Mauritania Hands Over OIC Council of Foreign Ministers’ Chairmanship to Cameroon
On 29 August, in Yaounde (Cameroon), Mr. Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Mauritanians Abroad, handed over the chairmanship of the 50th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to his Cameroonian counterpart, Mr. Lejeune Mbella Mbella.
During the ceremony, Mr. Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug stated that our country had assumed the presidency of the 49th session of the OIC Council of Ministers with responsibility and wisdom amid a regional and international situation characterized by growing challenges at all levels. He noted that this presidency coincides with a delicate phase in which our Islamic nation is facing growing complexities, where tensions, armed conflicts, humanitarian crises, and growing waves of extremism, violence, and hate are combined with climate change and economic recession, all of which have serious implications that further complicate the scene and increase the magnitude of responsibilities.
He stressed that our central issue, the Palestinian cause, had experienced rapid and unprecedented developments represented by a genocidal war waged by the Israeli occupation army for almost eleven months without interruption against the Palestinian people in Gaza and all the occupied Palestinian territories, without legal or moral deterrence, and in full view of a world in which the balance of justice and equity has been frighteningly disturbed.
He added that this issue dominated the OIC agenda during the Mauritanian presidency, and our period has seen unprecedented dynamism that resulted in the holding of a joint Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh and several ministerial and delegate-level meetings to study developments and follow-up on the implementation of the resolutions.
Mr. Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug stressed the need to work toward a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the delivery of aid to the Palestinian people who have been suffering unjust bombings for more than eleven months.
The Minister stressed the seriousness of the responsibility of the OIC, which represents the second international forum after the United Nations, in consolidating Islamic solidarity and the values of unity among member states, on the one hand, and in effectively contributing, on the other hand, to promoting efforts to achieve peace, stability, and sustainable development in the world, which makes it imperative to participate strongly in international efforts to reform the United Nations system and the international financial system to achieve more justice and equity, the urgent need for which we feel more than ever.