The Eritrean government which has vehemently denied persistent accusations of persecuting minority religious groups, will soon permit the mainstream protestant Seventh-day Adventist Church to operate legally in the country, officials said.

"The Seventh-day Adventist Church is about to be authorized, it is at the final stage of the procedure," Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu said, according the South African News resource "News24".

The Adventist Church immediately welcomed the news, which was first announced with little public notice last week by Eritrea's representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), Dr. Amare Tekel, which is now in session in Geneva (Switzerland).

"This is good news," the U.S.-based Adventist News Network (ANN) quoted Geoffrey Mbwana, the president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in east and central Africa, as saying. "We have been waiting a long time."

Currently, Eritrea officially recognizes four religious denominations: Muslim, Orthodox, Catholic and the Eritrean Evangelical Church.

Under a May 2002 decree, other groups are permitted to worship but must first register with Asmara.

"Other groups have asked for an authorization and I'm sure they'll be given it when the administrative procedure is finished," Ali Abdu said.

Eritrea has regularly been accused of religious persecution, particularly by Christian evangelical groups and the US State Department which in February said "arbitrary arrests" of members of non-registered Churches continue.

Last week, a London-based Christian group alleged that nearly 250 Eritrean evangelicals had been arrested so far this year, a charge swiftly denied by Asmara.

"We tolerate everything except intolerance," Ali Abdu said.

The Horn of Africa country has a population of 3.5 million people, half of which are Muslims and half Christians, according to official statistics