RIYADH, Feb 8 (AFP) - A counter-terrorism conference hosted by Saudi Arabia, which is battling Al-Qaeda violence, wrapped up Tuesday after endorsing a Saudi proposal to set up an international center to combat terror.
Under US pressure to accelerate democratization, the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom staged the event just before landmark municipal elections -- the first-ever public vote in Saudi history -- take place on Thursday.
Despite a lukewarm welcome from British and US delegates, the event ended with a joint statement to "support and adopt" Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz's proposal to set up an international counter-terrorism center.
"A task force has been established to further elaborate this proposal," said the closing "Riyadh Declaration", according to the English text.
The communique, read out in Arabic at the closing session, did not say where the center would be based, but the head of one participating delegation told AFP it would be set up in Switzerland.
"Any international efforts will not be sufficient to effectively combat the terrorism phenomenon if not conducted within the framework of joint actions and an all-inclusive strategic vision," the final declaration said.
Crown Prince Abdullah, de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom, on Saturday opened the conference with a call for the establishment of a global center to combat and preempt terrorism.
Representatives from some 50 countries and international organizations attended the four-day event.
Since May 2003, Saudi Arabia has been battling a wave of terror blamed on Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, which was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Shootings and bombings in the kingdom have killed 90 civilians, according to official figures. Thirty-nine members of the security forces and 92 militants have also been killed in the violence.
The conference also sought to address Arab and Muslim concerns that Islam has been tarred with a terrorist brush because of Islamist militant violence.
Participants "stress the fact that terrorism has no specific religion, ethnic origin, nationality, or geographic location," the declaration said.
"In this respect, it is of paramount importance to stress that any attempt to associate terrorism with any given faith will in actual fact serve the interests of terrorists; it should be rejected wholeheartedly."
The document also called for political reform as a way to preempt violence, but appeared to reflect concerns by countries such as Saudi Arabia that they should not be imposed by the West.
Participants "encourage individual efforts to expand political participation, achieve sustainable development, and promote the role of the civil institutions to help address the conditions that spawn violence and extremist thinking," it said.
The document also stressed the United Nations is "the major forum to promote international cooperation against terrorism," and urged all countries to comply with relevant UN resolutions, and to join and implement the 12 major international conventions on combating terrorism.
Although welcoming the proposed center as helpful, US and British delegates said it could not replace bilateral exchange of intelligence and security cooperation.
The closing statement called for promoting "inter-agency cooperation and coordination on national, bilateral and regional levels to combat terrorism, money laundering, weapons and explosives trafficking and drug smuggling."
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said the conference was "not the end of the road, but the start of the drive to reach the goal" of stamping out terrorism.
02/08/2005 15:52 GMT - AFP