Paul KeenanCountry takes another step towards sharia law
The Sudanese government has stated it will prohibit any further construction of churches in the country.
According to a statement from Minister Shalil Abdullah of the Office for Guidance and Religious Endowments, since the vote for the independence of South Sudan from the greater Sudanese territory in 2011, Sudan now has an ample number of Christian churches for the current community there.
The move can be viewed as another step towards fulfilling President Omar al Bashir’s promise, ahead of the 2011 vote, to make Sudan an Islamic state should South Sudan secede.
“We will change the constitution and at that time there will be no time to speak of diversity of culture and ethnicity. Shari’a and Islam will be the main source for the constitution, Islam the official religion and Arabic the official language,” the president is quoted as declaring in December 2010.
The new prohibition comes in the wake of at least two church demolitions in Sudan. In February, a Christian church was demolished in Omudurman, while the end of June saw the Church of Christ in Thiba Al Hamyida, North Khartoum torn down.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which monitors the situation for Christians in Sudan has expressed deep concern at the new building prohibition and accused the Sudanese government of “a violation of the right to freedom of religion or belief, guaranteed in article 6 and 38 of Sudan’s Interim Constitution as well as article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Sudan is signatory”.