UN chief ‘shocked' by letter from Sudan's military ruler asking to replace UN's special envoy in Sudan

CNN

According to Stephane Dujarric, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres received a letter from Sudan's military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Friday regarding the UN envoy in Sudan. This reaction comes after reports that Burhan had asked for the removal of the UN envoy.

The fighting between Burhan's Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has left Sudan in chaos and has shattered hopes of a peaceful transition back to civilian rule.

Reuters cited sources from the Sudanese Presidency to report that earlier on Friday Burhan wrote to Guterres to request that Volker Perthes be removed as UN Special Representative for Sudan.

Perthes, in an address earlier this week to the UN Security Council, criticized both leaders Sudan's warring sides and warned of "a growing ethnicization" of the conflict.

The conflict is not slowing down. Perthes stated on May 22, 'Neither party has shown that they can claim a decisive military victory.

Fighting has continued between the two sides despite a ceasefire that is due to expire at the end of this weekend.

According to the US Embassy in Khartoum, media have witnessed the use of airstrikes and military aircraft, drones and artillery in the Khartoum industrial area, as well as sustained fighting.

Dujarric didn't elaborate on Burhan's contents, but he did convey a short written statement to support Perthes. 'The Secretary-General is proud of Volker Perthes's work and reaffirms the full confidence he has in his special representative.

Perthes, who spoke to the Security Council Monday, said that responsibility for the fighting "rests with the people who wage it every day: the leaders of the two parties who share the accountability for their decision to settle the unresolved conflicts on the battlefield instead of at the table."

Perthes reports that the conflict in Sudan has taken a heavy toll of civilians. Over 700 people have been killed, including 190 kids, and another 6,000 injured.

Over a million people are displaced. They have sought shelter in rural areas and other states of Sudan. Some even crossed the border.