TUNIS, 1 February 2006 — Interior Minister Prince Naif yesterday called for an international conference under UN sponsorship to discuss matters related to terrorism and find scientific solutions to wipe out the scourge.
Prince Naif, who is honorary chairman of the Arab Council of Interior Ministers, made this comment while receiving David Veness, assistant secretary-general of the United Nations for security affairs.
“Terrorism is a dangerous issue. It has no religion or nationality or any geographic region,” he told the UN official on the sidelines of a meeting of Arab interior ministers in the Tunisian capital.
He said the proposed UN conference could be based on the counterterrorism international conference hosted by Riyadh in February last year.
On his part, Veness hailed the council of interior ministers for setting out an agreement to combat terrorism in 1998.
“This is a great initiative,” he said on the pact, which has been endorsed by Arab justice ministers.
“We’ll discuss this agreement during a UN conference to be held shortly to mark the organization’s 60th anniversary,” Veness said and commended Saudi Arabia for its cooperation with international bodies.
On Monday, addressing the interior ministers’ meeting, Prince Naif emphasized the need for fighting terrorism, which poses a big threat to world peace and stability.
He urged Arab countries to implement the anti-terror pact.
“It’s not a historic document condemning terrorism but a commitment, which we have to implement with utmost seriousness,” he pointed out.
Prince Naif warned that the aftermath of any lenience in this matter would be dangerous.
“If our preparations are not up to the enormity of the challenge, the consequence would be dangerous and painful,” he said.
The conference discussed a number of issues concerning Arab security. It approved the fifth Arab security plan, the third Arab media plan for security awareness and protection from crimes and the second phase of a strategic plan for traffic safety.
