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Article: French Muslims elect first formal council.
- Article from:
- United Press International
- Article date:
- April 14, 2003
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PARIS, Apr 14, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX)
The French government announced Monday the composition of the country's first Islamic council, representing some 5 million members of the country's second-largest religious community.
Given the task of lobbying the French government for a hodgepodge of unmet demands, the council amounts to a personal victory for French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, and caps a two-decade long effort to cobble such a grouping.
Roman Catholics, Protestants and Jews here all have representative bodies. Not so Muslims, whose leaders have sparred for years over the composition and selection of a formal, ...