan in their quest for peace and stability”.

On 27 January 2023, a contractor for Addition Organisation for Disaster and Development (ADD), a local NGO and UN partner, was killed and an ADD staff member was injured after their vehicle came under fire at a checkpoint in Blue Nile

“I am deeply saddened by the news of the killing of a peacebuilding adviser who has been working for the United Nations. I express my deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues,” Perthes said in a statement published yesterday.

The UNITAMS statement confirms that the at the time of the killing, the victims were on their way to carry out peacebuilding activities in Giessan as part of a UN project to support post-conflict recovery, conflict resolution and conflict prevention in Blue Nile state.

“I am profoundly distressed by the loss of life of a peacebuilding adviser, who, together with the UN, was committed to building bridges between communities. Aid workers must be respected and protected,” Perthes says.

In his statement, he calls on the Sudanese authorities to take swift action to identify the perpetrators of this attack and bring them to justice, and reaffirms that “such acts will not diminish the resolve of the United Nations to continue supporting the people and the government of Sudan in their quest for peace and stability”.