UNITAMS as a Model: How Do UN Missions Deepen Sudan’s Crises Instead of Solving Them?

In the wake of the ongoing demonstrations and clashes taking place in the Sudan between the forces rejecting the coup on one hand, and the agencies affiliated with the Chairman of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on the other hand, multiple and joint statements were issued denouncing the "negative position" of the United Nations mission in the country UNITAMS.

Observers believe that UNITAMS seemed completely "deficient" in dealing with the raging conflict, in a clear failure to perform its mission in providing a stable security situation and protecting the transitional period.

 

Helpless Forces

On March 25, 2022, the leader of the Freedom and Change forces, Adel Khalafallah, announced that the UNITAMS mission was completely "incapable" of resolving the political crisis in the country.

The opposition leader considered in an interview with the Turkish Anatolia agency, that "the developments confirmed that the UN mission is unable to achieve its goals."

Khalafallah explained that "the developments between Russia and Ukraine (since January 24, 2022) have made the Security Council lose any ability to take a decision in favor of a peaceful democratic transition in Sudan."

It is noteworthy that on June 5, 2020, the UN Security Council issued a resolution to establish the United Nations Integrated Mission to Assist the Transition in Sudan (UNITAMS), in response to the request of the Sudanese government, led by the then Prime Minister, Abdullah Hamdok, who was ousted from his position following Al-Burhan’s “measures” On October 25, 2022.

It is not only the protesting forces that denounce the work of UNITAMS, on the other hand, there is an increasing escalation by the Council and the military authority against the work of the UN mission.

On March 29, 2022, Al-Burhan considered that "the mission's tasks do not exceed the limits of coordination between the Sudanese parties, and that it does not have the right to launch any initiative."

The head of the mission, Volker Peretz, had warned in a statement before the UN Security Council on March 28, 2022, of "the deterioration of the security, economic and humanitarian conditions in Sudan, due to the excessive repression against those calling for civilian rule, and the absence of a government since October 2021."

Immediately after the testimony, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, through a statement, the initiation of a series of measures to "control the work of the United Nations Mission in Khartoum."

On April 1, 2022, Al-Burhan, head of the UN mission UNITAMS, warned Peretz of "expulsion outside the country for blatant interference in Sudanese affairs."

This is not the first time that the UN mission has faced threats of expulsion. On January 26, 2022, UNITAMS responded through a statement to a group of demonstrators calling for its expulsion, stressing that it "is in the country at the request and authorization of the UN and that it defends freedom of expression and assembly."

Social media accounts accused the UNITAMS mission and its chief of being "neo-colonialists", and that "Peretz is the governor-general of Sudan, delegated by the Western powers."

On May 6, 2021, Peretz said in a press statement that his mission "is not a foreign intervention in Sudan, and does not constitute a type of colonialism", and that he "is not a general ruler of Sudan, as was reported on social media."

A group of demonstrators in front of UNITAMS demanding the expulsion of the mission. We defend freedom of assembly and expression and we offered them to receive a delegation at our headquarters, but they refused. UNITAMS is here at Sudan's request and with a clear mandate from the Security Council.

 

Unfortunate History

The warning calls that were issued in conjunction with the decision to establish the UNITAMS mission cannot be overlooked. A few days after the decision, specifically on May 11, 2020, the Sudanese Union of Scholars, Imams and Preachers (ESAAD) issued a statement calling on all the people of the country to reject this mandate.

The Sudanese Union of Scholars issued an appeal to the citizens to "line up in order to build their country with their own hands, to renounce division and rivalry, and to preserve the country's unity and sovereignty."

The union also warned Hamdok's government, against "fragmenting, ripping and mortgaging the country to war merchants and crisis makers," likening what is currently happening to the "painful experience of South Sudan."

At the same time, the Union affirmed "its categorical rejection of the government in charge of bypassing the transitional administrative tasks entrusted to it, its neglect to address the people's urgent health and livelihood needs, and its slowness in extinguishing the fires that are burning in the east, west and center."

That statement was issued based on the "unfortunate history" of the UN missions in Sudan, which contributed to "dispersal of the country."

The history of Sudan began with the UN missions in 2005, and since that time the country has not witnessed any stability at all. Rather, it was fragmented and became two states, one in the north and the other in the south, both of which are still suffering from internal conflicts and tribal and ethnic conflicts, despite the presence of these missions.

The First United Nations Mission, known by the acronym UNAMIS, was tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the North and the South, and its mission ended in 2011 with the secession of the South.

The second, known as AMIS, came under Chapter VII, concerned with peacekeeping in the Darfur region, and it is still operating there.

The third, UNICEF, was established in 2011 to spread in the disputed Abyei region between Khartoum and Juba.

 

Drastic Failure

The missions were always a concern for the authority and the people at the same time, and the ousted President Omar al-Bashir had previously described the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Darfur, UNAMID as "becoming a security burden", and demanded them to leave.

Al-Bashir said during a press conference on November 30, 2014, that the international forces “are no longer in charge of protecting civilians, but rather protecting the militants.”

After the overthrow of Al-Bashir in April 2019, the new government at the time headed by Hamdok asked the United Nations to postpone the withdrawal of UNAMID, which was supposed to take place at the beginning of 2020.

The government sent two letters to the Security Council asking it to authorize a new political and peace-building follow-up mission covering the entire Sudan.

Despite the two letters demanding the mandate of the new mission under Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter, just like the comprehensive mission that Hamdok wants, but in the whole of Sudan, and not only in Darfur.

Sudanese journalist Mohamed Nasr said: "The UNITAMS mission is part of an old conspiracy that extends to thwart and divide the Sudanese state, and it is part of the tools of control and international pressure on Sudan."

Nasr confirmed to Al-Estiklal that "the mission neither provided radical solutions nor achieved the necessary insurance to stop the ongoing conflicts, especially since the mission failed in its primary mission, for which it was established to support the transitional phase, secure a smooth transition of power and empower a civilian government."

He pointed out that "these hopes evaporated with Al-Burhan's measures on October 25, 2021 (most notably the imposition of the state of emergency and the dissolution of the Sovereignty Councils and the Transitional Ministers), without the mission's ability to rein in the military or achieve any kind of balance between the two sides."

Nasr continued: "This reminds us of the old UN missions that came to Sudan in the early 2000s. They did not prevent the massacres of war in Darfur, nor did they contribute to the unification of Sudan, but only more blood, leading to the secession of the south."

He stressed that "the partners and parties of the transitional period must understand that the solution to the Sudan crisis is only from the inside, because importing solutions from abroad has only increased our country's fatigue."

Nasr concluded his speech by saying, "If the parties do not meet to reach a solution, the country will head to a comprehensive catastrophe at all political, economic and social levels, and everyone will pay the price for this failure."