Sharia row hits South Sudan peace deal - Sudan's SPLM pull out of team drafting Khartoum constitution

A row over whether Sudan's capital Khartoum should be subject to Islamic law has hit relations between South Sudan's former rebels SPLM and its partner in government, BBC reported today:

Pol Ring, head of the former rebel SPLM in Khartoum's parliament, said the draft constitution proposed for the city was the same as the existing Sharia law. This was unacceptable because Khartoum is the capital for the whole country, he said. The SPLM has now pulled out of the committee drafting Khartoum's new constitution.

The BBC correspondent says under South Sudan's peace deal, Sharia law will continue, with special protection for non-Muslims.

Note, there are thousands of different religions. Surely religion ought to be separate from government.

See Mar 24 2006 Sudan's SPLM pull out of team drafting Khartoum constitution