On December 23, 2020, the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs hosted Mr. Nasr al-Din Mufreh Ahmed, Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowments in Sudan, to speak about developments taking place in his country since the outbreak of the Sudanese Youth Revolution in December 2018. The symposium was opened by Ambassador Dr. Mounir Zahran, ECFA Chairman, and attended by a number of ambassadors and academics of ECFA members concerned with Sudanese affairs. The Minister was accompanied by Dr. Abdel-Rahim Adam, President of the Islamic Fiqh Academy of Sudan; Dr. Adel Hassan Hamzah, Secretary General of the Fiqh Academy; Mr. Abd Al-Aty Ahmed Abbas, Secretary General of the Islamic Endowments Bureau of Sudan; Mr. Montasser Abbas, Secretary General of the Hajj and Umrah Council; Mr. Mohamed Youssef, Director General of the Endowments Department in Khartoum State; and Mr. Abdel Aziz Sadek, Department of Information and Protocol at the Sudanese Ministry of Endowments.

The guest began his speech by expressing gratitude to the Council for organizing this symposium, indicating the existing close historical ties of fraternity and affection bringing Egypt, Sudan and their peoples together. In the context of tackling developments in Sudan since the outbreak of the December 2018 revolution, and its repercussions on the climate of religious freedom in the country, he noted that these developments are taking a remarkable positive character in all fields, which resulted in significant progress in the processes of correcting the situation in Sudan, and rectifying many of the evils that the previous regime had committed during its unjust rule.

For example, the aforementioned regime used to allocate about 70% of state resources to war and defense, while the leadership of the Sudanese transitional government was keen on redistributing these resources and spending them in the right aspects, as now about 34% get educated after it was only 2% in Al-Bashir era. This is also the case in the field of health. The arbitrarily dismissed persons from their jobs since 1989 have been compensated for the damages they suffered, in addition to giving priority to marginalized groups, youth and women. Moreover, after the great success in removing the name of Sudan from terrorist lists, work is now underway to confront extremism and terrorism through the restructuring of curricula and the launch of religious convoys to raise awareness and clarify the true essence of Islam.