Alatas gets another assignment at UN

Alatas gets another assignment at UN

JAKARTA: Indonesia's former minister of foreign affairs Ali
Alatas has received another assignment from United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Alatas is presently the UN secretary-general's special envoy
to promote the planned UN reforms among member countries.

Annan recently chose Alatas and 17 others to form an advisory
group that will guide the Alliance of Civilizations, an
initiative meant to bridge the gap between Islamic and Western
societies, the Associated Press reported from the United Nations
recently.

The selection was made after extensive consultations with
experts on intercultural relations. A few more members might be
included later, UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe told the
Associated Press. The group will hold its first meeting in late
November.

The alliance -- an initiative of the prime ministers of Spain
and Turkey -- seeks to overcome the mutual suspicion, fear and
misunderstanding between Islamic and Western societies that have
been exploited by extremists throughout the world, according to
its terms of reference.

The group is expected to report to Annan in the second half of
2006 on actions to counter extremism and promote mutual respect
between civilizations and cultures.

It will be co-chaired by Federico Mayor of Spain, the former
director-general of UNESCO who is president of the Culture of
Peace Foundation, and Mehmet Aydin of Turkey, a minister of state
and professor of theology.

Some of the other members include former Iranian president
Mohamed Khatami; the wife of the emir of Qatar, Sheika Mozza bint
Nasser al-Misnid; former prime minister of Senegal Moustapha
Niasse; Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa; former French
foreign minister Hubert Vedrine; Rabbi Arthur Schneir, president
of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation in New York; and Prof.
John Esposito, founding director of the Center for Muslim-
Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington.
-- JP/AP