OIC Summit: Restructuring Top Priority, Say Officials
Siraj Wahab, sirajwahab@arabnews.com

JEDDAH, 5 December 2005 — For those who have been critical of the Organization of the Islamic Conference’s allegedly passive role in the affairs of the Muslim world, the two-day extraordinary summit beginning in Makkah on Wednesday promises to be wholly different in its approach.

Though there has been no official word on the summit’s agenda, OIC officials told Arab News yesterday that restructuring the organization is the top priority. “The deliberations will revolve around reforming, restructuring, and redefining the OIC charter and its mission,” they said. “This is an extraordinary summit so everything is pressing and important.”

The OIC officials said a general summit is held once every three years. “This one has been organized in only 12 months. That gives an idea about the extraordinariness of the summit,” they said. “It comes at a key juncture in the affairs of the Muslim world.”

The Organization of the Islamic Conference is meeting in Mecca. (This is a preparatory, foreign ministers meeting for the summit.) It’s good that it do so, and even better that it be addressing its own reorganization. At the moment, the OIC is a toothless talk-shop. It can be guaranteed to come up with statements that reflect the lowest common denominator of Islamic opinion. If one has followed it for long, you can just about write the report when you get the name of the topic it is addressing.

There are many challenges now confronting the Islamic world–and the OIC calls on Muslim leaders from around the world. They certainly need addressing, but in a way that reflects reality, both Muslim and non-Muslim reality.

Another Arab News article, Scholars Set OIC Agenda talks a bit more–but still generally–about the agenda. It does note that Libya will be attending this meeting. Many are seeing this as an attempt to bury the hatchet that came from alleged Libyan attempts to assasinate then-Crown Prince Abdullah a couple of years back.

The Arab News for Tuesday, Dec. 6, has a couple of more articles:

It’s a Summit for Unity, Says Abdullah

Summit to Boost Muslim Morale