(ST)

The National Elections Commission (NEC) chief Abel Alier met today with Veronique De Keyser, the head of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to Sudan.

The NEC deputy Abdallah Ahmed Abdallah said that the meeting tackled joint cooperation between the two sides and that De Keyser and her delegation listened to a detailed briefing on the preparation for the elections and the phases completed so far.

Abdallah said that the EU EOM chief observer will stay in Sudan till next Friday and will return to join her team in the last stages of the elections.

On Thursday the EU EOM will officially launch the mission during a press conference in the Sudanese capital.

Last month, the EU announced that the 130-strong mission will be the largest in the history of the European bloc.

The elections are taking place as part of a 2005 agreement between the Muslim north and largely Christian and animist south that ended a 22-year civil war.

The first multi-party presidential, regional and legislative elections in the country since 1986 will take place from April 11-18.