SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Guardian - Sudan bans FGM and breaks with hardline Islamist policies

12/7/2020: Guardian - Sudan bans FGM and breaks with hardline Islamist policies, by Jason Burke

“In a decisive break from hard-line policies under the former Islamist government,”

the Guardian reports that Sudan is to ban female genital mutilation (FGM), “cancel prohibitions against religious conversion from Islam,” permit non-Muslims to consume alcohol, and end the requirement of women needing a permit from male family members to travel with their children.  

 Anyone found guilty of performing FGM will be sentenced to up to three years in prison, with Sudan’s justice ministry saying FGM “degrades the dignity of women.”

 The Guardian note that rights groups warned that the practice remained deeply entrenched in the region’s conservative society and that enforcement poses a steep challenge.