France Muslims agree on council composition

Muslim leaders in France who have been meeting since Thursday in the Paris suburbs of Essone, reached on Friday an agreement on the composition of a council that will represent Muslims in France with French authorities.

French home minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, praised the agreement as a "historic" one that crowns arduous work, while participants in the consultation hailed efforts that allowed for uniting "the Muslim family" and paid tribute to the French home minister for his role of "moderator."

The agreement, reached by 7 federations, 5 major mosques and 6 outstanding figures, stipulated that the general assembly will elect an administrative council that will, in turn, appoint a bureau and a chairman. For its first two-year term, the general assembly will elect 154 persons who will add to the 200 members of the executive council and to the personalities who took part in the consultation. No date was set for these elections.

A minimum of five women will be represented in the body.

The chairmanship of the French Council of Muslim Faith is likely to go to Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, while Fouad Alaoui, secretary general of the union of France Islamic organizations, and Mohamed Bechari, chairman of the national federation of France Muslims, will serve as vice-chairmen.