Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 05/12/2014
The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Iyad Ameen Madani, welcomed the joint statement put out by the first ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) held in Brussels, Belgium, on 3rd December 2014. The OIC took part in the meeting, being one of the early organizations to openly condemn the self-styled ISIL as the archenemy of Islam. Madani reaffirmed the OIC’s belief that defeating ISIL entails the articulation of a holistic strategy that should not be confinedsolely to a military approach. Besides the need to debunk the ideological narrative of the terrorist group, he pointed out, any counter-ISIL strategy should reflect on the root causes that gave rise to this radical extremist group. He highlighted the wide defragmentation that wreaked havoc on the political, administrative, civil, and social institutions of Iraq following the US intervention in 2003. Pinpointing the sectarian polarization that marked the occupation years and the short-sighted policies of previous Iraqi governments, Madani commended the positive policy shift undertaken by the current government in Baghdad. The Secretary General emphasized that a sound approach to countering ISIL needs to be discriminate enough to support Syrian moderate opposition groups striving to combat ISIL and seeking to realize the Syrian people’s aspirations to freedom and justice. In this sense, Madani welcomed the endeavors deployed by the UN Special Envoy for Syria, hoping that they would contribute to the implementation of a political settlement of the Syrian conflict based on the key stipulations of the 2012 Geneva I Communiqué.
