Islamic body to update charter to fight extremism

By Lamine Ghanmi

DAKAR (Reuters) - The world's largest Islamic body is modernizing its charter to combat extremists and poverty and to emphasize values of tolerance and understanding amid concerns over an anti-Islam backlash.

If last-minute differences can be ironed out, the revamped charter of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will be adopted at a summit in Senegal on Thursday and Friday, OIC officials said.

"The new charter embraces the United Nations language to reflect moderation and tolerance of Islam and focus on development and solidarity in action between members," OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told a news conference late on Tuesday after a meeting of foreign ministers.

He and other officials said the changes to the 40-article charter would help OIC become more proactive as it seeks a bigger role in a globalised world for the international Islamic community, which spans the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

This includes pushing for closer aid and cooperation between its richest members, like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and its poorest states, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa where radical groups like al Qaeda are attempting to win a foothold.

"We are pinning many broad hopes on the adoption of the revised charter. This will permit the organization to usher in a new era of action, performance and services to our Ummah (Islamic community)," said Ihsanoglu.

The organization has come under harsh criticism by some members for its inability to resolve conflicts and for limiting its contribution to funding and statements of condemnation of Israeli attacks against Palestinians.

The existing charter dates back to 1972 when Islamic states were divided by Cold War allegiances. OIC heavyweight Saudi Arabia sided with the United States while others like Egypt had closer ties to the then Soviet Union.

Senegal's Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio said foreign ministers still had more work to do to forge a final consensus over articles of the proposed new charter.

These differences concerned domestic ethnic disputes and territorial conflicts among OIC member states and neighbors.

NO TO EXTREMISM

Delegates gave the example of Uganda, which opposed a proposed change to the charter that would make OIC membership conditional on a state having a "majority" Muslim population.

Pakistan was insisting the new charter should make potential new members first resolve their conflicts with existing members before being allowed to adhere -- reflecting its long-running dispute with neighbor India over the Kashmir region.

There were also plans to change the group's voting system to allow two-thirds of members to take a decision, instead of the existing system requiring unanimity -- difficult to achieve in a body with such cultural and political divisions.

Ihsanoglu argued the Islamic community was increasingly being challenged by extremism at home and in the West.