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Niger Cuts Diplomatic Relations With Israel
NIAMEY,
April 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Muslim-dominated
African country of Niger announced Sunday, April 21, it was cutting
diplomatic relations with Israel, in an official statement broadcast
on the radio.
"At
this dramatic and particularly grave moment in which the martyrs of
Palestine are living, the government has ceased to have diplomatic
relations with the state of Israel," the statement said Sunday,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Niger
blamed the move on the "intransigence" of hawkish Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the 18-month conflict with the
Palestinians.
"He
has clearly shown his desire to risk all the gains made under the
peace process ... and poses the gravest threat to peace and security
throughout the entire region."
The
west African country, where more than 90 percent of the population is
Muslim, restored diplomatic ties with Israel in 1996 after severing
them in 1973 following the Egyptian-Israeli war.
Earlier
this month, the Niger government lambasted the "inhuman and
barbaric war unleashed by the racist government of Sharon"
against the Palestinians.
Thousands
demonstrated at the main mosque in the capital Niamey a week ago to
support Palestinians in their struggle against the "Zionist
enemy."
On
the same note, some 10,000 South Africans cheered cabinet minister
Ronnie Kasrils Sunday when he said he did not support the
"barbarism" of Israel's military aggression in Palestinian
territories.
"When
we see this barbarism, this criminality that Israel perpetrates... I
am forced to say: Not in my name," Kasrils said to a standing
ovation from the crowd at a "Free Palestine" rally organized
by the South African Muslim Judicial Council. The crowd shouted
"Amandla Intifada".
The
rally took place amid growing criticism of Israel by Pretoria, which
is facing public pressure to impose sanctions against Israel. Kasrils,
the South African Water Affairs Minister is part of a small group of
South African Jews who have signed a declaration against Israel's
actions in Palestinian territories.
Women
waved placards comparing Israel's actions against Palestinians to the
apartheid policies of South Africa's former white minority government.
"We
stand with the Palestinian people in their just struggle for freedom,
for equality, for dignity," Kasrils said. Kasrils said President
Thabo Mbeki and his government would seriously consider calls
for sanctions against Israel, including boycotting of Israeli goods.
Ebrahim
Rasool, a minister in the Western Cape, urged those at the rally to
boycott Israel goods.
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