His Excellency Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), received at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Academy in Jeddah, on Tuesday 03 Jumada II 1444H corresponding to 27 December 2022G, His Excellency Ambassador Mohammed Bambah Mohammed Boubah, Director General of the Regional Mission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Federal Republic of Somalia, and his accompanying delegation.

His Excellency welcomed the ambassador and the accompanying delegation, praising his keenness to consolidate and solidify the bonds of continuous cooperation and coordination between the Academy and the office of the regional mission of the OIC in Somalia, and the tireless efforts made by the mission under his direction in the field of supporting communication and cooperation between the Academy on the one hand and the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs in Somalia and other related Religious and political institutions on the other hand. In this regard, His Excellency reaffirmed the Academy’s complete readiness and full commitment to providing intellectual and Fiqh support to the Somali authorities in their efforts to spread a culture of moderation, tolerance and coexistence, and to combat extremist ideology, fanaticism and terrorism. He also expressed the Academy’s firm aspiration to cooperate with the official religious authorities and senior Somali scholars in order to promote the approach of moderation, reject fanaticism and extremism, and refute hate speech, violence and extremism in order to achieve security, safety and peaceful coexistence among the Somali people. His Excellency concluded by expressing his wishes for the Somali people to achieve stability, prosperity, security and peace so that Somaliland will return to its former era of prosperity and development.

For his part, the Ambassador expressed his thanks and appreciation to His Excellency the Secretary General for the good reception and warm welcome, praising the great role played by the Academy under the leadership of His Excellency in combating all forms of extremism, fanaticism, violence and terrorism, and spreading the values of tolerance, moderation and temperance. In the context of searching for the best ways to support peace, reform and development efforts in Somalia, His Excellency expressed his firm belief that deep intellectual change is the cornerstone of any radical change or reform in Somali society, and therefore cooperation with the Academy on this basis comes within the framework of seeking to benefit from the scientific and intellectual the potential of the Academy in serving the agenda of peace and societal reform in the Federal Republic of Somalia by spreading the culture of moderation, temperance, tolerance, and rejecting extremist and petrified thought and religious misconceptions by organizing specialized scientific seminars and conferences inside and outside Somalia in cooperation and partnership with the Somali authorities and scholars. In this context, His Excellency informed His Excellency the Secretary General of the desire of the Somali Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs to meet with His Excellency to discuss the Somali issue, in addition to organizing specialized seminars on various issues and topics of concern to Muslims in the Federal Republic of Somalia.

The meeting was also attended by His Excellency Eng. Abdullah Abdullah Ali, Deputy Director-General of the OIC’s Regional Mission in Somalia, Dr. Alhagi Manta Drammeh, Head of the International Cooperation and External Relations Division at the Academy, and Mr. Mourad TLiLi, Advisor to His Excellency the Secretary General of the Academy for Media Affairs.