New York, 14 September 2023 (dpa/MIA) - United Nations Special Envoy for Sudan Volker Perthes announced that he is resigning, saying it has become clear that he cannot do his job effectively without access to the crisis-plagued country.

The German diplomat was declared persona non grata by Sudan's Foreign Ministry in June and effectively barred from the country. An armed conflict broke out in the country in mid-April.

Perthes on Wednesday called it "a privilege" to serve as the UN special envoy for the past 2.5 years but said he'd asked to step down.

"I'm grateful to the secretary general for that opportunity, and for his confidence in me but I've asked him to relieve me off this duty," Perthes said. "This will therefore be my last briefing in this function."

The conflict in Sudan involves fighting between the army, led by de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the RSF paramilitary under Mohammed Hamdan Daglo. The two generals had jointly seized power in a coup in 2021, but fell out over how to share control.

Officially, the Sudanese government has no authority to declare United Nations envoys undesirable or expel them from the country.

According to the UN Charter, UN member countries are obligated to respect UN officials, and only the UN's secretary general has the authority to withdraw staff.

Sudan's decision to do so anyway has severely disrupted the work of the special envoy.

At the end of May, al-Burhan accused Perthes of fuelling the conflict and called for his removal. The UN has repeatedly rejected al-Burhan's accusations.

Perthes has served as the chief international mediator for Sudan since February 2021, tasked with finding agreement among the many political factions in Sudan on a path toward democracy and peace.

However, a December 2022 agreement that Perthes helped negotiate was broken on April 15.

Photo: EPA