MUSLIM STATES CALL FOR UN PEACEKEEPING OPERATION IN SYRIA

Displaced Kurdish civilians from Kobane in northern Syria push toward a barbed wire fence at the Turkish border. (Photo: John Stanmeyer)

Jeddah, 1 Dzulhijjah 1436/14 September 2015 (MINA) – The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation urged the United Nations to consider a peacekeeping force for war-torn Syria in order to help reaching a truce and stopping flow of refugees from the country.

The organisation said in a statement following an emergency meeting for its 57 member states on Sunday that the U.N. Security Council needs to create “a multi-dimensional UN peacekeeping operation in Syria as a prelude to restoring security and stability in the country”, ARA News quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The OIC, known as a collective voice of the Muslim world, also emphasized the necessity to find a political solution to Syria’s civil war, that erupted more than four years ago.

It blamed the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria on “the war crimes committed by the regime in Syria”.

“The meeting stressed the common responsibility of all nations, particularly OIC member states, to open their doors to the Syrian refugees as a mark of Islamic compassion and solidarity,” the closing statement said.

The organisation also noted that more than half of its member states are not signatories to the UN Convention on Refugees and urged them to sign.

According to reports, more than four million Syrians have escaped the war-ravaged country.

The migration from Syria has created a crisis in Europe, where Germany alone is expected to receive 800,000 asylum-seekers from Syria and elsewhere this year.

The OIC further urged all countries “to refrain from extending military support to the Assad regime”.

The OIC said Syria’s neighbors who have taken refugees have borne “a huge portion” of the humanitarian burden and the international community should give them more support. (T/P001/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)