By Somalilandtimes network

Djibouti has banned the import and sale of products from Denmark after violent weekend demonstrations in the capital against the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, officials said.

While boycotts of Danish products have spread across many countries with large Muslim populations, these have largely been led by consumers or the business sector and Djibouti's move is one of the harshest reactions to the cartoon row by a sovereign state.

The tiny Muslim Horn of Africa country imposed the ban on Sunday following a day of unrest in which at least three people were injured, one seriously, when police broke up riots by angry students protesting the cartoons, they said.

In a statement, Djibouti's commerce ministry said the import and sale of Danish products, mainly dairy goods and cosmetics but also medicines and Lego toys, would be banned until further notice.

"The government of Djibouti condemns any blasphemous act or publication against the sacred principles of our Islamic religion," the interior ministry said in a statement read on national television.

Interior Minister Yacin Elmi Bouh also appealed for calm and the restoration of order following the rioting over the publication of the cartoons in a Danish newspaper in September that have since been reprinted by other European media.

He said the government "understood the angry reaction of the students" to the cartoons but said authorities in the country of some 700,000, 96 percent of whom are Muslim, would not tolerate violence.

On Saturday, about 1,500 students chanting "Allah Akbar" ("God is greatest") and "Death to Denmark" took to the streets of the capital for a protest that turned violent, prompting police to fire teargas, witnesses said.

Hospital officials said at least three people were injured in the scuffles, including one young man who had to have an arm amputated and was put on life support.

Muslims and the governments in much of the Muslim world have condemned the series of 12 images of the prophet as blasphemous and contrary to Islamic tradition prohibiting depictions of Mohammed.

One of the cartoons, showing Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse, was especially contentious.

European governments have stressed they have no control over media in their countries, and have sided with arguments that freedom of expression outweighs respect for religions in their secular societies.

Source : Sapa-AFP, February 6, 2006

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