OIC urges Syria to cooperate with Arab League

Foreign ministers of the worlds largest Muslim body urged Syria on Wednesday to cooperate with the Arab League, which imposed unprecedented sanctions on Damascus over its crackdown on months of protests.Ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to respond to the decisions of the Arab League, according to a statement released at the end of emergency talks on Syria.The OIC also urged Damascus to immediately stop using excessive force against civilians... to spare the country the danger of internationalising the crisis, it added.The statement, issued after the meeting that was attended by the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, urged all parties in Syria to renounce violence and resort to peaceful means.OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, speaking after the meeting, said the group urged Syria to stop violating human rights and to allow Islamic and international human organisations access to Syria.The meeting was also attended by Ali Akbar Salehi, the foreign minister of Iran which is a key regional ally of the regime in Damascus.Earlier, Ihsanoglu reiterated the Jeddah-based groups rejection of any moves to internationalise the crisis.We also refuse any military intervention and affirm our respect to Syria and its sovereignty... and welcome international and Arab efforts to reach a solution, he said.But the OIC chief expressed frustration at the lack of any breakthrough to end the violence since March that the United Nations says killed more than 3,500 people, mostly civilians, in its first eight months.