SANAA, 1 July 2005 — Islamic states promised more assistance for Iraq in the face of a raging insurgency yesterday but balked at the outright condemnation of “terrorism” requested by its under-fire government.
A final statement issued after a three-day meeting of foreign ministers of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference insisted on a right of “legitimate resistance against occupation”.
“Ministers affirmed their decision to offer all sorts of support to the Iraqi interim government to write a constitution, as well as achieve security and stability,” the statement said. But it added the rider that the support was aimed at helping Iraq “achieve sovereignty and end occupation.”
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Kurbi, whose country hosted the meeting, said his counterparts also “called upon all Iraqis to unite in order to end occupation”.
The statement condemned “all aspects of terrorism” but insisted on “differentiating between terrorism and legitimate resistance against occupation”.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari had called on Islamic countries to “condemn explicitly acts of terrorism in Iraq.”
He hit out at the OIC’s approach to his country’s continued instability more than two years after the US-led invasion, and called for unambiguous support in the face of the persistent Sunni Arab insurgency.
“There is a case of carelessness in the organization’s attitude toward Iraq,” Zebari told reporters. He complained that member states did not have a clear position on the insurgency or his government, the first elected administration in Iraq in half a century.
Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of Turkey hailed a “turning point in the history of the organization, in terms of heading toward reforming it.”
Ministers also agreed to set up a new fund to tackle tsunami-like natural disasters, Kurbi said, without giving any figures.
OIC spokesman Ataa Bekheit had told reporters Wednesday that contributions by member states would be voluntary, adding that a telethon would be organized during the fasting month of Ramadan to bring in private donations from around the Muslim world.
