In Sudan, southwest of Khartoum, the first public conference of the Sh'ite community was held.
The August 7 conference was attended by hundreds of Shi'ites from across Sudan, and marked the birthday of the Twelfth Imam (the Mahdi, the Shi'ite Messiah).
Official Sudanese sources did not rule out the assessment that the Shi'a is continually spreading in the country, and a religion expert assessed that this spread begin following cultural activity by the Iranian Embassy in Khartoum.
Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, August 10, 2009
