Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 17/11/2007
The Secretary General of the OIC, Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu addressed the opening session of the international conference on Terrorism: Dimensions, Threats and Countermeasures which opened on Thursday 15 November 2007 in Tunis under the high patronage of H.E Zine El Abidine Ben Ali , President of the Republic of Tunisia. The three day conference was jointly organized by the UN, OIC and ISESCO. In his address at the occasion, Prof Ihsanoglu commended Tunisia for graciously hosting the conference and informed of the various endeavours of the OIC in combating terrorism. He condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and stressed the need to address its root causes and restated the position of the OIC on the question of definition of terrorism, the legitimate right of self determination and the importance of the concrete international cooperation to counter terrorism. In this regard, he called for conveying of an international conference to define terrorism and reemphasized on the proposal by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques adopted by the Makkah Summit of December 2005 which called for the establishment of an International Counter Terrorism Centre under the UN. The Secretary General raised the concern of the OIC on the rising phenomenon of Islamophobia and stressed the need of tolerance and dialogue. On the sidelines of the conference, the Secretary General met H.E Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, President of the Republic of Tunisia and exchanged views on the agenda of the conference as well as the OIC Tunisia bilateral relations. He briefed the President on the preparations for the forthcoming Summit in Senegal. The Secretary General then presented the Tunisian Leader with the OIC Medal in recognition of his contribution and support to the OIC. The Secretary General also met with his UN counterpart H.E Mr. Ban Ki Moon and discussed with him the UN –OIC cooperation as well as the situation in Middle East, Somalia and Sudan. The Secretary General briefed Mr Ban Ki Moon on the outcome of the tripartite meeting in Jeddah between MNLF, the government of Philippines and the OIC on review of the implementation of the OIC brokered peace agreement.
