The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has reiterated the OIC's solidarity with the Rohingya people and reassured them of the support of the Organization. In an address, which was delivered on his behalf by Talal Daaous, the Director of the Department of Muslim Minorities in OIC, the Secretary General highlighted the importance of the two-day Meeting of Senior Leaders of Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU) and the Euro-Burma Office (EBO) which started today its works at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, according to a report carried today by OIC's website. He noted that this is the second meeting of its kind in Jeddah and that it aims at unifying the efforts of the Rohingya people which stem from a resolution adopted by the 37th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers held in Dushanbe, the Republic of Tajikistan in May 2010. Ihsanoglu underlined that the meeting stresses on coordinating the works of Rohingya Muslim organizations and uniting their ranks under a united coordination council and calls on OIC to continue these efforts to reclaim Rohingya Muslims' rights. The Secretary General clarified that an agreement was reached in the first meeting on 9th June 2010 which established an organizational and coordination structure known as the Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU) with the aim of uniting Rohingya peoples' efforts. He stated that today's meeting seeks the same purpose. Ihsanoglu also reaffirmed that the OIC supported the return of the refugees and the restoration of their rights and privileges which were taken away from them by the Burmese authorities. It is worth mentioning that the Rohingya people are in a Muslim ethnicity in Arakan, west of Burma officially known as Republic of the Union of Myanmar, southeast of Asia.
