OIC DISCUSS AFGHAN BOMBING

The world's largest Muslim body has condemned the suicide attacks on the United States, but avoided siding openly with the US military campaign in Afghanistan.

Foreign ministers from the 56-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) held an emergency meeting in Doha, Qatar, with the aim of reaching a joint position on terrorism and the current crisis.

The BBC's Middle East correspondent Frank Gardner says the OIC final statement was a skilful piece of diplomatic engineering that avoided upsetting the United States while trying to appease angry Muslim populations.

The OIC chairman and Qatar emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, warned that an anti-terrorism campaign which spread to other Muslim states would not be accepted.

His warning came after the first reports of civilian casualties from the US attacks, among them UN workers, and reflected Arab concerns that the campaign could widen to take in long-standing US enemies like Iraq.

Mildly-worded statement

The OIC final statement was a victory for the moderate, pro-western Arab states, our correspondent says.

It said the ministers "strongly condemned the brutal terrorist act suffered by the United States".

They also voiced "concern that confronting terrorism could lead to casualties among innocent civilians in Afghanistan".

The ruling Taleban in Afghanistan had earlier appealed to the OIC to act to halt the US military strikes.

The raids are aimed at neutralising the threat posed by Saudi-born militant Osama Bin Laden and his Afghan-based al-Qaeda organisation, accused of masterminding the 11 September suicide attacks.

Muslim states with a strong anti-American stance like Iraq and Iran have publicly criticised the air strikes, while other countries - with little sympathy for the Taleban and their hardline brand of Islam - have largely kept quiet.

Palestinian cause

The OIC said there was a clear distinction between terrorism and the legitimate right to resistance to occupation - indicating that it did not want the world to regard the Palestinian uprising as a terrorist movement.

At the meeting, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat accused Israel of using the crisis that followed the 11 September attacks to launch a new offensive against his people.

The OIC called for a UN-sponsored international conference to look into the reasons and causes behind terrorism.

At the same time, the OIC welcomed US President George Bush's recent commitment to working towards a Palestinian state. It said this should be followed by practical measures.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that despite anti-American protests in some countries, Arab nations have been very supportive of the US-led air strikes.

Threat of Arab turmoil

Egypt, and even Oman, where demonstrations are rare, have seen two straight days of student protests against the US attacks on Afghanistan.

Qatari Foreign Minister Hamed bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani told a news conference that there were different points of view but "no dividing issues" at the OIC meeting.

He conceded that "we haven't got a strategy at the moment" for dealing with the crisis triggered by the 11 September attacks.

"There should be a rapprochement between citizens and leadership in the Arab world so we can protect ourselves from the deluge," he said.

The Revival 2001

This article is from The Revival's first website, where its publication date was not recorded. The date shown above is approximate.