Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has threatened to expel the United Nations’ special representative Volker Perthes over alleged “interference” in the country’s affairs.
“We heard his slander the other day, lying, blatantly lying,” Burhan said in a speech at a military graduation on Friday.
“If you overstep your mandate, we will put you out of Sudan.”
The comments come days after U.N. representative Volker Perthes gave an update to the Security Council on efforts in Sudan, where he commented on the country’s economic turmoil, violence against protesters and priorities for a transition to elections.
Perthes’ mission has involved holding a series of consultations, along with the African Union, aiming at coming to a political solution following a military takeover in October which ended a power-sharing arrangement with civilian parties.
“We say to him you have a specific mandate, and we said we are open for you to sit in talks, but for you to lie and to try to manage the Sudanese people, we will kick you out,” said Burhan.
Regular mass protests have rocked Sudan since the coup, in the face of a violent crackdown by security forces that has so far killed 93 people, according to medics.
Perthes said UNITAMS along with the AU and regional bloc IGAD, have agreed on joint efforts to facilitate Sudanese-led talks.
The Friends of Sudan, a grouping that includes the United States, Britain and the European Union, have also thrown their weight behind the latest efforts to facilitate dialogue.
The group has called for the restoration of the civilian-led transition that had followed the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar Al-Bashir as it “would pave the way to restore economic assistance and international debt relief.”