Sudan gets own lager 25 years on

Some Sudanese alcohol drinkers have brewed their own tipple during the ban

A beer drought which has lasted a quarter of a century is to come to an end in Sudan.

Brewing was banned in Sudan 25 years ago under Islamic law.

Now, the international brewing group SABMiller says it will launch a new lager in Juba in the south of the country in February.

The new brewery is possible thanks to the 2005 peace deal between North and South Sudan, which allowed autonomous secular government in the South.

'Political message'

"We will not only be consuming but producing alcohol. It's a serious political message of one country, two systems," South Sudan's Agriculture Minister Samson Kwaje told Reuters news agency.

Mr Kwaje said he did not think the introduction of brewing in South Sudan would aggravate already tense relations between Khartoum and the southern capital Juba.

SABMiller says it expects a strong market for the new lager.

South Sudan was flooded with crates of expensive imported beer after the 2005 peace deal, most of it from Uganda.

Even before the accord, consumption of alcohol continued in rural areas of the rebel-held south, but this was mostly locally brewed sorghum beer.

SABMiller say the $37m (£22.7m) plant will create hundreds of jobs in the Juba area. Soft drinks will also be made at the plant.