Sarr Elyse took a sip from a plastic cup. Like a practised wine taster, she swilled the dark liquid around in her mouth then swallowed.

　　“I love Coca-Cola and this is not Coca-Cola,” she said with a slight grimace.

　　It certainly wasn't and that's the point of Mecca-Cola —— a soft drink named after Islam's holiest shrine and created to protest against US foreign policy in the Middle East. Senegal is one of the first sub-Saharan African countries to put Mecca-Cola on the market, and it's an obvious choice. The population is 95 percent Muslim and opposition to the war in Iraq has been more vocal here than elsewhere in the region.

　　Thousands took to the streets to protest against the fighting in Iraq and now Mecca-Cola, which has sales of about five million bottles in Europe, will gives thirsty Senegalese a thought-provoking, alternative thirst slaker to the US brand.

　　“Being a Muslim, I was attracted by the name Mecca-Cola,” said Hassane Brahim Fardoun, the businessman behind the drink's distribution in Senegal. “I will do my best to penetrate the Senegalese market with this new product.”

　　The drink's launch coincided with increasing popular opposition to US foreign policy and the first six-packs of Mecca-Cola were delivered to two shops in Senegal's capital Dakar the same week US troops stormed Baghdad. More will follow if it sells well.

　　At first glance, the 1.5-litre Mecca-Cola bottles look just like Coca-Cola. But closer study shows a green mosque, Arabic writing on one side and the sales pitch in French and Arabic^ Fardoun's son Ibrahim frenetically supervises the first deliveries in a noisy, narrow Dakar street where teenage boys pull heavy metal trolleys through snail-slow traffic.

　　He says the advertising campaign has not yet started because posters have not arrived from France, but he has high hopes for word of mouth marketing.

　　Elyse is one of the first to taste the new beverage at a tiny shop in the city centre. Unfortunately for Fardoun, she is Catholic, and a little reticent about whole-heartedly backing the political viewpoints behind Mecca-Cola's existence.

　　Mecca-Cola has already found fans in Africa, as well as in Europe. The cola with a crusade is the brainchild of French businessman Tawfik Mathlouthi, who launched the drink last November in France as a protest against US foreign policy.

　　Mathlouthi, who is originally from Tunisia, says 10 percent of the profits will go to help Palestinian children and another 10 percent to European charities.

　　The first shipments have been delivered to the African countries of Mauritania, Libya, and Sudan as well as Senegal. A spokeswoman in Paris said the company expects to ship to Gabon and Mali in the coming weeks.

　　A bottling plant has opened in Morocco where the cola is being distributed in five districts in Casablanca. “It's doing better than we expected,” said Omar Elalami, president of Mecca-Cola, Morocco.

　　“We started a week ago, and we have sold 300,000 bottles,” he said. “It's not bad.”

　　Elalami says Mecca-Cola is sold at the same price as that charged by “the Americans. As this is a quality product, we don't see why we should cut the price.”

　　Mecca-Cola is not unique. There is a wide range of similar ideological drinks, like Muslim Up or British-based Qibla-Cola, whose website cries “Liberate your taste”。 Ironically, the drink that typifies the American way of life was flavoured originally with cola nuts, widely prized in West Africa as a stimulant and a dowry gift at weddings.

　　And Coca-Cola is firmly entrenched in Senegal's capital Dakar, a seaside city of cool breezes where the calls of the midday muezzin drift over catchy African rhythms and hooting cars. Posters of healthy, happy young people drinking Coca-Cola hang on shop doors, with the slogan “Refresh your life”。