KHARTOUM, March 23 - According to Sudanese News Agencies, a visiting delegation from the European Union (EU) assigned to participate in the monitoring of Sudan’s elections next month has been briefed on the security plans worked out by the Khartoum State’s Police to ensure security for the polls.

The briefing was given when the Director of the Emergency and Operations Department of Khartoum State Police, General Al-Tayeb Babiker, met here Monday with the EU delegation. He briefed the delegation on the election security plans for all the candidates and political organizations.

The head of the delegation said that their views concentrated on the technical requirements for the elections process, indicating that they would not interfere in the elections.

In mid-March the European Commission announced that Véronique de Keyser, Member of the European Parliament, will lead 130 EU observers to assess pre-election preparations and campaign all over Sudan, voting, counting and tabulation of the results of the Election Days, as well as the post-election period.

To do so a first Team of experts arrived in the country at the end of February. The experts will soon be joined by a first wave of Long Term Observers (LTOs) and a second wave of Short Term Observers (STOs). In addition, the mission will be reinforced by a delegation of Members of the European Parliament for the election period.

The EU EOM does not present partial conclusions on Election-Day but comprehensive recommendations, based on exhaustive facts and information, once the entire process is over.

Therefore, the mission will stay in the country after the elections in order to present its first conclusions once the post election period is closed. The EU EOM is the largest international observer group in Sudan for these elections. The EU also contributed financially to their preparation.

Following the signature of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, an amount of €500m was provided by the EU in development aid in addition to €640m in humanitarian aid since 2003.