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