Malaysia To Forward Proposal On Darfur To The UN
Malaysia To Forward Proposal On Darfur To The UN
From Salbiah Said
MADRID, Jan 15 (Bernama)– Malaysia will forward a proposal to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on steps that can be taken to help the people of the strife- torn province of Darfur in Sudan, said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Speaking at a press conference here Monday, he said Malaysia wanted efforts by international agencies to help displaced people in the province to be expedited so that they can return to their homes.
“This way, their children can resume their education while the people of Sudan will be able to gain from economic activities that will take place as a result, asides from them being provided with health and medical services,” he said.
Earlier, Abdullah who is here to attend the First Alliance of Civilisations Annual Forum, had held a meeting with Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Prof Ekmelleddin Ihsanoglu, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union Javier Solana and Algeria’s Prime Minister, Abdelaziz Belkhadem.
According to Abdullah, he had discussed the matter with Ihsanoglu and Solana as it needed urgent attention. He also urged non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from the EU carrying out relief missions there to be ready to serve in the far reaches of the province and not only concentrate their activities in Darfur city.
This, he said, would give refugees there the confidence to return to their homes but on the condition the safety and security of the NGO volunteers is assured.
As to his meeting with the OIC Secretary-General, Abdullah said he discussed about preparations for the forthcoming OIC summit, which will be held in Senegal in March.
Besides this, they also discussed the agenda for it which will touch on a wide range of issues like problems faced by Muslims to enable effective action to be taken to overcome them.
On his meeting with Abdelaziz, Abdullah said they discussed about the Malaysia-Algeria joint commission meeting held in the African state in 2006. In the meeting, he explained, Algeria wanted the next meeting to be held in Kuala Lumpur and that the date would be determined later.
Abdullah also said that he expressed his hope that trade and economic ties with Algeria could be stepped up with the involvement of both countries business communities, as currently they (trade ties)were at a low level.
— BERNAMA