OIC summit vows to pursue every means to achieve unity

KABUL): The two-day Islamic Solidarity Summit ended early on Thursday  in the holy city of Makkah, with participants stressing pragmatic focus on inter-sectarian harmony and Islamic unity, and a clear and unambiguous stand against the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria.

Convened by Custodian of the two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, the extraordinary summit of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued a declaration that said the Muslim world stood united with Syrian people, suspending Syria’s OIC membership.

“A regime that kills its people has no right to continue in power,” said Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the OIC secretary-general, while addressing a joint press conference with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nizar Obaid Madani at the Al-Safa Royal Palace early yesterday.

“The summit has sent a clear and strong message from here in Makkah to the Syrian regime that the massacre of unarmed civilians is unacceptable … The bloodshed has to stop,” he said. “And, therefore, the summit has decided to suspend Syria’s membership in the OIC and all its subsidiary organs.”

The decision stemmed from the resolve of the Muslim heads of states to take a united stand along with the oppressed Syrian people “who are manifestly and patently suffering from tyranny and subjugation and facing odious aggression under the barrels of artillery and missiles aimed at defenseless civilians.”

Nizar Obaid Madani said the focus of the summit was on Islamic solidarity, the crisis in Syria, the genocide of Muslim Rohingyas in Burma and the unrest in the west African state of Mali. “All decisions on these major issues were taken through consensus,” he said.

The participants recalled the goals and basic principles upon which OIC was established, and how their countries enjoy peace and security.

The summit expressed gratitude and appreciation to King Abdullah for convening the extraordinary summit with a view to strengthening Islamic solidarity, and to the government and the people of Saudi Arabia for their characteristic hospitality.

In the final communique, it was declared that the Islamic Ummah should pursue every means to achieve unity, solidarity and mutual aid among its members and should endeavor to overcome any obstacles impeding the achievement of those goals.

The summit emphasized the importance of the question of Palestine as the central cause of the Islamic Ummah. “Hence, the termination of the Israeli occupation of the Arab and Palestinian territories, occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem and Syrian Golan, constitute a vital demand by the entire Islamic Ummah,” said the final communique.

Iran Thursday slammed the OIC decision to suspend Syria’s membership, calling the step against its key ally “unfair and unjust.

ma