Sudan’s president on December 19 said that the country would adopt an Islamic constitution if the south split away after a referendum due next month. “If south Sudan secedes, we will change the constitution and at that time there will be no time to speak of diversity of culture and ethnicity,” President Omar Bashir told supporters at a rally in the eastern city of Gedaref. “Shariah (Islamic law) and Islam will be the main source for the constitution, Islam the official religion and Arabic the official language,” he said.
The plebiscite on whether to declare independence in the south, where most follow traditional beliefs and Christianity, was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of war between it and the mainly Muslim north. The accord set up an interim constitution that limited the application of Shariah to the north and recognised “the cultural and social diversity of the Sudanese people.” Analysts expect most southerners to choose independence in the poll, scheduled to start January 9 and last for a week.
A day before Sudan dismissed allegations President Omar Bashir had deposited up to $9 billion overseas, saying it was impossible because of sanctions. “It is just propaganda – Ocampo using false information to create political pressure,” said information ministry official Rabie Abdelati, a senior member of Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP). “I don’t think President Bashir has a bank account in Europe or America or the Arab world. If President Bashir had a bank account in his name or anther name it would be very easy for them to confiscate it,” Abdelati said. “We are challenging them to say where the money is kept. If they can find this account then we give them license to take the money inside it as a prize.”
Another senior Sudanese official said: “It is incorrect and cannot possibly be true. “Sudan is heavily sanctioned. There is a lot of surveillance around Sudan. How could President Bashir put this amount in a Western bank?”