AFRICA/TANZANIA - Constitutional referendum at risk for the controversy over Islamic Courts

Dar es Salaam (Agenzia Fides) - The referendum to approve the new Constitution of Tanzania scheduled on April 30 could be postponed for organizational reasons and because of the controversies on the establishment of Islamic Courts included in the text of the Constitution. The Catholic Church has expressed strong misgivings about the rest of the national territory of the Islamic Courts which are already operating in the archipelago of Zanzibar, where the majority of the population is Muslim.
Islamic courts decide on family law, such as marriage and divorce. Some clerics have responded that religious courts should not take advantage of state protection in a secular nation like Tanzania, and someone has also invited the faithful to boycott the referendum. The official position of the Church, expressed by the Episcopal Conference of Tanzania, is, however, moderate, saying that some articles of the new Constitution can lead society in the "wrong direction". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 31/03/2015)