Salva Kiir says no decision to boycott northern Sudan elections

April 9, 2010 (JUBA) – The Chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Salva Kiir Mayardit, has denied statements by junior officials that the party had decided to boycott elections in Northern Sudan.

On Wednesday the SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum announced that the Political Bureau had reached a decision to boycott elections at all levels in Northern Sudan with the exception of Southern Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states.

Addressing a campaign rally in the Unity state’s capital, Bentiu, on Thursday, Salva Kiir said the Political Bureau did not resolve to boycott elections in the 13 states, describing the announcement as “unacceptable”.

He explained that the Bureau had last week passed a resolution to only withdraw the party’s presidential candidate, Yasir Saeed Arman, from the presidency race in addition to boycott of elections in the troubled region of Darfur.

(ST)