NEW YORK – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “shocked” by a letter from Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, who reportedly asked for the removal of special envoy Volker Perthes amid a violent fight with paramilitaries.
Guterres “is proud of the work done by Volker Perthes and reaffirms his full confidence in his Special Representative,” according to a statement issued late Friday by UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
“The Secretary-General is shocked by the letter he received from General Al-Burhan,” who is currently at odds with his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the formidable paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The warring troops are in the fifth day of a one-week cease-fire arranged by the United States and Saudi Arabia, during which they have regularly accused one other of violating the agreement.
Burhan’s letter, which purportedly sought Perthes’ dismissal as Guterres’ envoy to Sudan, has not been made public by the army or the UN.
It is the latest move by Burhan, who last week officially fired Daglo as his deputy in the ruling sovereign council, gathered hardline military allies into his inner circle, and is now looking to strengthen army ranks.
Sudan’s defense ministry issued a plea on Friday for “army pensioners… and all those capable of bearing arms” to go to their nearest military command unit and “arm themselves in order to protect themselves, their families, and their neighbors.”
Later that day, a declaration limited the call to army “reservists” and “pensioners.”
Perthes and the UN mission in Sudan have been the target of various protests by thousands of military and Islamist supporters, who have accused Perthes of “foreign intervention” and demanded his expulsion on multiple occasions.
Since the war began on April 15, similar protests have taken place in the eastern city of Port Sudan.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, violence in Sudan has killed over 1,800 people.
According to the UN, over a million people have been internally displaced within Sudan, with another 300,000 fleeing to neighboring nations.
Perthes is now in New York, where he briefed the Security Council earlier this week on the situation in Sudan.
There is no word on when he will return to Sudan, where officials have refused to issue visas to foreign nationals since the war began.
