THE United Nations’ envoy to Sudan, a key mediator in the country’s brutal conflict, is no longer welcome there, Sudanese authorities say, as its warring sides agreed to a new 24-hour ceasefire.

A statement issued by Sudan’s Foreign Ministry late on Thursday comes just weeks after the head of the country’s military General Abdel Fattah Burhan demanded in a letter to envoy Volker Perthes that he should be removed from his post.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has been notified that Mr Perthes has been formally declared persona non grata, the Foreign Ministry said.

Since April 15, the military, headed by Gen Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have been locked in a violent power struggle that has killed more than 860 civilians, according to Sudan’s Doctors’ Syndicate. 

Today the military and the RSF agreed to a new 24-hour ceasefire set to start Saturday at 6am, Saudi Arabia and the United States said in a joint statement published by the Saudi Press Agency. 

The day-long truce, brokered by Washington and Riyadh, will be the conflict’s eighth ceasefire deal. All past agreements have foundered.

Last week, the two mediating nations suspended formal peace talks taking place in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah since late May, accusing both sides of repeated ceasefire violations. 

Mr Perthes has been a key mediator in Sudan since being appointed as special envoy in 2021.

The declaration by the Sudanese drew condemnation from Mr Perthes’s native Germany.

“The international community, including the German government, continues to stand fully behind Mr Perthes and his efforts,” a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry said. She said that Mr Perthes will continue to do his job from Kenya.