Iraq war spurs boycott of US products. (Countryfile: Maghreb).

Tension between the ordinary people and their governments in most of North Africa has increased as a result of the war on Iraq and the boycotting of US goods and companies is increasing, writes James Badcock.

Despite the voices of Arabic countries uniting in disapproval of the US-led invasion of Iraq, there was little in the way of positive action from any one of the region's governments to try to prevent the conflict. Tired of listening to the politely worded condemnations emanating from the Arab League, citizens from several North African states organised protests and large-scale demonstrations, sometimes in defiance of their national authorities.

In most North African states, tension sprung from the people's desire to show anger at what they saw as an unwarranted attack against a fellow Muslim nation and their governments' reluctance to distance themselves too far from the safe middle-ground of pleading for peace without harming relations with the world's sole superpower.

In Libya, however, such tension did not arise as Colonel Muammar al Ghadhafi was unequivocal in his opposition to the US-led war on Iraq. He had little to lose as Libya continues to be on the US's blacklist of 'rogue' states until the details of a deal over compensation for the Lockerbie bombing victims are finalised.

In fact, Ghadhafi's frustration with what he perceived as the impotence of the Arab world boiled over when, at a March 1 Arab League summit, he reportedly commented that the entire Arabian peninsula was now in effect "an American protectorate".

In Tripoli, there were demonstrations outside the Saudi embassy and soon after, Ghadhafi was reported in the Nigerian newspaper Vanguard as having reitemted Libya's desire to withdraw from the Arab League. This was a step initiated in October 2002, but the Libyan leader had been dissuaded from following through. Vanguard quoted Colonel Ghadhafi as saying that Libya "is above all an African country ... the African Union is sufficient enough". He also proposed a "united North African state stretching from Egypt in the east to Mauritania in the west?:

Of those among Ghadhafi's North African allies, Tunisian President, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, opted for a far less confrontational approach. In the run-up to war, he spoke consistently of the need for peace and urged all sides to sit down in the search for a peaceful resolution to the stand-off between Iraq and the US. Once war began, however, the rhetoric died away and after the April 9 meeting between US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns and President Ben Ali, the American envoy commented on an "excellent discussion about the importance of our bilateral partnership as well as important regional issues'; adding that the US administration appreciated "Tunisia's role as a force for tolerance and moderation in the region".

ALGERIA SCALES DOWN HOSTILITIES

Discontent in the street with the ineffective nature of official Arab opposition to the war took the form of large demonstrations without official blessing. Over a dozen anti-war demonstrators were taken to hospital after a large protest was broken up by police in Tunis on February 16. Thousands of people including representatives of national parties and human rights groups had attended the demonstration, according to a report by the Spanish NGO, Pro-Human Rights Association of Andalusia.

In Algeria, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's Government staged a similar scaling down of hostility to the war as it became increasingly inevitable. The word "condemnation" of US "aggression" became "regret?' and "concern': While some demonstrations were allowed to go ahead, particularly during French President Chirac's visit in early March, the queues of young men outside the Iraqi embassy in Algiers were a sign of frustration among some at the perceived acquiescence of their leaders to the will of the US Government, which began granting aid to Algeria in 2001 after a 10-year freeze.

These would-be volunteer recruits to the Iraqi cause were shown on international TV news and must have embarrassed the leadership of a country so blighted by its 11-year-old conflict between government security forces and Islamic extremists. In a move to stem growing popular anger, a sermon broadcast on state-owned TV pressed the cause of jihad. Even the very moderate Association of Ulemas, headed by former Religious Affairs Minister, Abderahmane Chibane, called on President Bouteflika to clarify Algeria's position and publicly reject American aggression.

Since acceding to the throne in 1999, Morocco's King Mohammed VI has stressed that his reign is to see a completion of the democratising process from the institutional level right down to basic human rights for ordinary Moroccans. In the context of stern official opposition to the invasion of Iraq, demonstrations were allowed to go ahead on an almost daily basis during the build-up to war. Indeed, the Government figures for a mass protest in Casablanca on March 2 was nearly 100,000, when previously planned demonstrations in support of the Palestinian cause had struggled to gain official consent.

On the outbreak of war, the Communication Minister and spokesman for the government, Nabil Benabdellah, announced that Morocco was "very disappointed after the use of force to settle the Iraq crisis'; adding that "Morocco [would] not hesitate to stand by the Iraqi people in these difficult circumstances to alleviate their sufferings and defend Iraq's unity, security and choices".

DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT

Nevertheless, with negotiations for a free trade accord with the US underway this year, the Moroccan Government was careful not to cause extreme offence to the world's leading economic power.

A diplomatic incident was hinted at by the March20 report by Al Jazeera TV that the US embassy in Rabat had been forced to suspend its activities. The Moroccan authorities strenuously denied this suggestion and got their revenge on the news channel by refusing them use of the national broadcasters' facilities when Al Jazeera wished to relay pictures of an antiwar demonstration in Rabat.

EGYPT TAKES MOST FLAK

Of all the North African states, Egypt was the one facing the most potential diplomatic flak over its approach to the conflict. President Hosni Mubarak had to steer a path between the angry masses who regularly spill onto the streets to protest at US and Israeli policy regarding Palestine, while bolstering support for the Arab League without upsetting the US Government, which supplies annual aid of, on average, around $2bn. After the war ended, a US package of $100m was announced to help Egypt's financial reforms in such difficult times, while President Mubarak hinted that a new Arab union will be formed, not necessarily accommodating all of the Arab League's members.

President Mubarak's position before the war broke out was cautious, extending fingers of blame in different directions, referring to a series of "mistakes" by both sides starting with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Unlike the freedom extended to civil society and the people to protest in Morocco, the Egyptian authorities rounded up scores of dissidents and, according to human rights groups, hundreds more demonstrators, although the official figure for protest-related detentions was 80.

Among the activists detained indefinitely was Ashraf al Bayoumi, a retired UN official who has become one of the Egyptian antiwar movement's most prominent figures. Bayoumi has been instrumental in a boycott campaign against American consumer products, including Marlboro, Coca Cola, Ariel and McDonald's. The campaign is aimed at involving ordinary Egyptians by distributing calendars showing Palestinian victims of Israeli repression, an American flag in which the stars have been replaced with a Star of David, alongside the logos of six well-known US companies.

Previous boycotts have been specifically targeted at Israeli interests, institutionalised by the Arab Boycott Bureau, established by the Arab League in 1951. In the past two years, interest in the anti-Israeli boycott has returned as the peace process has foundered, and there are signs that these campaigns are having an effect. The American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt reported in April that the detergent Ariel has slipped from 40 to 27% of the market share.

In the same report, Ashraf al Bayoumi claims that the boycott is part of a more sophisticated, wider protest against the new economic world order: "Our criterion is that [the products] should be symbols of US globalisation, not just be related to the war on Iraq or the Palestinian Intifada...we want people to boycott US products because of Iraq or Palestine, but also for the same reasons as people who boycott products made through child labour."

However symbolic, a boycott of consumer products is unlikely to change US foreign policy while their involvement in energy markets and services continues to be dominant.