By Hadi Fornaji.
Tunis, 22 September 2016:
Faiez Serraj, the head of the Presidency Council is to visit Sudan in the next few days , the Sudanese government has said.
The announcement follows a meeting at the UN in New York between Sudan’s foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour and the acting Government of National Unity (GNA) foreign minister Mohamed Taha Siala.
According to a statement yesterday from the Sudanese minister, Siala called on Sudan to support the GNA and denounced the presence in Libya of the Sudan rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). It was accused by Ibrahim Jedhran’s spokesman Ali Al-Hassi of taking part alongside the Libyan National Army in the seizure of the eastern oil terminals on 11 days ago.
JEM chairman Mahgoub Hussein, however, has denied it, saying the movement is not present in Libya.
There have, though, been regular and persistent allegations of JEM forces operating in the country. In May, Misratan officials claimed that JEM fighters allied to the LNA had forced out of Zillah, 400 kilometres south east of Sirte.
There has been no confirmation as yet from the Presidency Council that Serraj will head to Khartoum in the immediate future.
Sudan has generally supported the GNA, and sent a team of doctors to Misrata to treat those wounded in the fight in Sirte against the so-called Islamic State.
