In the early 1990s, the Islamic movement spreading throughout the Islamic world developed momentously from the east to the west, formed rapidly new centers and brought the movement into a regional grouping in North Africa, demonstrating an unprecedentedly forceful posture and a trend of internationalization, especially in Sudan and Algeria where new upsurges have appeared. In June 1989, under the engineering of the National Islamic Front led by the Sudanese religious leader Hassan el Turabi, General Bashir staged a military coup d’état and successfully established an Islamic regime in the Sudan; and in 1990, legal steps were taken to elaborate and further establish the state form of integration of politics with religion, thereby following the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sudan became the second center and gathering place for Islamic activities in North Africa. Since then, the Islamic forces in the region have tremendously grown in courage and strength. 1 Liu Yueqin
As a result of the above, as Liu Yueqin rightly observes a domino effect of the Islamic drive has been taking place in Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Besides, terrorist activities have become widespread in the North African countries in recent years and have tended to increase in intensity, and are especially fierce in Egypt and Algeria. At the same time, Islamic extremists in other countries of the region have become very active. 2
They have
also drawn the attention of the international community and become
impedimental to the security, stability and political and economic
development of the North African countries themselves. Besides, these
Islamic forces have become a source of great strain and stress to the
governments in the region.
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