Cartoons: US fears violence

2006-02-09 14:06

Nairobi - The United States on Thursday warned its citizens in Kenya of potential violence during protests against cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad.

Kenyan Muslims had called for demonstrations, including a possible march on the Danish embassy in Nairobi on Friday to vent anger at the cartoons that had sparked deadly violence in parts of the Muslim world.

As a result, the US embassy in Nairobi said it would close several offices of the US Agency for International Development (USaid), near the Danish embassy, during the protests - planned for this week - and urged all Americans to avoid the area.

It said: "As a precaution, USaid project offices located in the (vicinity) will be closed on Friday. The US embassy urges all US citizens to avoid the area on Friday afternoon."

Diplomatic missions

It said: "We wish to remind American citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence."

The cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and had since been reprinted by other European publications, had sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world and attacks on western diplomatic missions.

Several people had been killed in protests in Afghanistan amid violence throughout the Middle East and in Eeast Africa one person was killed at a demonstration in Somalia.

Kenya had a sizeable Muslim minority mainly along its Indian Ocean coast and organisers of the main demonstration in Nairobi, the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM), said they expected up to 100 000 people to attend.

- AFP