Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday opened the first high-level meeting of a kingdom-led coalition of Muslim nations against terrorism in Riyadh.
The
inaugural meeting of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition
(IMCTC) Ministers of Defence Council is being held under the theme of
‘Allied Against Terrorism’.
“A number of our member
countries are under tremendous pressure while fighting well established
terrorist organisations due to capacity shortages of their armed forces
and law enforcement agencies," said Pakistan’s former army chief and the
coalition’s military commander, Gen Raheel Sharif, at the event.
"The IMCTC will act as a platform to assist member countries
in their counterterrorism operations through intelligence sharing and
capacity building."
The alliance aims to “mobilise and
coordinate the use of resources, facilitate the exchange of information
and help member countries build their own counter-terrorism capacity,”
Sharif said.
He was of the view that while all
individual states were making efforts against the menace of terrorism,
the required level of synergy and resources was lacking.
Sharif
said that Muslim world was the biggest sufferer of the menace of
terrorism and during last six years alone, more than 70% of all deaths
attributed to terrorism had occurred in Muslim countries.
“Fight
against the faceless enemy with extremist ideology is complex and
challenging, and requires collaboration. Pakistan has turned the tide
and has had defeated the menace,” he added.
Addressing
the defence ministers and other high-ranking officials, the Saudi crown
prince said that Sunday’s meeting sends “a strong signal that we are
going to work together and coordinate together to support each other.”
However,
the alliance doesn’t include Iran, Iraq or Syria, while member nation
Qatar sent no one to attend the one-day Riyadh gathering amid a
diplomatic standoff between Doha and four Arab nations led by the
kingdom.
“The biggest danger of this terrorism and
extremism is the tarnishing of our beloved religion's reputation [...]
We will not allow this to happen,” said the royal who has been the
driving force behind this coalition. “Today, we start the pursuit of
terrorism and we see its defeat in many facets around, the world
especially in Muslim countries. We will continue to fight it until we
see its defeat.”
The crown prince also offered his
condolences to Egypt, which suffered an attack on Friday by Islamic
militants on a mosque in northern Sinai that killed 305 people.
“This is indeed a painful event and it is a recurrent and strong reminder the dangers of this terrorism,” he said.
The alliance described as a “41-nation pan-Islamic coalition” was announced in December 2015.
Pakistan was part of the initial list of 34 countries that had agreed to become part of the coalition.
Gen
Raheel Sharif joined the alliance as its top commander in April this
year. According to IMCTC, the former chief "presents the Military
Domain, which aims to assist in the coordination, of resourcing and
planning of military CT operations, facilitate the secure sharing of
information, and encourage military CT capacity and capability
building."
Core areas that the IMCTC seeks to address
have been identified as ideology, communications, counter terrorist
financing and military.
UN blames Saudi-led coalition for deadly Yemen strike
GENEVA: The United Nations on Friday blamed a Saudi-led
coalition for a deadly air strike on civilians in Yemen this week,
saying there were no military targets in the area hit.
The
attack on Tuesday in the Mawza district of the southwestern province of
Taez killed at least 20 people, including four children, according to
residents.
The UN human rights office, which put the
death toll at 18, said the strikes hit three families who were staying
in a makeshift straw house after being displaced from their homes three
months ago by fighting.
The office said in a statement
that the strike was carried out by “Arab Coalition Forces”, referring to
the Saudi-led alliance fighting Shia rebels in support of Yemen’s
internationally recognised government.
“There do not appear to have been any military objectives anywhere in the immediate vicinity of the destroyed house,” it added.
The
Saudi-led coalition has faced repeated criticism over civilian
casualties in Yemen. It accuses the Iran-backed rebels of using
civilians as human shields.
The coalition has admitted
responsibility for some strikes that killed non-combatants, including a
raid on the rebel-held capital Sanaa in October 2016 that killed more
than 140 people at a funeral ceremony.
The United Nations called for a “comprehensive and impartial investigation” into the latest incident.
The
conflict in Yemen has escalated dramatically since March 2015, when the
Saudi-led forces launched a military operation against the rebels.
Colville
noted that persistent unrest was also hindering the UN’s ability to
respond to the cholera crisis in Yemen, which is the world’s largest
outbreak of the bacterial infection.
The World Health
Organisation said on Friday that the number of suspected cholera
infections in Yemen had risen to nearly 370,000, as of July 19.
“Every day, 5,000 more Yemenis fall ill with symptoms of acute watery
diarrhoea (or) cholera,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
A full 1,828 people have died during the outbreak since it erupted in late April
