Sudan’s Taha says country to apply Shariah, warns Al-Bashir’s detractors

July 31, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s vice-president Ali Osman Mohamed Taha has revealed preparations to enforce Islamic Shari’ah laws in the rump of the country after South Sudan broke away last month.

Taha, addressing a public rally in Al-Hilaliah area south of the capital Khartoum on Saturday afternoon, said that Islamic laws would be applied in the country, especially against those rejecting it and detractors of President Al-Bashir.

“We will cleave with a sword those who have overstepped their limits and acted insolently against the Sudanese people, their president or Shari’3ah,” Taha told the crowd.

He warned against “plots being hatched by Sudan’s ambushers,” threatening them with defeat. The Vice-president went on to downplay the impact of South Sudan secession, saying that the split makes Sudan’s stronger not weaker.

It is not clear who the vice-president meant to threaten but Taha’s highly rhetorical and strongly worded statements mark a shift from his normally mild statements.

His call for applying Shar’iah coincides with growing calls by conservative and Muslim fundamentalist groups for the establishment of an Islamic constitution in the country following the split of South Sudan.

(ST)