SPEAKING FREELY A role for the OIC in
Iraq By Kaveh Afrasiabi
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As the
June 30 date for the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq
approaches, the facts on the ground suggest that short
of some serious new initiatives, this may turn out to be
a mere formality, with little if any impact on the
country's security plagued by a powerful insurgency
requiring a continuing United States military presence.
The alternative of turning Iraq into a United
Nations suzerainty will not do either, mainly because of
the anti-UN animus in Iraq born and bred by the
conviction of some Iraqis that the UN is partly at fault
for failing to prevent the invasion of their country. In
all likelihood, a future UN peacekeeping force in Iraq
will be targeted by the insurgents, who have already
proven their distaste for the UN by attacking the world
body's office in Baghdad.
There is, however, a
potential role for the Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC), which deserves to be fully explored
for the sake of not just the people of Iraq, but also
its neighbors and, indeed, the entire Muslim World. The
OIC, founded in 1969, joins together all the Muslim
countries of the world on a platform of pan-Islamist
cooperation. The OIC, which has an observer status at
the UN, describes itself as "an international
organization grouping 57 states which have decided to
speak with one voice to safeguard the interests and
secure the well-being of their peoples and of all
Muslims in the world."
In its recent summit in
Malaysia, the OIC voiced its support for the interim
Iraqi Governing Council in Iraq and condemned the
violence against the foreign embassies, the UN
headquarters, and the holy places and called for the
prosecution of the former Iraqi regime's officials. The
OIC has similarly supported the post-Taliban regime in
Afghanistan and has set up an OIC fund for
reconstruction of Afghanistan.
In fact, as an
evolving inter-governmental organization, the OIC has
increasingly cast a wider net of responsibilities for
itself, with respect to the issues of international
peace by, for example, participating in the Hague
Tribunal's proceedings on the security wall in Israel,
and dispatching fact finding missions to such troubled
spots as Kashmir and Chechnya.
Notwithstanding
its declared commitment, in its charter, to "observation
of the sovereignty, independence and territorial
integrity of each state", the OIC should now focus on
how to make a significant and concrete contribution to
the cause of peace and security in today's Iraq.
It could, for instance, initiate an Iraqi
standing committee that would, in turn, recommend the
formation of an OIC peacekeeping force in tandem with
the UN, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council
and other regional organizations, perhaps after
dispatching an OIC fact finding mission to Iraq.
Following this scenario, a special session of
the OIC ministers of foreign affairs within the next
couple of months would ensure that the OIC is more than
an interested, though passive, observer of the Iraq
scene, setting up instead the framework for a
multinational OIC force to intervene in Iraq, assisted
by the UN's peacekeeping Office. Such a bold
initiative, called for by the desperate situation in
Iraq and the need for alternative, and viable, solutions
that would pave the way for the gradual departure of US
and British forces in the near future, will not be
risk-free and, in turn, may create new complications,
such as with respect to Sunni-Shi'ite relations. Yet
with prudent leadership and forethought, such potential
side-effects can be managed and the OIC may well prove
an indispensable tool for international peace should it
elect to take on the massive chore of peaceful
rehabilitation of Iraq's sovereignty.
We can
safely assume that an OIC peacekeeping mission will be
better received by the native Iraqis, particularly the
Sunnis, than any other external force. The OIC can even
adopt this initiative rather experimentally, beginning
with a small presence and then, building on its much
hoped for success, expanding its realm of activities.
This is not to suggest that an OIC intervention
can magically make disappear the complicated security
and war-related causes of turmoil in Iraq. Rather, in
the light of the legitimacy problems of both the US as
well as the UN inside Iraq, and the historical evolution
of the OIC, such a pivotal role for the latter is an
important card its leaders are well advised not to miss.
One thing is for sure, the world's 1.3 billion Muslims
can do a lot more than either being passive spectators
of the unfolding tragi-drama in Iraq or (some among
them) rooting for violent insurgency.
Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, director of
Global Interfatih Peace, an NGO, author of, among
others, President Khatami and the OIC Mediation in
Chechnya, Iranian Journal of International Affairs,
Fall 1999; A New Iran But Not Overnight, Oped,
NYT, Feb. 2000; After Khomeini (Westview
Press); Dialogue of Civilizations/Dialogue of
Theologies (Global Scholarly Press, fortchoming
2004); Who Should Lead the UN Anti-terrorism, UN
Chronicle, 2003, articles in International Herald
Tribune, SF Chronicle, Middle East Journal (2003),
Brown's Journal of World Affairs (2003), etc.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have their
say. Please click hereif you
are interested in contributing.
