Stories had recently flooded the internet that Angola had banned
Islam and was destroying mosques, but it seems that there may be no
truth to the rumors.
An official at the Angolan Embassy in Washington, D.C., who did not
want to be identified while discussing the sensitive matter, told IBTimes that there is no such ban, and that the reports are erroneous.
“The Republic of Angola … it’s a country that does not interfere in
religion,” the official said via telephone Monday afternoon. “We have a
lot of religions there. It is freedom of religion. We have Catholic,
Protestants, Baptists, Muslims and evangelical people.”
News of Angola’s supposed ban on Islam originated in the African
press, which went so far as to quote the nation’s president and minister
of culture offering statements that suggested the premise of the
reports was accurate.
A second official at the Angolan Embassy in the U.S. reiterated that
the diplomatic seat has not been made aware of any ban on Islam in the
country.
“At the moment we don’t have any information about that,” the official told IBTimes
via phone on Monday. “We’re reading about it just like you on the
Internet. We don’t have any notice that what you’re reading on the
Internet is true.”
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