Many young joined the Mombasa
demonstration
Thousands of Muslims have taken to the streets across Africa
after Friday prayers to protest against the US-led war on Iraq.
In the coastal town of Mombasa
in Kenya,
hundreds of youths marched carrying placards and banners, with messages
condemning the United States Government and Britain.
In Egypt,
thousands of riot police were deployed during anti-war protests at the Al-Azhar
Mosque in Cairo.
KENYAN VOICES
Reaction in Nairobi
to the war on Iraq
Crowds of protesters who gathered in the mosque's interior
courtyard chanted slogans expressing their solidarity with Iraq.
Earlier, the leading Islamic cleric, Sheikh Sayyid Tantawi, had urged them to
stand " by the side of the persecuted".
On Thursday, the riot police had used water cannon to force
back protesters who tried to reach the US
embassy.
In the Somali capital and other towns there were protests by
students, Koranic school children, women and intellectuals.
Mosques across the country directed sermons towards the
issue of Iraq.
There have large anti-war demonstrations in Cairo
"Look at Afghanistan,
what's happening in Palestine and
now Iraq, and
more will follow," said Sheikh Abdulleh Alasow.
"It is a war against Islam worldwide," he said.
"Muslim countries should now withdraw their ambassadors from the United
Nations since it has failed to protect the weak countries from the militarily
strong ones," he added.
Meanwhile, more than 400 African workers and their families
have crossed into Jordan
after fleeing Iraq
out of fear for their safety.
The International Organisation for Migration says most of
those leaving are Sudanese nationals, but there are also some Somalis,
Egyptians and Chadians.
Other developments across Africa
President Thabo Mbeki, whose country South
Africa has been a prominent opponent of
attacks on Iraq,
expressed regret saying the war "is a blow to multilateralism".
The United States
has shut its embassies in South Africa,
Nigeria and Kenya.
African Union Secretary General Amara Essy said the launch
of the war had caused grief and deep regret among its members.
Kenya's
Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka said full scale war could have been avoided
through dialogue.
Nigeria,
which has an election looming and a big Muslim population, says public
demonstrations remained banned.
Nigeria
also says that some of its citizens had been recruited to fight for Iraq
against US-led forces and are preparing to leave.
In Mauritania,
a Muslim country, several hundred people including MPs, take to the streets of
the capital in a march against the war.
Eritrea,
one of two African countries to join Mr Bush's' "coalition of the
willing", said in a statement that it did support the war but added that
it was not directly involved in actual conflict.
The other coalition partner, Ethiopia,
said it has offered the United States
the use of its airspace and also landing rights, as requested by the US
in relation to the Iraq
war.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela, who has
already strongly and publicly attacked US President George Bush and British
Prime Minister Tony Blair for their stance against Iraq felt he had nothing to
add, according to his spokesperson.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Friday that the attack on Iraq
was an "immoral" war in which America
was abusing its power.
Mauritius
described Thursday as "a tragic day for Iraq
and for the rest of the world".
Cameroon's
President Paul Biya, seen to be a close ally of France,
left on Thursday for a surprise trip to the US
prompting the press to put Cameroon's
president "in the war camp".
Algeria
and Morocco
regretted that military force had supplanted diplomacy as the means to defuse
the standoff.
Tanzania
said it was saddened by America
and its allies for attacking Iraq.
Madagascar's
Foreign Minister General Marcel Ranjeva told national radio: "Our hope is
that the war does not last because peace is more important than anything
else."
Burkina Faso's
prime minister told parliament it "stands resolutely on the side of the
peace camp and calls for an end to hostilities."
Ghana,
chair of the West African regional body Ecowas, has so far said nothing,
although its president has cancelled a planned trip to Britain.
21 March, 2003
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