23 February 2006

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi sought Wednesday to distance Italy from Muslim outrage over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad by condemning the images, after anti-Italian rallies in Libya left 14 dead.

In another fallout of the cartoons controversy, the European Union's representative to Sudan said that the drawings led to attacks on foreign aid workers in the troubled Darfur region.

EU envoy to Sudan Pekka Haavisto warned that the Danish cartoon scandal "did not help the situation [in Darfur] at all."

"There were some attacks that were driven by the cartoon scandal against foreign aid organizations," Haavisto said.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera television channel, Berlusconi said: "Satire must not be disrespectful."

He said the cartoons in a number of European newspapers "hurt the feelings of the [Muslim] faithful."

"We can only condemn them," he added.

Berlusconi's comments come as Italy tries to repair relations with Libya after last Friday's deadly demonstrations in the Libyan city of Benghazi.

Italy's Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said on Wednesday that 14, not 11, people died in last week's protests.

"The clashes with Libyan police have been particularly violent and have caused, as of today, 14 deaths and many injured among the protesters," Foreigners were among the victims, Fini said, citing "official Libyan sources."

Libya blamed the outrage on former Italian minister Roberto Calderoli, who had outraged Muslims by wearing a T-shirt lampooning the Prophet in the style of the original drawings in a Danish newspaper.

He was forced to resign Saturday by Berlusconi, who has been eager not to squander years of careful diplomacy with the oil and gas rich desert state, which supplies 30 percent of Italy's natural gas needs.

In Jordan, Islamist Action Front (IAF) party has called on Italy to put Calderoli on trial saying his forced resignation was "not enough."

In a letter to Berlusconi published on the IAF Web site, party secretary general, Hamza Mansour, said: "We urge you, in a bid to maintain the good relations between our Muslim nation and your country, to put him [Calderoli] on trial on charges of offending one of the greatest symbols of religion in the world," it said. - Agencies