By KUNA
Dakar : The 11th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference will approve proposed amendments to the Charter of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said an official source at the organization on Tuesday.
Requesting anonymity, the source told KUNA that the summit meeting will endorse the current name of the organization, and thus it would continue to be referred to as the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
He explained that there were still three or four articles of the charter that were being discussed and that as soon as an agreement was reached, explaining that the draft charter identified the role of the organization and focused on cooperation between Muslim states in all fields.
The amendment of the charter includes the administrative restructuring of the OIC, increasing the authority of the secretary general, and focusing on the role of the organization in encouraging inter-Islamic cooperation.
On Kosovo and its declaration of independence, the source said that a resolution was presented on Kosovo but that it was not strong, noting that there were different views by members on this issue.
However, he said the OIC would express its solidarity and support for the Muslim people of Kosovo.
OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsan Oglu had expressed last month the organization’s support for Kosovo after its declaration of independence, saying that this would further boost joint Islamic action.
Kosovo had declared independence from Serbia on February 17. Serbia refused to recognize the independence, while the US and many European countries welcomed it. Russia was opposed to this move.
As for the publication of cartoons insulting Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in Danish newspapers, the source said there would be a strong resolution issued.
He added that the OIC secretary general had conveyed to the Danish foreign minister the strong condemnation of member states of these insulting cartoons and called on the European country’s government to take positive action in this regard.
In mid-February, 17 Danish newspapers published cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), a move that sparked anger and protests throughout the Muslim world.
Moreover, the source said that the Danish foreign minister said his country would file an official request to send a representative to the Islamic summit to explain the European country’s stance on this issue, but no such request was made.
When this problem first surfaced in 2005, the OIC made contacts with the Danish government, the European Commission and the UN, and this resulted in the issuance of a number of resolutions by the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Commission that condemned this insult to Islam by the Danish papers.