Sudan: Change comes slowly
2005-10-06 11:38
Joborona - "Forty-five lashes for being drunk," the man said bitterly, raising his shirt to show criss-crossed wounds on his stomach, some still red and tender.
Marko Mayoren, 50, had been released a day earlier after a night in jail and a brief trial that convicted him of breaking Islamic law by drinking alcohol.
Having just ended a 21-year civil war that divided Muslims and Christians, Sudan has a new government, new interim constitution guaranteeing religious freedom. But for Mayoren, the new deal exists largely on paper.
Others report fewer acts of harassment since the new constitution took effect in July, such as less stringent application of the rules on alcohol and women's dress.
But it's still not easy for the tiny Christian minority in this capital of three million people.
'The law shouldn't apply to Christians'
Mayoren said he was lashed with a leath whip at the Muslim court of conduct, then ordered to pay a 5 000 dinar fine (about $20) - "Plus 50 dinars for the ink they used to write the report," he said angrily.
Mayoren's comrades swapped nearly identical stories as they drank a fermented orange drink called, for reasons unknown, "Internet".
The men know the law forbids alcohol; they just don't think it should apply to Christians.
Ghazi Suleiman, a Muslim lawyer and parliament member, says the constitution states "Sudan is a diversified nation" and guarantees respect for all practices, traditions and religions.
But the capital is still an Islamic city, where most women wrap head and body in flowing robes, all shops and the one Western-style mall close for Friday prayers, and a huge sign in English on the airport highway offers this verse from the Qu'ran, the Muslim holy book: "If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him."
Changes after the peace deal
The new constitution has given Christians a slight sense of reprieve. Arrests such as Mayoren's seem to have decreased, and some say police have stopped boarding buses to sniff southerners for alcohol.
Law enforcement agencies have been officially ordered not to harass non-Muslims and not to detain drinkers unless they are disturbing the peace.
Christian women have been quick to discard scarves and long-sleeved garb. Jacqueline Khamis, a 23-year-old Christian who lives in Joborona camp, has short, uncovered hair, wears a T-shirt and long skirt.
Until peace was signed, "almost every girl I know has been physically harassed for the way she is dressed", Khamis said.
The Khartoum provincial government will set up a committee to enforce Christian rights in the capital, said Suleiman, and the city "shall be under two systems of law so we can prevent these abuses".
Khamis, however, is less optimistic about her future under the Arabs, as Muslim northerners are known.
"I don't think we'll be able to live openly as Christians for a long time," she said.
- AP