France: Macron to give Saudi Arabia list of extremist groups crown prince pledged to cut funding

"We must wipe out this extremist thinking through the work we do. We need to annihilate religious severity and extremism which is the entry point to terrorism"

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The New Arab
By Al Arabay | November 30, 2017

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he would draw up a list of extremist groups to give to Saudi Arabia after its crown prince pledged to cut their funding.

Saudi Arabia finances groups overseen by the Mecca-based Muslim World League, which for decades was charged with spreading the strict Wahhabi school of Islam around the world.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman claims he is seeking to modernise the kingdom and promote a more open and tolerant interpretation of Islam.

"He never did it publicly, but when I went to Riyadh (this month), he made a commitment, such that we could give him a list and he would cut the financing," Macron said during an interview with France 24 television.

"I believe him, but I will follow up. Trust is built on results," Macron added.

The head of the Muslim World League told Reuters last week that his focus now was aimed at annihilating extremist ideology.

"We must wipe out this extremist thinking through the work we do. We need to annihilate religious severity and extremism which is the entry point to terrorism," Mohammed al-Issa said in an interview.

Macron, speaking from Abidjan, said he had also sought commitments to cut financing of extremist groups from Qatar, Iran and Turkey.

The French leader will make a quick trip to Doha on 7 December where he will discuss regional ties and could sign military and transport deals, including the sale of 12 more Rafale fighter jets.

Macron said he still intended to travel to Iran next year, but wanted to ensure there was a discussion and strategic accord over its ballistic missile programme and its destabilisation activities in several regional countries.

On Sunday the first meeting of defence ministers and other senior officials from the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition took place in Riyadh.

The coalition officially counts 41 countries and identifies as a "pan-Islamic unified front" against violent extremism.

Since his sudden appointment as crown prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman has moved to consolidate power, announcing crackdowns on both terrorism and corruption in series of mass arrests.

More than 200 people are being held for questioning over what Saudi Arabia says is an estimated $100 billion embezzlement and corruption scandal, the biggest purge of the kingdom's elite in its modern history.

But many suspect that the purge is less about corruption and more about money and a power grab.


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