U.K:FM urges coalition of west and Muslim world

FM urges coalition of west and Muslim world

Terrorism and past conflicts have "distorted" relations between western and Muslim nations but both sides must work together against global challenges, the foreign secretary said Thursday.Skip related content

David Miliband admitted that British foreign interventions from the Crusades to the invasion of Iraq had created distrust in many countries, with the latter war causing "a sense of bitterness, distrust and resentment".

But he said the challenges of climate change, terrorism and financial crisis required a united effort born of better understanding on both sides, as well as a resolution of conflicts such as in the Middle East.

In a speech to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Miliband said a history of relations between Europe and the Islamic world "have been characterised by conquest, conflict and colonialism".

"More recently, the invasion of Iraq, and its aftermath, aroused a sense of bitterness, distrust and resentment," he said.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the focus of the relationship between western and Muslim states had narrowed, he said.

"Terrorism has distorted our views of each other and skewed our engagement with each other."

But Miliband said global security can no longer be guaranteed by the world's only superpower, or even grouping of great powers.

"The threats from climate change, terrorism, pandemics and financial crisis are too large and too diffuse... we need the broadest possible coalition of states and political movements", he said.

He added: "If we want to rebuild relations -- to forge broader coalitions -- we need to show greater respect. That means rejecting the lazy stereotypes and moving beyond the binary division between moderates and extremists."

Distrust over conflicts such as Iraq has also overshadowed efforts to use diplomacy and aid for humanitarian reasons, Miliband said: "We need to recover the original idea (of liberal interventionism) which was and is a noble idea."

Active diplomacy was most needed in the Middle East, he said, an issue on which "we need -- all of us, in our own ways -- to act soon, very soon, to prevent a fatal and final blow to the scope for compromise".