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Sudan appoints new ambassador to European Union

April 20, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The foreign ministry in Khartoum this week announced that Motrif Siddiq has been appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sudan to the European Union (EU).

FILE PHOTO - Ambassador Mutrif Siddiq
FILE PHOTO – Ambassador Mutrif Siddiq
His appointment comes as Sudan and EU’s relations have been witnessing remarkable improvement recently.

Siddiq Tuesday handed over his credentials to the President of the European Council Donald Tomsk; in a meeting they both discussed the relationships between Sudan and the EU as well as migration and terrorism issues.

According to the official news agency, SUNA, Siddiq asserted the importance of addressing the issues of terrorism and migration with all the related partners, pointing out Sudan’s location which made the country to receive a huge number of migrants.

He also said that Sudan makes big efforts for housing the refugees and work with the EU to solve the issues of the illegal migration.

The relationship between Khartoum and the EU has improved during the recent months, following Europe’s recognition of the role that Sudan could play to stop illegal migration from eastern African and Horn of Africa countries.

Earlier this month, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation Neven Mimica visited Khartoum and announced that they will pay 155 million Euro to the Sudanese government to shelter and create jobs for foreign refugees internally displaced persons.

Siddiq was nominated to become the Sudanese ambassador in Brussels in February last year after the former minister of the international cooperation El Tijani Fidail.

Also, he was the first Sudanese ambassador to South Sudan since the secession in 2011.
“The man has a rich background of serving different positions which will enable him to be a successful ambassador of Sudan to the EU” said al-Tayeb Zain al-Abdin, a professor of political science at Khartoum University.

Siddiq was a member of the Sudanese intelligence community before to join the diplomatic corps. He served as the deputy director of the External Intelligence Agency till 1995 when Sudan was accused of attempting to kill the Egyptian president Hussani Mubarak.

He also served as deputy minister of the humanitarian and the foreign affairs ministries when he left the external intelligence agency.

(ST)

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