According to several Angolan
newspapers, Angola has become
the first country in the world to
ban Islam and Muslims, taking
first measures by destroying
mosques in the country.
“The process of legalization of
Islam has not been approved by
the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights, their mosques would be
closed until further notice,” Rosa
Cruz e Silva, the Angolan Minister
of Culture, was quoted by Agence
Ecofin on Friday, November 22.
Silva comments were given during
her visit last Tuesday to the 6th
Commission of the National
Assembly.
She asserted that the decision
was the latest is a series of efforts
to ban ‘illegal’ religious sects.
The minister added, in her answer
to questions raised by the MPs of
the 6th Commission of National
Assembly, that the action will
oblige the revision of law 2/04 of
May 21, related to freedom of
religious assembly, Angolan
official news agency, Agencia
Angola Press, reported.>>To be continue.

The Angolan government would
also be obliged to update the
current national context as a way
of fighting the rise of new
religious congregation whose
religious assemblies are contrary
to “habits and customs to Angolan
culture,” Silva added.
Same as Islam, Silva announced
that there are at least 194
religious sects that were not
authorized to have their activities.
“All sects on the list published by
the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights in the Angolan newspaper
‘Jornal de Angola’ are prohibited
to conduct worship, so they
should keep their doors closed,"
she was quoted by Cameroon
Voice.
"In addition, we also have a long
list of more than a thousand
legalization applications,” she
added.

Recurrent
The anti-Islam comments were
not the first by Angolan officials.
“This is the final end of Islamic
influence in our country,”
President José Eduardo dos
Santos was quoted by Osun
Defender newspaper on Sunday,
November 24.
Last October, Muslims from the
urban municipality of Viana,
Luanda, attended the destruction
of the minaret of their mosque
Zengo.
The provincial governor of
Luanda, Bento Bento, has also
said on the airwaves of a local
radio that "radical Muslims are not
welcome in Angola and the
Angolan government is not ready
for the legalization of mosques."
He added that Muslims were not
welcome in Angola and that the
government would not legalize the
presence of mosques in the
country.
According to CIA Factbook, 47%
of Angolans practice indigenous
beliefs, 38% Roman Catholic and
15% Protestant.
Islam’s opinion about freedom of
religion is evident from the Qur’an,
which says what means:
*{Say, ‘The truth is from your
Lord’: Let him who will, believe,
and let him who will, reject [it]}*

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