Before leaving this subject, it is worth noting that the Sharia was not introduced by the present Government. Yet the first significant complaints about Sudanese Sharia from international bodies only date from the early 1990s, and no allowance is made for the efforts of this Government to humanise its working and to exempt non-Muslims from its harsher aspects. There seems to be little, if any, official discrimination in Sudan against members of other faiths. There are clearly well-attended cathedrals an churches in Khartoum and in other places in northern and southern Sudan. In the vast displaced persons camps around Khartoum, hundreds of new churches and chapels have been built.
All services appear to be held in peace and safety.
There is a law against disrupting and scandalising religious gatherings, but none against apostasy from Islam. Indeed, so far as there is official discrimination, it seems to be positively in favour of Christians. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Gabriel Rorich, is an Anglican Archbishop. We have already mentioned The Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission, the Reverend Adi Ambrose, who is also a Protestant minister and Boy Scout Commissioner. Dozens of Members of the Federal Parliament are Christians.