UN votes to end political mission in war-torn Sudan

Sudanese soldiers walk near armoured vehicles stationed on a street in southern Khartoum. AFP

The UN Security Council voted on Friday to terminate a political mission in war-torn Sudan after the country's acting Foreign Minister requested the move earlier this month.

Fourteen of the council's 15 members adopted the resolution, while Russia abstained.

The resolution terminates the mandate of the UN mission in the country, known as Unitams, as of December 3, requiring it to wind down over the next three months.

In the text, the council expressed “alarm at the continued violence and humanitarian situation, in particular violations of international humanitarian law and grave human rights violations and abuses” in Sudan.

The document called on all parties to “immediately cease hostilities, facilitate humanitarian access … and seek a negotiated solution to the conflict”.

“Let me be clear: the United Kingdom would not have chosen to close Unitams at this moment,” said James Kariuki, deputy UN ambassador from the UK, which drafted the text.

“The need for the UN and international community to support the Sudanese people has not reduced.”

A UN country team providing humanitarian and development aid will remain in the country.

Unitams was established in June 2020 to provide support to Sudan during its political transition to democratic rule.

In October 2021, the difficult path to civilian government was cut short when army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan assumed full powers in a coup.

In April, before a deal on resuming the transition to democracy could be signed, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army led by Gen Al Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Gen Mohamed Dagalo.

Thousands of civilians have been killed in the fighting and millions displaced.

A few weeks into the conflict, Gen Al Burhan demanded that Unitams chief Volker Perthes be sacked, placing blame for the violence on his shoulders.

Mr Perthes announced in September that he was stepping down, three months after Sudan declared him “persona non grata”.

Last week, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed veteran Algerian diplomat Ramtane Lamamra as his personal envoy for Sudan. The Security Council resolution encourages all parties to co-operate with the new envoy.

The forced departure of Unitams is yet another setback for the UN, which is already facing hostility in other parts of Africa over the efficiency of its political and security missions.

Under pressure from Mali's ruling junta, the Security Council ended its peacekeeping mission in the country in June.

Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, called the decision by the UN Security Council to close the political mission in Sudan “the culmination of its catastrophic abdication of responsibility to the civilians of Sudan at a moment when the risk of atrocities and large-scale human rights abuses is greater than ever”.