Barak has not yet decided who will accompany him to the summit. Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei caused a stir on Wednesday by proposing that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and radical PLO groups also join the delegation. Reprinted with permission from ICEJ News. Last December, the Muslim Eid feast was made a national holiday, and, recently, the school calendar was adapted to Muslim culture. After the Church's protest, President Bakili Muluzi withdrew the reform and set up a National Consultative Committee composed of the Catholic Church, the Malawi Council of Churches, the Muslim Association of Malawi, Seventh Day Adventists and African traditional religions.
Sources believe the reform is only temporarily suspended.
Christians make up 64.5 percent of Malawi's 10 million population. Muslims make up 16 percent, and the rest are animists. Just think of this. The president said he also discussed religious extremism with the pope, especially Muslim extremism. The rebel group, which has killed tens of thousands of civilians and intentionally mutilated many more to inspire fear, began a renewed campaign of violence in this West African nation last year just as U.N. peacekeepers were deploying.