ANKARA 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on Sudan’s army chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and his deputy to withdraw from the country’s political scene. 

The call was made in a UN Security Council report on the situation in Sudan and the activities of the UN mission in the country.

Guterres urged all Sudanese leaders and actors "to put national interests first and find a way out of the current political impasse."

The UN chief said Al-Burhan and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo must abide by their commitments to withdraw from political scene and "to translate them into reality."

"Reaching a solution to the impasse is more urgent than ever. It can be achieved only through Sudanese-owned and -led political dialogue that offers a credible path to a legitimate civilian-led democratic transition," Guterres said.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021 when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency, a move decried by political forces as a “military coup”.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar