Cairo: Terrorism thrives on lack of development and poverty, Amr Mousa, a former Egyptian diplomat and former head of the Arab League, has said.
“Daesh and other terrorist groups, which have spread for more than two years now, should prompt us [think] about reasons for their proliferation,” Mousa told a conference on international peace under way in Cairo.
“Thorny issues such as [lack of] development, ignorance and poverty manipulated by terrorists must be debated,” he added on Thursday.
The two-day meeting, which wraps up on Friday, is being co-organised by Al Azhar, Sunni Islam’s influential institution, and the Muslim Council of Elders based in the United Arab Emirates.
“This conference marks an auspicious and good start for a new position to fight terrorism and extremism,” said Mousa, an ex-presidential contender.
The 80-year-old politician underlined the importance of “openness and disclosure” in order to achieve peace. “This is a joint responsibility for leaders of heavenly religions. They have to highlight things they share in common,” Mousa added.
“Promoting the language of dialogue and debating causes of radical thinking are necessary for fulfilling a fair and comprehensive peace for whole humanity.”
The conference has drawn wide participation of clergy and scholars from around the world for discussing issues including effects of poverty and diseases on peace as well as peace culture in religions — realities and hopes.
The conference is the second to be co-organised by Al Azhar and the Muslim Council of Elders in just two months.
In Late February, they hosted a major gathering in Cairo titled “Freedom and Citizenship — Diversity and Integration”. At the end of that conference, the participants issued the Al Azhar Declaration of Coexistence among the Arab world’s majority Muslims and minority Christians on the basis of citizenship and repudiation of intolerance.
