Bashir to reinforce Sharia if Sudan splits

Mon Dec 20, 2010

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has said that the north of the country will reinforce its Islamic law if the south secedes in the next month referendum.

"If south Sudan secedes, we'll change the constitution. There will be no question of cultural or ethnic diversity. Sharia will be the only source of the constitution, and Arabic the only official language," he said in a speech on national television on Sunday, AFP reported.

South Sudan is just three weeks away from the referendum, which is to determine the fate of the Christian-majority region. It is predicted that southerners will vote for independence.

The vote was included in the 2005 peace deal between the mainly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south that ended the civil war in Sudan.

The north's National Congress Party and South's Sudan People's Liberation Movement also agreed on an interim constitution that considered both Islamic and Christian social and cultural values. In addition, Arabic and English were recognized as the official languages of the country. These laws are valid until July 2011.

Tensions are running high in Sudan as many fear that the referendum could spark political crisis as well as violence.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/156262.html.