COPENHAGEN: The Danish government ignored several offers from Egypt to help it avoid a full-blown crisis over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed first published in Denmark, media here quoted Egypt s foreign minister as saying on Thursday. “I said that we were approaching something that was very dangerous. The contents of this case risked causing serious consequences, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit told the Politiken daily, describing discussions with Danish authorities in the months before the row over the drawings escalated into violent protests in many Muslim countries. The row, he had warned his Danish counterpart Per Stig Moeller, could cause problems for your country with the rest of the Arab-Muslim world. I warn you, we must find a solution before these problems arise. Despite several phone calls with Moeller, Abul-Gheit said his warnings were not heeded. “The (Danish) foreign minister s message was no, no and no. If this is a case for you, you should pursue it in court , Abul-Gheit said. The 12 drawings of the Prophet Mohammed, which first appeared in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten last September, have over the past month sparked violent protests in Muslim countries against Denmark especially, as well as against other European countries where the cartoons have since been reprinted. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has refused to apologize for the publication of 12 cartoons, insisting that his government has no sway over what appears in the media in Denmark, where freedom of expression is fundamental. In the Politiken interview, however, Abul-Gheit claimed Egypt had stated in letters and phone calls to Danish authorities and international bodies last year that an official stand against offending religious beliefs would be enough to defuse Muslim tensions over the caricatures, and that Copenhagen would not have had to compromise on its support for freedom of expression. “I did not want the Danish prime minister to stop Jyllands-Posten … All I wanted was a stand (on the issue). I wanted to know if an offense had been committed or not and if this was acceptable, he said. In a letter addressed to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, dated Nov. 23, 2005, Abul-Gheit even insisted that We do not expect any country to take punitive or disciplinary action against a newspaper. He went on, however, to say that we had expected an official Danish statement that would emphasize the necessity and indeed the obligation for respecting all religions and refraining from offending their followers with a view to avoiding escalation (of the conflict) that could entail serious ramifications. AFP
Egypt offered in vain to help Denmark avoid cartoon crisis: FM
