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Sudan Tribune

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Religious affairs minister denies ISIS presence in Sudan

November 3, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Minister of Religious Affairs, Nasr al-Din Mufreh, has denied the existence of Islamic State (ISIS) organization in Sudan but acknowledged the existence of a large group of extremists produced by the former regime.

Sudanese minister of religious affairs Nasr al-Din Mufreh
Sudanese minister of religious affairs Nasr al-Din Mufreh
In an interview with the London based newspaper “Asharq Al-Awsat” on Sunday, Mufreh said that the ISIS is a global organization and there are terrorist elements spread in a number of countries.

“There is no ISIS organization in Sudan but there are individuals, I don’t know how many they are, ” he stressed.

Al-Tayyar newspaper on Sunday said that the Sudanese government is preparing to hand over between 16 and 20 terrorist elements from ISIS and other groups to their countries.

The local daily further said that the arrested persons belonged to different nationalities, including six Egyptians, one Tunisians, and six Boko Haram members from Chad and Nigeria.

Last Friday, the White House renewed the state of national emergency on Sudan saying “Despite recent positive developments, the crisis constituted by the actions and policies of the Government of Sudan that led to the declaration of a national emergency (…) has not been resolved.

The Sudanese Minister of Religious Affairs affirmed that there is a religious discourse from which extremism arises and that his country will face all attempts to undermine the freedoms in Sudan.

Mufreh pointed to his ministry’s interest in combating extremism, takfiri ideas and terrorism, as well as modifying the curricula to prepare students to be useful for the society.

He revealed that some isolated Islamist elements are trying to exploit mosques to promote their ideas, but vowed to disseminate “serious speech in the mosques to call for moderation and the fight against extremism.”

He added that the project of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan was defeated in political and community life.

(ST)

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