South Sudanese military police officers monitor the area during a South Sudanese Unified Forces deployment ceremony at the Luri Military Training Centre in Juba (AFP)
Sudan asked the United Nations on Thursday to "immediately terminate" the UN political mission in the country (UNITAMS), Sudan's acting Foreign Minister Ali Sadeq told the Security Council in a letter.
"(The) government of Sudan requested that the United Nations immediately terminate the UNITAMS mission. At the same time, we would like to assure you that the Government of Sudan is committed to engaging constructively with the Security Council and the Secretariat," he wrote in a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"The purpose of establishing the mission (was) to assist the transitional government of Sudan after the December 2018 revolution," he wrote, adding that the mission's performance in implementing its objectives "was disappointing".
When asked about Sudan’s decision, Guterres spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the letter had been received and circulated to the Security Council.
A war erupted on April 15 between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after weeks of rising tension between the two sides over a plan to integrate forces as part of a transition from military rule to civilian democracy.
The UN special envoy to Sudan announced in September that he was stepping down, more than three months after Sudan declared him unwelcome after disagreements between rival factions erupted into war.
The US military said on Monday it destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones as Tehran sought to thwart a new US naval effort to open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
A blast at a fireworks factory in China has killed at least 26 people and injured 61, flattening buildings and sending towering clouds of smoke into the sky, and prompting President Xi Jinping to order a thorough investigation, state media reported on Tuesday.
A Russian overnight missile and drone attack on Ukrainian gas production facilities killed five people, including two rescue workers, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday, as Kyiv and Moscow exchanged rival ceasefire proposals.
Two cases of the deadly hantavirus have been confirmed, and five more are suspected among people who were on a luxury cruise ship now held in the Atlantic near Cape Verde, the World Health Organisation said in its most detailed update on the outbreak.