A file photo of a mosque in the Ugandan city of Kibuli

By Al-Khidr Abdul Baqi, IOL Correspondent

CAIRO, December 20 (IslamOnline.net) – Muslims in Uganda hailed a government decision to annul taxes levied on aid provided by Islamic relief agencies as a boost to the status of the Muslim community in the east African country.

“The decision demonstrated that the government has come along way in recognizing the key role played by Islamic relief agencies operating in the country in developing Ugandan society,” Merga Abdel Rahim, an official with the Union of Muslim Students in the capital Kampala, told IslamOnline.net.

The Birmingham-based Islamic Relief hammered out on Wednesday, December 15, an agreement with the Ugandan government providing for annulling taxes imposed for more than ten years on aid provided by Islamic relief agencies.

IR’s Director in Uganda Abdel Latif Beshr said in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by IOL, that the decision means that Arab and Islamic aid will be no longer stuck in Ugandan airports and harbors.

He said in the past vast quantities of food expired due to prolonged storage periods for failing to pay backbreaking taxes.

“Human Touch”

Abdel Rahim said that the government decision helps strengthen the human bond between all Ugandans irrespective of their religion.

He also praised the government for paying no heed to the US-led international campaign against Islamic charities.

Leading Islamic aid agencies are operating in Uganda, including the World Association of Muslim Youth (WAMY), the World Muslim League and the Sudanese Islamic Call Organization.

The agencies mainly cater for Islamic and Arab schools and hospitals and dig wells to provide drinkable water for all villages.

Islam entered Uganda in 1844 thanks to Muslim merchants from Egypt, Sudan and Muslims from neighboring Kenya.

Many people embraced the religion at the time, but atheistic tribe chiefs and their followers accepted Christianity after the British occupation in 1870, leaving Muslims a minority in the country.

Today, Roman Catholics make up 33 percent of the country’s some 27 million  population, Protestant 33 percent, Muslims 16 percent, while 18 percent believe in traditional manmade beliefs, according to the CIA’s World Fact Book.