Sudan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Hassan Hamid, welcomed the Human Rights Council’s condemnation of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia and its governing structures while criticizing the council for failing to explicitly identify the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the external supporter of the group. Addressing the Human Rights Council during the adoption of the resolution on the situation in El Obeid and its surrounding areas, Hamid said the Sudanese government had not objected to the consensus adoption of the resolution because it contained provisions that strongly condemned the crimes committed by the RSF militia, rejected any governing authority or administrative structures established in areas under the militia’s control, and reaffirmed the council’s commitment to Sudan’s unity, independence, and territorial integrity. With regard to the provisions condemning external interference, the Permanent Representative described them as positive but said they relied on generalized language and failed to identify the responsible state. He noted that while the resolution referred to external interference in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1556 and the subsequent United Nations Security Council Resolution 1591, it did not name the United Arab Emirates, which he said had been identified by the UN Panel of Experts established pursuant to those resolutions. He stressed that this was not solely the position of the Sudanese government but was also reflected in the Panel’s report, adding that such an approach would not achieve the objectives of the special session or its resolution. While welcoming the resolution’s positive provisions, Hamid reiterated Sudan’s categorical rejection of all paragraphs relating to the mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission. He recalled Sudan’s longstanding objection to the resolution establishing the mission, arguing that it had equated the Sudanese Armed Forces with the RSF militia. He also requested that Sudan’s reservations be formally recorded in the meeting’s official proceedings to ensure the country would incur no obligations under the contested provisions.BH/BH