The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, expressed Tuesday the OIC's total rejection of the so-called proclamation by "National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA)" of an independent homeland in the north of the Republic of Mali. In a press release issued this morning, the Secretary General firmly condemned this act of separatism while he emphasized the OIC's principled commitment to Mali's territorial integrity and inalienable sovereignty over its internationally recognized borders. In the meantime, Prof. Ihsanoglu expressed optimism that the agreement just reached between the military junta in Bamako and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would help to the immediate restoration of the constitutional order in the Republic of Mali and would defuse the deepening crisis in the north of the country.
