Libya's unity government demands Macron apology for comments on Islam

TRIPOLI: Libya's UN-recognised Government of National Accord on Monday "firmly condemned" French President Emmanuel Macron's comments on Islam and demanded that he apologise.

Macron's comments "harm relations between France and the Muslim world and feed feelings of hatred for political gain", the Tripoli-based GNA's foreign ministry said in a statement.

It "firmly condemned" the French president's comments and called on him "to take back his provocative words" by way of "issuing apologies to the world's nearly 1.3 billion Muslims, including those of French nationality".

Speaking after teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded for showing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed to pupils in a lesson on free speech earlier this month, Macron vowed France would "not give up cartoons" and said Paty "was killed because Islamists want our future".

The comments sparked a volley of insults from Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who at the weekend repeatedly urged his French counterpart to undergo mental health "checks".

Turkey has strongly backed the GNA militarily in a conflict against eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar -- a line that has played into wide-ranging tensions between Ankara and Paris.