JEDDAH, 11 June 2005 — The 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) yesterday urged the United Nations to include a Muslim country in the Security Council during the forthcoming expansion of the powerful world body.
“Nobody can ignore the Islamic world that represents one fifth of global population and a country must represent the Islamic world in the Security Council,” OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said.
He said the next meeting of the OIC foreign ministers, which is scheduled to be held in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on June 28-30, will discuss the issue of the representation of the Islamic world at the Security Council.
Ihsanoglu said the OIC must be strengthened to be able to address the problems of the Islamic nation. “We should not be ashamed of proposals for domestic reforms. The subject is already there on the agenda of others and we have to take the initiatives for reforms from within,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted him as saying.
The OIC chief said his organization would support Iraq to complete its democratic process. He hoped the new elections next year would bring about a strong government in Baghdad representing the Iraqi people.
Ihsanoglu said Islamic countries had risen to the occasion when the tsunami hit a number of Asian and African countries last December, adding that the OIC countries extended donations worth $1.3 billion including $500 million offered by the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank.
He said the foreign ministers’ meeting would also discuss the idea of setting up a disaster fund in order to provide urgent assistance and relief to the victims of natural and other calamities, wars and famines.
“The conference will also discuss prospect of another fund to take care of some 35,000 children orphaned by the tsunami,” he told a news conference in Tunis.
The OIC would launch a fund-raising campaign for the purpose in Ramadan.
He commended Saudi Arabia’s continuous support for the organization, adding that the foundation for its new headquarters building in Jeddah would be laid before the upcoming Islamic summit.
