Reconciliation of Islamic Law with Constitutionalism: The Protection of Human Rights in Sudan's New Constitution

The Sudan is the largest country in Africa and the Middle East, comprising around one million square miles of land territory. Within it live a multitude of cultures, spread into 597 tribes, which speak more than 400 dialects and practice a variety of religious traditions, with Islam being dominant in the north and Christianity and Animism in the south.'|
Like the majority of its developing counterparts the Sudan has struggled to achieve political stability.? In the last fifteen years it has had four distinct governments, during which there was only a brief interlude of democratic governance. The present administration came to power through a military coup in 1989 and immediately applied Islamic law in the north of the country. Hence, the combination of the lack of democratic rule with the continuation of an
Islamisation process, initiated by the last military regime, prompted western states to condemn Sudan as a consistent and gross violator of human rights and of fostering international terrorism.' Since then the government has tried to alleviate these impressions. Firstly, it came to an agreement with the Southern Sudanese in order to terminate hostilities and facilitate a steady procedure towards self-determination through a referendum monitored by the United Nations.'