PARIS (AP) — The moderate head of the Paris mosque, Dalil Boubakeur, was re-elected for a two-year term as president of France's Muslim council, ending a tense week among the nation's diverse and often bickering Muslim groups.
Fouad Allaoui, secretary general of a powerful Muslim fundamentalist organization who had threatened to walk out of the Sunday vote, was elected one of two vice presidents, along with a vice president whose group aligns with Morocco.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy persuaded Allaoui's Union of Islamic Organizations of France to take part in the vote, according to a Boubakeur aide. President Jacques Chirac, in a phone call to Boubakeur, praised the council for its "spirit of dialogue."
The Council of the Muslim Faith was set up two years ago after many failed efforts to give the government a channel to France's diverse Muslim community and organize Islam in France, where it is the second largest religion after Roman Catholicism. French authorities, fearful of rising Muslim fundamentalism, are working to ensure that the Islam practiced is moderate. French Muslim groups here have long been under the domination of the countries from which members hail, and mosques are often funded from other countries. Boubakeur's mosque is under the tutelage of Algeria.