MAKKAH, Aug 15, (Agencies): His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah thanked on Wednesday the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud for hosting the fourth extraordinary summit of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which was received with great welcome and utmost hospitality.

The Amir’s speech to the summit drew attention to the daily bloodshed that is taking place in Syria and how it should be a reminder of the responsibility that lies on the Islamic world to act immediately to stop this violence against innocent people.

He then lauded the Arab-UN joint envoy to Syria Kofi Annan’s plan that aimed at bringing peace and stability to the war-torn country if it were only implemented by the Syrian regime.

The Amir stressed that no amount of speeches nor condemnations would bring peace to the Syrians; only more active cooperation with the international community would achieve that.

Refugees
“The increasing numbers of Syrian refugees should be given our immediate attention at the present moment; humanitarian aid should be given out to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian refugees,” the Amir stressed.

The Amir also emphasized the importance of achieving peace to the Palestinians and how Israel should abide by international laws and resolutions to halt the settlements and to work toward establishing an independent state for the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the Amir addressed Iran in his speech by saying that “Iran should answer to all international efforts that aim at reaching a political compromise on it’s controversial nuclear program; a program that is causing much tension in the region.” “By responding to international demands, Iran would help bring peace and stability to the region,” he further stressed.

The Amir also called on Iran to stay neutral and not to interfere with other countries’ internal affairs.
The Amir also shed light, at the conclusion of his speech, to the acts of violence committed against Muslims minorities in Myanmar. “As an international community and most importantly as an Islamic one, we should all exert all possible efforts to secure the rights of the Muslims there,” he pointed out.

Opposition
Meanwhile, OIC was poised Wednesday to suspend conflict-wracked Syria, despite opposition from Iran, a staunch ally of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

An emergency summit of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) opened late Tuesday with the proposal put forward by a preparatory meeting of foreign ministers, a symbolic attempt to pile pressure on Damascus over its deadly crackdown on a 17-month uprising.

A draft final statement obtained by AFP said the summit, in Makkah, Islam’s holiest city, “approves the suspension of Syria’s membership.” It was expected to be endorsed when the leaders reconvened late Wednesday evening.

The move by the OIC, which represents 1.5 million Muslims worldwide, is aimed at further isolating Assad’s embattled regime but its effect is seen as being largely symbolic.

Syria was suspended from the Arab League last year over its clampdown on the uprising that Assad characterised as a plot by Western and rival powers to overthrow his regime.

Saudi King Abdullah has presided over the meeting, attended by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad whose country has openly criticised the push to suspend Syria.

The draft statement says Syria should be suspended over “the obstinacy of the Syrian authorities in following the military option” to solve the crisis and the failure of a UN-Arab League peace plan brokered by Kofi Annan.

It demands that Assad’s regime “immediately end all acts of violence” without calling for the president to step down, while defending Syria’s “unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.”

Tensions have been simmering for months between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shiite-dominated Iran as Syria has emerged as another arena for the longtime rivalry between the two regional heavyweights.

Despite the opposed stands, Iran’s president avoided mention of the Syrian conflict in a speech on Tuesday night as did Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah in his opening speech, indicating an accommodation between the region’s superpowers.

“There has been a clear change in the Iranian position towards Syria,” according to a diplomat at the Makkah summit.

In another conciliatory move, King Abdullah, whose country hosts the OIC headquarters in its Red Sea city of Jeddah, proposed Tuesday setting up a centre in Riyadh for dialogue between Muslim confessions.

Iran is the Syrian regime’s biggest regional ally and has pledged its full support for Assad.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Monday criticised the move to suspend Syria’s membership of the OIC, saying it would not resolve the conflict and was not in line with the group’s charter.

But foreign ministers meeting ahead of the summit agreed on the suspension “based on consensus with an absolute majority” and forwarded the decision to the heads of state for final approval, OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said.