• by IPS Correspondents (cairo)
• Tuesday, December 13, 1994
• Inter Press Service

CAIRO, Dic 13 (IPS) - The seventh summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) began in Morocco Tuesday amid calls from member states to unify around the Muslim government in war-torn Bosnia.

Delegates said a continuing row between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Jordan over the status of Jerusalem would also be high up on the agenda for the two-day, heads of state meeting.

For their part, Gulf Arab states are expected to concentrate on the continuing squabble between Kuwait and Iraq over United Nations sanctions -- and Baghdad's recognition of its tiny neighbour.

African nations are expected to push for OIC aid to develop the Sahel as part of an effort to combat growing poverty there. Senegal, whose president is currently OIC chairman, is expected to table a 500-million dollar development plan for the parched region.

The West African state says oil-rich Gulf Arab nations, like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have already promised financial support for the plan but have yet to translate this into hard cash.

Saudi Arabia, in particular, may decide to pull out because it is cutting back on overseas aid as its national income dwindles with a drop in oil prices.

Since its inception in 1969, following an arson attack on Islam's third holiest site, the 'Al Aqsa' mosque in Jerusalem, the OIC has short-changed its poorer, black African members, Africans say.

When the OIC held its last summit in Dakar, Senegal, in 1991, most Arab heads of state failed to turn up. Though hurt at the time, black African nations now say they must forgive their wealthier partners who, back then, were occupied with repercussions from the 1991 Gulf war against Iraq.

They accept that wealthier members have agreed to write off or reschedule debt of poorer partners, and that Gulf Arab nations, for instance, generously fund Islamic schools and hospitals, and build roads in less developed African nations.

Mozambique, for instance, has become the 52nd member of the OIC -- and therefore eligible for aid -- despite the Muslim community there being a minority.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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