Protesters in Port Sudan call to expel UN envoy

KHARTOUM, Sudan

A group of demonstrators largely made up of former regime supporters held a protest in the Red Sea capital calling for UN envoy Volker Perthes to leave Sudan, before storming his office.

Perthes has been operating from Port Sudan since the eruption of armed conflict in Khartoum between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces on April 15, 2023.

The demonstration began at the Alumni Club and ended at the Coral Hotel, where the UN envoy’s headquarters is located. Protesters chanted slogans against the UN’s involvement in Sudanese affairs and demanded the envoy’s departure.

Eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune that the majority of protesters were affiliated with the former regime, while others belonged to the tribal body of the Supreme Council of Beja Chiefdoms and independent groups.

Sources also reported the involvement of “remnants” of the former regime in the Red Sea State, who had previously organized several protests in Khartoum after the October 25, 2021 coup against the UN envoy.

Sayed Abu Amna, the spokesperson for the Beja tribal body, has refuted any connection between the council and the group that stormed the residence of the UN envoy in Port Sudan.

“The Supreme Council is a peaceful civilian organization that does not condone violent means and respects the United Nations and its institutions and missions,” Abu Amna added.

He pointed out that their objection to Volker’s presence in the region was due to his exclusion of the region’s representative in the political process, which was limited to “a few fictitious individuals and entities” that do not represent the diverse peoples of Sudan.

The UN envoy is part of a facilitation panel that includes the IGAD and the African Union. The role of the Trilateral Mechanism is limited to facilitating the political process, which is led and run by Sudanese parties.

Mohamed Terik, the head of the Beja Chiedoms Council, is a member of the People of Sudan Initiative, a pro-Islamist coalition that held several demonstrations outside the UNITAMS headquarters in Khartoum.

Terik, who calls for the cancellation of the Juba peace agreement for Eastern Sudan, is also a member of the Democratic Bloc, which gathers two peace signatories from the Darfur region and the Democratic Unionist Party led by Gaffar al-Mirghani.