France's Diversity Advisor Sacked for Protesting Government's Islam Debate

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has sacked his diversity adviser after he called on Muslims not to support the governing UMP party, reports say.

The UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) is planning to hold a public debate on 5 April on "Islam and secularism".

Abderrahmane Dahmane, a Muslim and former UMP official appointed to his post only in January, was protesting against the planned debate on Islam.

He said Muslim members of the UMP should not renew their party membership unless the debate was cancelled.

He condemned UMP leader Jean-Francois Cope as a "plague for Muslims" for Cope's strong backing of policies that French Muslims have said stigmatise them.

Commenting on his dismissal, Dahmane said: "He has just set me free. I am going to campaign to defend the dignity of Muslims in this country."

"I have no intention of being fodder for Sarkozy and Cope."

At the same time, Dahmane defended Sarkozy on the issue, saying the debate had been "wanted by Sarkozy to defend Muslims" but said it had been distorted by hardline members of the UMP whom Dahmane branded "neo-Nazis."

Dahmane, a Frenchman of Algerian descent, had served Sarkozy for several years, campaigning for him during his 2007 presidential bid in the deprived urban districts that are home to many of France's Muslim immigrants.

One of the party's leaders, Valerie Rosso Debord, said Dahmane had been removed from his post for "outrageous comments" about Cope and the UMP and for making "odious comparisons" between the debate and pre-war anti-Semitism.

Speaking on Thursday, Mr Dahmane compared the situation of French Muslims to that of Jews during World War II and said the debate on "Islam and secularism" had been planned by a "handful of neo-Nazis".

The debate will officially explore firstly how "the practice of religions may be compatible with the rules of the secular republic", and secondly "the question of Islam in France".

France has the largest Muslim minority of any EU country and controversies have arisen over the state's attempts to impose secular values in public institutions such as schools.