Sudan refuses to allow Eritrean opposition to hold meeting
July 1, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Sudan refused to allow Eritrean opposition to hold meetings in Khartoum in July as result of the amelioration on bilateral ties with the Eritrean government
According to a report published by the Eritrean opposition Gedab News (Awate), Sudan has informed four Eritrean opposition organizations who had scheduled their congresses in Khartoum in July that it will not provide them with meeting venues in Sudan.
The organizations are the Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary Council (ELF-RC), the Eritrean Liberation Front-National Congress (ELF-NC), the Eritrean Democratic Revolutionary Front (SeDeg’e) and the Eritrean People’s Movement (EPM.) ELF-RC was scheduled to hold it 6th national congress and the latter three, collectively known as the Salvation Front, were scheduled to consolidate their unity to a final merger.
The Sudanese decision was communicated to the representatives of the organizations without notice, long after the delegates, who were coming from the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Asia and Ethiopia, had made travel arrangements to Khartoum, Sudan.
Several leaders from the affected organizations refused to confirm or deny the news. Observers in Khartoum suspect that Sudan’s decision is a result of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki’s visit to Khartoum on June 12, when he held a six-hour, closed-door session with Sudan’s President Omar Albashir and Vice President Ali Osman Taha.
Meanwhile, the opposition Eritrean Democratic Party (EDP) will hold its congress in Milan, Italy between July 25th and 29th.
Sudan has been hosting, and continues to host, a big number of Eritreans who left their country to escape the Ethiopian occupation forces and, more recently, the policies of the government of Eritrea.
(ST)