Chadian diplomat, Taha elected new OIC – Secretary-General

AChadian diplomat, Hussein Ibrahim Taha has been elected as the new Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) . He will succeed the outgone Secretary General, Dr Yousef Al-Othaimin whose tenure has expired to lead one of the biggest international organisations for the next five years.

Taha was elected yesterday at the end of the 47th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, in Niamey, Niger Republic after three other candidates unanimously withdrawn for him to emerge the new Secretary-General by contestants.

OIC Secretary-General is elected by the Council of Foreign Ministers for a period of five years, renewable once.

Speaking shortly after his election, the new helmsmen promised to work hard to address the present challenges affecting the OIC member states as well as fight for the interest of the minority Muslims in non-member states.

On his part, the outgone secretary general thanked the organisation for giving him the opportunity to serve and prayed same to his successor.

In an earlier address, Othaimin promises that the OIC would support Sahel and Lake Chad Basin countries in addressing their security challenges.

“The sanity of the region will form the basic ideas of OIC’s decisions. We ensure we give our supports to the regions especially on issue of insecurity and combating terrorism”, he said.

Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Pakistan, Morocco, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey, Bangladesh and Libya all reiterated the need for robust and holistic international synergy to defeat the terror activities.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the twoday sessions which discussed several issues affecting Muslim countries globally especially in the areas of terrorism, rising Islamophobia and insecurity challenges had delegates from all the 57 member states that formed the organisation.