JEM welcomes EU stance on Sudan election

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has welcomed the remarks by Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative of Foreign Affairs and Security Affairs, and Vice-President of the European Commission on the Sudanese general election that will start tomorrow.

The spokesman for the movement, Jibril Bilal, told Radio Dabanga on Friday that JEM praises the position of the EU on the Sudanese government’s rejection to participate in the preparatory National Dialogue under auspices of the AU mediation panel in Addis Ababa on 29 March.

He added that his movement’s stance is identical with the European view on a comprehensive political settlement as the solution for the crises in the country.

On Thursday, Mogherini announced that the EU will not support the election, stating that “When dialogue is bypassed, some groups are excluded and civil and political rights are infringed, the upcoming elections cannot produce a credible result with legitimacy throughout the country.”

She stressed that only an inclusive political process will provide peace for Sudan, and expressed the EU’s disappointment “that the Government of Sudan is missing the opportunity by not responding to the efforts by the African Union to bring all stakeholders together”.

In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the head of the EU Delegation to Sudan on Friday. The FA spokesman, Ali El Sadig, called Mogherini’s remarks a “deliberate distortion of facts”, and accused the EU of encouraging terrorism in Sudan by supporting the armed movements.

The JEM spokesman commented by asking how the Sudanese government can condemn terrorism, while they are “its actual masterminds”.

“It is well-known that the ruling National Congress Party is the source of all terrorist movements,” he said.