By Somalilandtimes network

Denmark has asked the EU to contact Djibouti to stop the country's official boycott of Danish goods, Boersen [Danish daily financial newspaper] reports.

The small Muslim country on the Horn of Africa banned the import and sale of Danish goods earlier this month [as published] following violent demonstrations against Jyllands-Posten's Muhammad cartoons.

Government-supported boycott

Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller writes in a reply to the Danish People's Party's EU spokesman, Morten Messerschmidt, that there have been "rumors" of a government-supported boycott in the local press.

More recently the Foreign Ministry has been informed that Djibouti's foreign minister confirmed the existence of an official boycott on 17 February.

Breaks WTO rules

Per Stig Moeller stresses that as a member of the WTO Djibouti cannot call an official boycott without breaking the trade organization's rules.

Source: Denmark’s Radio website, Copenhagen, in Danish, Mar 1, 2006

BBC Monitoring