OIC: Senegal reaffirms its support for a Palestinian state

Senegal took part this Thursday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in the 23rd extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The country was represented by Cheikh Niang, Minister of African Integration, Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad.

In front of his counterparts, the head of Senegalese diplomacy reaffirmed Dakar’s constant position on the Palestinian issue. Senegal supports the rights of the Palestinian people to an “independent, just and viable state, coexisting in peace with Israel, in accordance with international law,” states the note published by the ministry on its social networks.

A new Secretary General for the OIC

The session was also marked by a major institutional moment: the unanimous election of Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to the post of Secretary General of the organization. The Mauritanian diplomat, aged 66 and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of his country, succeeds the Chadian Hissein Brahim Taha, whose mandate officially ended in November. With more than three decades of experience at the UN, notably as special envoy for Yemen, he takes the head of an organization which brings together 57 member states. On behalf of the President of the Republic and the Senegalese government, Cheikh Niang sent him his congratulations and wished him every success in the exercise of his mandate.

According to the ministry’s press release, this participation illustrates Senegal’s attachment to the ideals of peace, solidarity and cooperation supported by the OIC, at a time when the organization is focusing on developments in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in Gaza and Al-Quds.

OBN