In Europe, my friend, women are gods. They are treated in god-like ways. The Europeans have a right to live that way, because they do not pay dowries and they have nothing to lose, even if their wives run away,'' he added. Violence against women however has been opposed by some Islamic and Christian religious leaders. The Archbishop of the Catholic Church in the Sudan, Gabrial Zubier Wako, has urged his congregations in sermons to respect women as sisters, wives and mothers.
Islamic scholars produce a weekly television programme to inform women of their rights.
Although there are no statistics on wife beating, since the majority of cases are not reported to the police, Dr Ali Kobani of the University of Khartoum carried out a 1996 study on suicide which found that some of the cases were linked to wife battering. Between 1993 and 1995, incidences of suicide among women increased from 17 percent in 1993 to 20 percent in 1995, and most of the suicides were related to physical violence against women in the homes, Dr Kobani said in his study. Beatings inflicted on ''disobedient'' daughters are also quite common, which leads some young girls to commit suicide rather than face a beating for, for example, falling pregnant outside of marriage, the study said. An outspoken critic of violence against women, Janet Aya Alex, wrote in a recent issue of the religious publication Arise that physical violence against women and girls in Sudan is a complex problem that is rooted in the dowry system.