Bahrain minister focuses UN Assembly address on terrorism, illegal occupation

The accelerated emergence of terrorism groups, political expansionism and the illegal occupation of other States’ territories are hindering sustainable development and require the international community to work together, the Foreign Minister of Bahrain today told the United Nations General Assembly.

Terrorist groups “thrive in our region with greater savagery and callousness,” Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa told the 69th high-level debate.

“These terrorism groups destroy Islamic values under the pretext of Islam, to which they are totally alien,” he added, calling on Muslim clerics and scholars to counteract the “misguided thought” of groups such as Al Qaida, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Hizbollah.

Combating these groups requires the international community to work together along the security and military, ideological and financial axis.

The Foreign Minister also spoke out against attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of States in a matter that is “archaic.” Among forms of interference is the use of media, notably satellite television channels and social media, to “distort facts and cause instability.”

He also called for an end to illegal occupation of other States’ territories, such as the targeting of the Palestinian people, and welcomed the announcement that the Governments of Egypt and Norway will host next month an international conference on the reconstruction of Gaza.

As part of the high-level General Assembly debate, representatives of the UN Member States and observers are addressing the theme, “Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda” as well as urgent crises ranging from the ongoing conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine and South Sudan.