Sudan

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has launched a new Peace Fellows programme to increase participation in the country’s peace process.  It brings together representatives from all 10 states and three administrative areas to share information about the 2018 Peace Agreement, with a focus on education.

Humanitarian officials in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said the entry of goods into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing remains limited, and some 250,000 people are still without regular access to piped water.  They called for a return to the predictable entry of goods and the easing of movement restrictions.

While Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan all have legitimate claims to, and concerns about, use of the Nile River Basin’s waters, the three neighbours should negotiate in good faith towards a mutually beneficial agreement on the historic waterway’s sustainable management, the senior United Nations official for the Horn of Africa told the Security Council today.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) recorded 617 human rights abuses, including 165 killings by armed groups in the country, which is 37 per cent higher than the previous six months.  The deteriorating human rights situation is also marked by a steep rise in abductions.

Implementation of the peace process in Sudan remains limited with intercommunal violence in Darfur on the rise, the Security Council heard today as the head of that country’s sanctions committee reiterated the need for targeted sanctions.

Sudan must now fully seize its critical role in delivering long-awaited justice to victims by ending impunity for perpetrators of atrocity crimes committed in Darfur almost 20 years ago, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court told the Security Council today.

The Security Council decided today to extend the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) until 3 June 2022 and requested the Government of Sudan to swiftly sign a status of mission agreement with the Organization to enable the full, effective and unhindered functioning of the Mission.

Despite a decline in the numbers of migrants arriving in Europe via the central Mediterranean route in recent years, hundreds — including at least 632 so far in 2021 — continue to die, finds a new report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Office, which cites risks created by policy decisions.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

Despite progress Sudan has made towards peaceful transition, delays in establishing key representative bodies, continued intercommunal conflict and unanswered violence against women and girls threaten the country’s stability and civilian population during its transition process, the Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS) told the Security Council during a videoconference meeting today.