Republic of Senegal Position Paper - ViaMUN

As a member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the Republic of Senegal looks for aprotection of the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace andharmony among various people of the world. Especially because the current President of theRepublic of Senegal chairs the Standing Committee for Information and Cultural Affairs(COMIAC) of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, it is a principal goal of the state tosafeguard the unity of the Islamic Ummah and its cultural specificity. Therefor the Republic ofSenegal aims to protect the rights of the Palestinian People and to confront unfair campaigns againstthem. 5The friendly and intense bilateral relation between the Republic of Senegal and France in the fieldof politics and economics as well as in the field of cultural, scientific and technical cooperation 6leads to the educated guess that their positions concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are similarto one another. 7But in contrary to France 8 the relationship between the Republic of Senegal was not maintainedconstantly with Israel. Just in 1994 the diplomatic relation between the Republic of Senegal andIsrael were rebuilt after an interruption from the Israeli side because of the Yom Kippur War in1973. Within the Peace Building Process in the Middle East, the friendly relationship was renewedso that today the two states cooperate internationally on a solid base. The friendship between theRepublic of Senegal and Israel is especially based on commercial exchange, tourism and a freedialogue about important political questions. 9The president of the Republic of Senegal, Mr. Abdoulaye Wade, stated officially in 2008, that it isimportant for the conciliation of the conflict that Israel stops incursions into the Gaza Strip and thatthe Hamas ends its strikes against Israel. Wade, who was asked to mediate in the conflict, supports amaintained ceasefire in the conflicting areas and asks both, the Israelis and the Palestinians toarrange the quarrel. 105 http://www.oic-oci.org/page_detail.asp?p_id=172#comiac6 http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files_156/senegal_233/index.html7 http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files_156/israel-palestinian-territories_290/palestinianterritories_2156/france-and-the-palestinian-territories_2758/index.html8 http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files_156/israel-palestinian-territories_290/israel_2157/france-andisrael_4067/political-relations_6302/index.html9 http://dakar.mfa.gov.il/mfm/web/main/Document.asp?SubjectID=18367&MissionID=125&LanguageID=174&StatusID=3&DocumentID=-110 http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iqD8f5YAo7iMqaPxxT8OnnEXb6fA