News
North Sudan moves towards theocracy
North Sudan will go ahead with plans to adopt an entirely Islamic constitution and strengthen Islamic law, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Wednesday, three months after its former civil war enemy South Sudan became independent.
By turning North Sudan into an Islamic theocracy, Khartoum will be hoping to consolidate support among the country’s majority Muslim population. And it’s also likely to persuade the mostly Christian southerners who remain in the north – a potential source of instability as far as the government is concerned – to get out, quickly. It’s estimated that over a million southerners have been stranded in the north after Sudan’s official split, unwelcome in the north but having no opportunities in the south either. Their Sudanese citizenship has been revoked, and if they want to stay, they must go through a long and complicated bureaucratic process. All this to remain in a country where their religion will be illegal?
It also signals the beginning of the end of Africa’s influence in Sudan, and opens the door to Iran or Saudi Arabia to establish a solid foothold in Africa.
