New York - Geneva: Europe and the Arabs
The Secretary-General of the United Nations appointed Algerian diplomat Ramatane Lamamra as his personal envoy to Sudan. The spokesman for the Secretary-General reported receiving a letter from the Sudanese government in which it announced its decision to end the work of the United Nations Political Mission (UNITAMS) in Sudan.
In response to a question at the daily press conference, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the personal envoy’s headquarters will not be in Sudan.
Dujarric stressed that the United Nations "will continue to engage closely with all actors, including the Sudanese authorities and members of the Security Council, to clarify the next steps."
He said that it is the Security Council that gives the Secretary-General the mandate to manage the political and peacekeeping missions of the United Nations.
The Sudanese government requests the end of the tasks of the UNITAM mission
Stephane Dujarric confirmed that the United Nations had received a letter from the Sudanese government “announcing the government’s decision to terminate the United Nations Integrated Assistance Mission for the Transitional Period (UNITAMS) immediately.”
Stephane Dujarric said that the Sudanese government "also announced its commitment to engage constructively with the Security Council and the United Nations Secretariat on a new agreed-upon formula."
Dujarric referred to the Secretary-General's announcement of the appointment of Mr. Ian Martin to lead the strategic review of UNITAMS with the aim of providing the Security Council with options on how to adapt the mission's mandate to better fit the current context.
It is noteworthy that UNITAMS - a special UN political mission - was established in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2524, in June 2020. Its mandate is scheduled to expire on the third of next December.
In the same file, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed grave concern over reports that the Rapid Support Forces and Arab militias allied with them killed hundreds of civilians from Masalit communities in the town of Ardamta earlier this month.
This is the second ethnically motivated mass attack on Masalit civilians in West Darfur in just a few months, following the killing of hundreds of Masalit men, women and children - including the former governor of West Darfur, Khamis Abdullah Abkar - between May and June of this year.
At a press conference held in Geneva yesterday, Friday, UNHCR spokesman Jeremy Lawrence said that preliminary information obtained from survivors and witnesses indicated that Masalit civilians “suffered six days of terror at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces and their allied militias after they took control of a Sudanese army base.” In Ardemta on November 4.”
He said some victims were “summarily executed (without due process) or burned alive,” amid reports of women and girls being subjected to sexual violence, and the displacement of thousands of people, some of whom crossed the border into Chad.
The Rapid Support Forces and allied militias reportedly looted property, tortured displaced people, and executed many of them “before leaving their bodies unburied in the streets” in the Ardamta and Daruti IDP camps and the Al-Kubri neighborhood.
Mr. Lawrence added that hundreds of men have been arrested, whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown. The Commission spokesman stressed that such attacks may constitute crimes under international law.
He also referred to serious allegations that some Arab civilians were subjected to retaliatory attacks by Masalit militia members. He called for all violations to stop immediately and those responsible to be brought to justice "after comprehensive, independent and impartial investigations."
He reiterated the call of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, for the RSF leadership to unequivocally condemn and stop killings and other acts of violence and hate speech targeting civilians on the basis of their ethnicity.
He said: “Amid worrying reports of an imminent RSF attack on El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, we remind them and all other parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.”