Turabi cancels London visit after visa delay
May 27, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Secretary general of the opposition Popular National Congress, (PNC) Hassan Turabi had to cancel his visit to London after unjustified delay in issuing an entry visa.
However another PNC leader Al-Mahbub Abdelsalam said it was likely that there were political reasons behind the complications in procedures.
He further said that he hoped the British embassy in Khartoum would clarify the reasons which prevented it from issuing an entry visa for Turabi to participate in the inauguration of the Dialogue of Civilizations College by one of the leaders of the Islamic movement in Egypt, Kamal al-Hilbawi.
He was due to present a paper entitled “Shura (consultation) and Democracy” Saturday evening at the centre’s HQs.
Turabi’s office had sent his passport and all the required documents to the British embassy last Thursday 25 May morning. The embassy had requested the passport to be collected the same afternoon but suddenly apologized. Further apologies were made on the pretext that procedures had not been finalized by the ambassador.
He was subsequently forced to cancel his visit in protest against the unjustified delay in issuing the visa. The paper was unable to obtain any comments on the matter from the concerned authorities at the British embassy in Khartoum.
(ST)