Sudan alleges UK barred UN session on ‘complaint against UAE’

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) - Sudan has accused the UK of interfering in its affairs last Monday when it changed the format of a closed-door UN Security Council consultation on the Northeast African country.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regrets that the UK disregarded its moral and political responsibility as a permanent member of the Security Council,” the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry claimed that the UK interfered in Sudan’s internal affairs by altering the format and agenda of the Security Council consultation that would discuss Khartoum’s complaints against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over its alleged “multifaceted sponsorship of the quasi-military Rapid Support Forces (RSF)."

The statement added that the session instead discussed the general situation in Sudan, specifically the situation in El Fasher in northwestern Sudan.

Khartoum also accused the UK government of “holding secret meetings with the Rapid Support Forces militia, which exhibit all the characteristics of terrorist groups,” noting that this “makes them a partner in the atrocities committed by this terrorist militia and its sponsor.”

Further on the Security Council session, the Foreign Ministry statement added that “the closed-door consultations were held on the morning of April 29, during which members demanded that the Rapid Support Forces cease their hostile actions around El Fasher and pledge not to attack any city.”

The council members also reportedly called on regional parties to adhere to the arms embargo on Darfur under Resolution 1591 (2005).

They also called for the resumption of negotiations between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in the Saudi city of Jeddah, while underscoring the necessity of facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid without obstacles and respecting international humanitarian law.

However, the meeting did not result in resolutions and was limited to the statement issued on April 27, Sudan said.

On April 28, Sudan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed sent a letter to the Council claiming that the UAE’s support to the RSF represents a “flagrant violation” of the UN Charter and the Sudan sanctions regime.

The letter requested the Council to convene an emergency meeting to discuss the “UAE’s aggression against Sudan … (and) hold it responsible for the crimes committed against the Sudanese people.”

The UAE has denied these allegations on several occasions, most recently in an April 21 letter to the Security Council.

“All allegations of the United Arab Emirates’ involvement in any form of aggression or destabilization in Sudan, or its provision of any military, logistical, financial or political support to any faction in Sudan, are spurious, unfounded, and lack any credible evidence to support them,” the letter said.

Since mid-April 2023, the Sudanese army and the quasi-military RSF have been engaged in a war that has caused about 13,900 deaths and internally displaced approximately 8.5 million people, according to the United Nations.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala