Sudan Leader Vows to Bolster Islamic Law in North (South‪)‬

Sudan's president has vowed to more deeply entrench Islamic religious law in the northern half of his country if the predominantly animist and Christian south votes to secede in a Jan. 9 referendum, the London-based daily AL HAYAT said on Dec. 20. President Omar Bashir's comments the day before appear to reflect his anger at the strong likelihood that the south will vote overwhelmingly in favor of independence from the mainly Arab and Muslim north in the long-awaited referendum. The vote is a key provision agreed on in the 2005 peace accord that officially ended more than two decades of north-south civil war. Bashir met the leaders of Sudan's two most powerful neighbors--Libya's Moammar Gadhafi and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak-- and southern Sudanese leader Salva Kiir in the capital Khartoum on Dec. 21 to discuss the future of his country ahead of the referendum. Bashir is wanted on an international indictment for war crimes in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. With less than three weeks left before the vote, Bashir appeared to be resigned to the secession of the south and prepared to do away with key provisions of the 2005 peace accord that recognizes Sudan's ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity.