KHARTOUM, 28 February 2008 — Sudanese President Omar Bashir says he will bar Danes from Sudan and told tens of thousands of people at a government-backed rally that the Muslim world should boycott Denmark because of a reprinted cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
“We urge all Muslims around the world to boycott Danish commodities, goods, companies, institutions, organizations and personalities,” Bashir told the crowd yesterday outside the Republic Palace in downtown Khartoum. “Down, down, Denmark!” shouted the protesters.
Bashir vowed that “not a single Danish foot will from now on desecrate the land of Sudan.” It was not clear whether Bashir would carry out his rhetoric and expel over two dozen Danes who work in Sudan, mostly in aid organizations and as peacekeepers in southern Sudan and Darfur.
Danish diplomats in Khartoum said they were not told of a new trade boycott and that Sudanese authorities had not notified them about expelling the Danes.
Seventeen Danish newspapers reprinted the blasphemous cartoons this month in a gesture of solidarity after police in the Scandinavian country said they uncovered a plot to kill the cartoon’s artist.
Sudan was one of the nations where large protests were held against Denmark in 2006 when the cartoon and 11 others denigrating the Prophet and Islam were first published. In riots that followed around the Muslim world, dozens of people were killed and several Danish embassies were attacked, while Danish goods were boycotted.
But unlike the 2006 violence, Khartoum’s rally yesterday passed peacefully and failed to reach the “million” participants predicted by the organizers, the Popular Front for the Defense of Faith and Religion which backs Bashir’s ruling National Congress party.
Protests earlier this month elsewhere have also been low-key, mostly restricted to diplomatic condemnations. But in Pakistan, hundreds set fire to Danish flags and demanded the Danish ambassador’s expulsion.
Palestinians protested in the Gaza Strip, ruled by the militant Islamic Hamas, calling the reprint a heresy.
In Denmark, rioting Muslim youth set fires and hurled rocks at police for five consecutive nights.
The Khartoum protest came a day after Sudan enforced a ban called by Bashir on imports of Danish goods. The central square was closed for traffic since early morning as hundreds of buses and trucks brought in protesters, who included women and students, from far-flung areas around the capital to downtown Khartoum. Nearby roads were also blocked and traffic slowed elsewhere in the city.
The protesters carried banners reading: “We love you our dear Prophet,” “Shame on the enemy of Islam,” and “Boycott Danish commodities.”
“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger,” they shouted. “We will protect our Prophet, we will not be intimidated by America!” Bashir also spoke in support of Palestinians and called for jihad to “liberate” Jerusalem.
Danish exports to Sudan are minimal, consisting mainly of dairy products. In 2006, they amounted to $23 million, a drop of 26 percent over the previous year.
But Sudan is one of the largest recipients of Danish aid and Danish aid groups that operate there include the Danish Refugee Council and the Danish Red Cross, which runs large projects to alleviate suffering in the western Darfur region.
Khartoum Gov. Abdul Halim Al-Mutaafi told the local Al-Riyadiah radio station from the rally that Danes were no longer wanted. “We don’t want them to come to our land nor will we like to go to their land.”
Germany’s interior minister expressed respect for the Danish newspapers’ decision to reprint the cartoon and argued that all European newspapers should follow suit, according to comments released yesterday.
