Strengthening Muslim solidarity

The following is based on a paper presented by Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas at the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from June 28 to July 2, 1999. This is the first of two articles.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso: The dawning of a new millennium, instead of bracing our nascent hopes for a better world, has only given us a more acute sense of vulnerability. Tensions and armed conflicts continue to embroil various parts of the world while in the economic sphere, developing nations bear the brunt of the adverse impact of globalization. We must therefore marshal our collective strength in working for global peace, true independence and international justice and in addressing the inequities and imbalances of international economic relations.

In the Middle East, it is imperative that the peace process be revived. Under a new leadership, Israel now has the opportunity to comply with the peace accords to which it has committed itself, to cease its systematic oppression of the Palestinians and to desist from its brazen attempts to change the demographic make-up of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, in the process of obliterating its religious, historical and cultural heritage.

If there is to be peace in the region, Israel must abide by all relevant UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, including those overwhelmingly adopted by the Tenth Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly on the immediate halting of the construction of Jewish settlements in Jabal Abu Ghneim.

Israel must unconditionally withdraw from all Palestinian and Arab territories in fulfillment of UN resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), and 425 (1978). And it must now resume negotiations in accordance with the principles embodied in the Madrid Conference, especially the principle of land for peace.

In Afghanistan, we note with regret that the UN-sponsored talks among the parties to the internecine conflict that has torn the country apart has made no progress at all. We fervently hope that the warring factions avail themselves of this chance to shape the peace that will bring respite for the war-weary people of Afghanistan. Organization of African Unity, in common search for a political solution to the fraticidal strife.

My delegation is gratified to note that the stalemate over the Lockerbie incident has been resolved through an agreement on the trial of the suspects before a neutral court and the consequent decision to lift the sanctions on Libya.

We fervently hope that the sanctions imposed against Iraq can also be lifted. Security Council resolution no. 986 must therefore be fully implemented so that the long-suffering people of Iraq may finally be delivered from the humanitarian tragedy that has befallen them. We also urge Iraq to keep on working with the Tripartite Commission and the International Committee of the Red Cross in addressing the issue of Kuwaiti and third country nationals who have been unaccounted for as well as properties of the Kuwaiti Government that have been missing since the Gulf War.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we are heartened by the progress in the building of political and economic institutions. Freedom of movement has been greatly improved and elections have shown a definite trend towards greater mutual tolerance and pluralism. For lasting peace to be achieved, however, these gains must be enhanced and consolidated. The international community, including our organization, must continue to extend support for the rehabilitation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Elsewhere in the Balkans, the ferocious military measures taken recently in order to resolve the problem of Kosovo have extracted a heavy toll in human lives and devastated the physical and social infrastructures of an entire society. The oppression by a government of a large part of its own population and the massive use of force by foreign powers to stop the oppression are both extremely regrettable. But now the task is the expeditious resettlement of half a million refugees and displaced persons before the onset of winter. We should therefore join the international community in extending whatever support we can muster for this humanitarian undertaking.

We are greatly concerned at the renewed tension and conflict in Kashmir along the Line of Control between India and Pakistan, and at the possible escalation of hostilities between the two nuclear-capable neighbors. We urge both sides to forsake armed confrontation and persevere in resolving their differences through negotiations on the basis of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the 1972 Simla Agreement.

In Southeast Asia, as may be recalled, the government of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) signed a Peace Agreement in 1996 after successful negotiations facilitated by our Organization through the Ministerial Committee of the Six. The Agreement put a close to over two decades of civil war in the southern Philippine region and brought new hopes for peace and progress to the region's Muslim population.

Since then, the implementation of the peace agreement has been largely on track with the integration of MNLF officers and men into the Philippine military and national police being its most satisfactory aspect.

In recent times, however, implementation has had to contend with differences in the perception of the two parties on political and legal aspects of the agreement, the vagaries of political events in the Philippines as well as the impact of the financial crisis on the resources of the Philippine government, thus adversely affecting the progress in implementing the socio- economic plans for the region. The Ministerial Committee of the Six is therefore meeting at the margins of this Session to assess the situation and thresh out the best possible way of implementing the Peace Agreement.