UN envoy urges Sudan paramilitary leader to show restraint

GBNEWS24DESK//

The U.N. special envoy for Sudan met with the powerful leader of a Sudanese paramilitary force, urging him to allow peaceful protests Saturday and avoid confrontation in the wake of a military coup earlier this week.

Pro-democracy activist groups have called for “million-person” marches across the country Saturday to press demands for re-instating a deposed transitional government and releasing senior political figures from detention, reports AP.

The takeover threatens to derail Sudan’s fragile Western-backed transition to democracy which got under way two years ago, after the ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

The U.N. envoy, Volker Perthes, met late Friday with Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, a coup leader seen as close to Sudan’s strongman, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

Dagalo commands the feared Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary unit that controls the streets of the capital of Khartoum and played a major role in the coup. The RSF is notorious for atrocities and rapes during the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region and for deadly attacks on pro-democracy protesters in 2019.

Perthes said in a message posted on Twitter that he “stressed the need for calm, allowing peaceful protest and avoiding any confrontation” in his talks with Dagalo.

In a separate statement, Perthes said the the U.N.’s transition mission “is actively coordinating with mediation efforts currently underway to facilitate an inclusive dialogue, which remains the only path toward a peaceful solution to the current crisis.”

Saturday’s protests were likely to increase pressure on the generals, who already face mounting condemnations from the U.S. and other Western countries to restore a civilian-led government.

The demonstrations were called by the Sudanese Professionals’ Association and the so-called Resistance Committees. Both were at the forefront of the uprising against al-Bashir and his Islamist government. They demand the dismantling of the now-ruling military council, led by Burhan, and the handover of the government to civilians.