Sudan: Security Council renews UNITAMS mandate for another year

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted on Friday Resolution 2636, extending the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Transitional Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) for another year.

The Security Council affirmed all its previous presidential resolutions and statements relating to the situation in Sudan, while affirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity of Sudan.

On June 3, 2020, the Security Council adopted Resolution 2524,  establishing the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), a special political mission, to provide support to Sudan for an initial 12-month period during its political transition to democratic rule. On June 3, 2021, the Security Council adopted Resolution 2579, extending the mandate of UNITAMS for a further 12 months until June 3, 2022.

The new Resolution 2636 provides for the mandate of UNITAMS to be extended until June 3, 2023, as stated in paragraph 3 of Resolution 2579. It also requests the UN Secretary-General to submit his reports to the Security Council every 90 days on the implementation of the UNITAMS mandate.

Describing the succinct one-page resolution, the Council members said it was a “technical extension” of the measures contained in Resolution 2579.

In his first statement after the extension decision, Volker Perthes, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan and Head of UNITAMS, said, “I look forward to continuing our work supporting Sudan and all its personnel.”

With the political tensions that engulfed Sudan, the UNITAMS mission faced many difficulties, especially after the military coup on October 25, 2021, which overthrew the transitional government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

In January, Perthes officially launched a political process involving all Sudanese parties, facilitated by the UN to support stakeholders, to agree on a way out of the current political crisis and move towards democracy and peace.

The Sudanese Resistance Committees, the largest opposition faction that organizes the popular protests against the military coup, has expressed reservations about the UNITAMS initiative. The committees raised the slogan “No negotiation, no partnership, no bargaining”, emphasizing that any initiative that does not include the army's exit from power is not welcome.

There is still no unified leadership for the Resistance Committees, but they agree in demanding civilian rule without partnership with the military. Nevertheless, a number of committees in Khartoum welcomed Perthes’ call.

In early April, tensions escalated between the ruling Sovereignty Council of Sudan and UNITAMS. Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Army, attacked UNITAMS recently and threatened to expel its chief from the country.

This came in the wake of the briefing presented by Perthes to the UN Security Council, during which he accused the government of Sudan of committing grave human rights violations, such as using violence against demonstrators, raping female protesters, and detaining political activists. He also warned of the deteriorating situation in the country, which the Sovereignty Council considered a blatant interference in Sudanese affairs.