Al Jazeera English - News - Sudan President Hits Out At Denmark
Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, told a crowd of protesters that Danes will not be allowed to set foot in the country after Danish newspapers reprinted a satirical cartoon of Prophet Muhammad.
Thousands had gathered in the capital, Khartoum, on Wednesday in protest over the reprinting of the political drawing.
About 10,000 Sudanese marched through
Khartoum to protest the publication [AFP]
Al-Bashir said: "We tell you that no Dane will foul the land of Sudan again."
The protest was organised by the Popular Front for the Defence of Faith and Religion which backs the ruling National Congress Party.
Members said that Sudan's diplomatic ties with Denmark should be cut.
About 10,000 Sudanese marched through Khartoum to protest against the publication and called for a boycott of Danish produce.
Those at Wednesday's march, which started at Khartoum University, carried banners reading: "We all sacrifice our lives for the Prophet Muhammad" and "Cut Danish produce".
Danish newspapers said they reprinted one of the cartoons in support of free speech after three men were arrested in an alleged plot to kill the cartoonist.
Al-Bashir said: "We are capable of delivering the decisive response ... boycotting personalities and companies.
Ali al-Sadiq, a foreign ministry spokesman, said: "We will implement the president's decision. We will ban all Danes from entering Sudan."
He did not say if the decision included diplomats. Danish consulate officials in Khartoum were not available for comment.
Previous riots
Protests and rioting started in 2006 in several Muslim countries when the cartoons, one showing the prophet with a turban resembling a bomb, appeared in a Danish daily.
At least 50 people were killed and three Danish embassies were attacked.
Protesters at Wednesday's rally chanted slogans against the US and Israel for what they said was conspiring to push Danish newspapers to reprint the cartoon.
Al-Bashir spoke in support of Palestinians and called for the liberation of Jerusalem.
He also warned of "other measures" against Denmark, but did not elaborate.
Abdul Halim al-Mutaafi, the governor of Khartoum, told the local Al Riyadiah radio station from the rally that the gathering would call for cutting relations with Denmark and pledged the Sudanese would boycott all Danish goods.
"We don't want them to come to our land nor will we like to go to their land," al-Mutaafi said.
Danish exports, mainly dairy products, to Sudan are minimal, unlike to other Muslim markets such as Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
Several Danish aid groups operate in Sudan - which is one of the largest recipients of Danish aid - including the Danish Refugee Council and the Danish Red Cross, which runs large projects to alleviate human suffering in the western Darfur region.
The African country received $26m in aid from Denmark in 2006 and a $100m humanitarian and reconstruction package is planned until the end of 2009.
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SudanTribune article : Denmark: Boykot the Boycott
Denmark: Boykot the Boycott
Thursday 28 February 2008 03:30.
By Helen Latifi
February 27, 2008 — Has the tiny Kingdom of Denmark once again got itself into major foreign policy troubles? Possibly…
Several countries and Muslim scholars have, over the past few days, encouraged people to boycott Danish goods. But I have had enough of the double standards that characterize some Muslim countries. On the one hand, they receive millions of dollars from Denmark, and on the other, they encourage a boycott of Danish goods, as Sudan has done. So my appeal is this: boycott the boycott!
Although I believe that republishing the cartoons was an unnecessary provocation, and that you cannot attribute wrong-doing to our particular religion, as a lot of Danish newspapers did on purpose, the situation is seized upon by individual Muslim countries to distract attention from any national crises or conflicts. Last time around, we saw how the Egyptian government spearheaded the boycott craze in order to snatch votes from the Muslim Brotherhood in the upcoming elections. This time, we see how Sudan has taken the front row, why is this?
Perhaps to make us forget certain national atrocities taking place in that country as I write these words?
If you choose to boycott, why not boycott American and British goods, since both countries still hold occupation troops in Iraq? Why not boycott Sweden due to Lars Vilk’s drawings? Why did Sudan not boycott British goods in response to Gillion Gibson’s naming of the teddy bear? There are many more examples that one could raise.
During the cartoon crisis “version 1.0”, Hamza Yusuf said, on his visit to Denmark, that you cannot punish a country collectively, if someone in that country has committed a crime, and that these were not the ways of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh).
Consequently, my appeal is for people not to boycott Danish goods, but instead to boycott the boycott!
The author is muslim living in Denmark. For more visits her blog: Helen Latifis small talk
Sudan president hits out at Denmark
