Sudan asks UN to 'immediately terminate' the UN political mission in the country (UNITAMS) -letter

Report from Reuters
Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Rami Ayyub; 
Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis
Dated Thursday, 16 November 2023 11:58 PM GMT - here is a copy in full:

Sudan asks UN to 'immediately terminate' political mission -letter

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Sudan asked the United Nations on Thursday to "immediately terminate" the U.N. political mission in the country (UNITAMS), Sudan's acting Foreign Minister Ali Sadeq, told the U.N. Security Council in a letter seen by Reuters.

"(The) government of Sudan requested that the United Nations immediately terminate the UNITAMS mission. At the same time, we would like to assure you that the Government of Sudan is committed to engaging constructively with the Security Council and the Secretariat," Sadeq wrote in a letter addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and circulated to the U.N. Security Council.

"The purpose of establishing the mission (was) to assist the transitional government of Sudan after the December 2018 revolution," he wrote, adding that the mission's performance in implementing its objectives "was disappointing."

When asked about Sudan’s decision, Guterres spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the letter had been received and circulated to the Security Council.

A war erupted on April 15 between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after weeks of rising tension between the two sides over a plan to integrate forces as part of a transition from military rule to civilian democracy.

The U.N. special envoy to Sudan announced in September that he was stepping down, more than three months after Sudan declared him unwelcome after disagreements between rival factions erupted into war.

View original: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudan-asks-un-immediately-terminate-political-mission-letter-2023-11-16/

[Ends]

Sudan’s PM Hamdok well but under house arrest

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: The following news report confirms that Mr Volker Perthes, the UN special representative to Sudan, said yesterday (Oct 31) that he had met Sudan’s prime minister, Mr Abdalla Hamdok, who is being held under armed guard by the ruling military junta. “He remains well but under house arrest,” Perthes said.

I say, looking at this report's photograph taken yesterday one can’t help wondering how many people it took to fetch and carry all the bricks that were needed to keep on creating barricades. This report tells us that as soon as the bricks were removed by the security forces, many of the barricades were put back when the security forces left :)  Good Sudanese people are so great, they make me laugh. I’m sure some Britishness and British sense of humour have seeped into their DNA somewhere along the line of history.

Here is a full report by The Guardian UK

Reporting by Guardian Correspondent and Agencies

Dated Sunday 31 October 2021 18.33 GMT UK

Sudan coup protesters return to barricades on seventh day of unrest

Militia and police personnel target protesters in south Khartoum a day after deadly crackdown

Photo: A brick barricade on a street in east Khartoum on Sunday [Oct 31]. Credit AFP/Getty Images

Sudanese anti-coup protesters gathered behind barricades in Khartoum on Sunday, a day after a deadly crackdown on mass rallies.

Tens of thousands of people turned out across the country for Saturday’s demonstrations, and at least three people were shot dead and more than 100 people wounded, according to medics. Police denied the killings or using live bullets.

On Sunday the feared Rapid Support Forces militia and police special forces ejected some protesters from barricades in al-Daim neighbourhood, in the south of Khartoum, as a defiant civil disobedience campaign against the military takeover extended into a seventh day.

Mustafa Hassan told the Guardian he had been sitting outside having coffee under a tree near where he lives in south Khartoum when the forces came in carrying guns and sticks.

“They beat me and everybody on the street including an elderly man, shouting at us to remove all the barricades. They do not have mercy, they do not respect old people. I felt sorry for the old man,” he said.

Another protester said many of the barricades were put back up when the security forces left.

“They ran away when the security forces came in here, but when they removed the barriers and left, they came back to build new barricades,” said the man, who did not want to give his name.

“The opposition to this coup is huge, it is on the social level. I was sitting here upstairs and seeing even children and women and young girls are all part of the resistance. That’s what the opposition lacked for years during [the former dictator Omar al-] Bashir’s time.”

The protests are in response to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan dissolving the government on 25 October, declaring a state of emergency and detaining Sudan’s civilian leadership.

Sudan had been ruled since August 2019 by a joint civilian-military council as part of a now derailed transition to full civilian rule.

Volker Perthes, the UN special representative to Sudan, said on Sunday he had met the detained prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, who is being held under armed guard by the ruling military junta.

“He remains well but under house arrest,” Perthes said.

“We discussed options for mediation and the way forward for Sudan. I will continue these efforts with other Sudanese stakeholders.”

The independent Central Committee of Sudan’s Doctors said on Sunday that militias had shot dead a protester on the day of the coup, pushing its overall tally to 12 dead. A senior US official had estimated that at least 20 to 30 people were killed before Saturday’s protests.

The coup has sparked a chorus of international condemnation and punitive aid cuts, and world powers have demanded a swift return to civilian rule and called for the military to show restraint against protesters.

View original: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/31/sudan-coup-protesters-man-barricades-on-seventh-day-of-unrest