Recent reports that Angola had banned the Muslim religion from being practiced throughout the country have been denied by the Angolan government. It also denied shuttering or blocking access to all the numerous mosques in the country.
Muslim worldwide have expressed anger and promised action at the purported ban in Angola. But the Director of the National Institute for REligious Affairs has denied that such an agenda exists or that it is being implemented in any part of the country.
But some locals have rebutted such denial by saying that in fact, some of the Muslim mosques and other places of gathering have in fact been closed down. However, the local government has responded to such accusations by saying that the closures had been planned due irregular permit or paperwork underlying the buildings themselves.
To be fair, some of the newer mosques were hastily put together by immigrants to the country, who have been coming in increasing numbers due to the boom in the oil business. Some of the buildings are patently illegal, and probably unsafe.
So it remains to be seen whether the Muslims' protest have foundation or are simply crying foul where there is no proof that a deliberate attempt at ostracizing or persecuting Muslims exists.
Angola is one of the staunchest Catholic nation in AFrica. Of course the reaction to the alleged reports of a campaign to curb or exclude Muslim from worship would be violent, but more importantly such a reaction, although predictable, made hay of the fact that the Angolan government was very sanguine about explaining its actions when it destroyed or closed the mosques in question.
The Muslim people of Angola are in a position of net minority. They number in the hundred of thousands, compared to a total population of 18 million. But those numbers are expected to rise, due to the flow of migration for labor in the oil fields.
Source: Al Jazeera/ 11.27.13
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