Khartoum - Sudan will permit non-Muslims
to consume alcohol and strengthen women's rights, including
banning female genital mutilation (FGM), its justice minister
said late on Saturday, in a reversal of almost four decades of
hardline Islamist policies.
About 3% of Sudan's population is non-Muslim, according to
the United Nations.
Alcoholic drinks have been banned since former President
Jaafar Nimeiri introduced Islamic law in 1983, throwing bottles
of whisky into the Nile in the capital Khartoum.
The transition government which took over after autocrat
Omar al-Bashir was toppled last year has vowed to lead Sudan to
democracy, end discrimination and make peace with rebels.
Non-Muslims will no longer be criminalised for drinking
alcohol in private, Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari told
state television. For Muslims, the ban will remain. Offenders
are typically flogged under Islamic law.
Sudan will also decriminalise apostasy and ban FGM, a
practice which typically involves the partial or total removal
of the external genitalia of girls and women, he said.
Women will also no longer need a permit from male members of
their families to travel with their children.
Nimeiri's introduction of Islamic law was major catalyst for
a 22-year-long war between Sudan's Muslim north and the mainly
Christian south that led in 2011 to South Sudan's secession.
Bashir extended Islamic law after he took power in 1989.
Sudanese Christians live mainly in Khartoum and in the Nuba
mountains near the South Sudan border. Some Sudanese also follow
traditional African beliefs.
The transition government led by Abdalla Hamdok runs the
country in an uneasy coalition with the military which helped
remove Bashir after months of mass protests.