Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has joined other members of the Ministerial Committee constituted by the Joint Arab-Islamic Summit to find a lasting solution to the war in Gaza, to call on the United Kingdom to reject selectivity in applying international laws.
According to a statement released by the minister’s media aide, Abdulkadir Alkasim, on Thursday in Abuja, the committee made the call in London, on Tuesday, when it held an official meeting with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom, David Cameron.
The members of the Ministerial Committee called on the international community to fulfil its responsibility by rejecting all forms of selectivity in applying international legal and moral standards and turning a blind eye to the heinous crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against defenceless Palestinian civilians, and the trend of the occupation’s violations against the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
The meeting touched on efforts to revive the peace process in the Palestinian issue, as members of the Ministerial Committee stressed the importance of ensuring a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace, through the implementation of international laws related to the two-state solution to enable the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights to establish an independent, sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.
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The meeting discussed the need to secure safe passages to deliver humanitarian aid, food, water, fuel, and electricity to Gaza and allow international organisations to carry out their tasks in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings.
The members of the Ministerial Committee stressed the importance of members of the Security Council and the international community to take effective and urgent measures for a complete ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, stressing that this is a priority for all Arab and Islamic countries.
The statement said in his remarks at the meeting, Tuggar once again condemned the disproportionate use of force against civilians in Gaza, stating, “At the centre of this crisis is the disproportionality of the use of force. It does not add up for us to sit by while homes in Gaza are destroyed, thousands are killed, we have to give peace a chance and that is why Nigeria is involved. It is all about humanity.”
Nigeria has remained unequivocal in calling for a ceasefire and adoption of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian war in Gaza since the commencement of renewed hostilities between Israeli forces and Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Nigeria’s participation in the peace committee results from its strategic leadership role in Africa.
The Ministerial Committee in charge of the Extraordinary Joint Arab-Islamic Summit is headed by His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Other members of the Ministerial Committee who participated in the meeting are the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ayman Safadi; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Sameh Shukri; the Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riyad Al-Maliki; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Retno Marsudi; and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
