Hollande calls for global response to counter ISIS

Francois Hollande, French President, has called for a global response to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS, group saying it posed a security threat to the world.

“The threat is global so the response must be global,” Hollande said, opening a Paris conference of some 30 countries aimed at coordinating a strategy against the group, which has taken control of parts of Northern Iraq and has a power base in Syria.

“In holding this conference, the countries meeting today are showing their solidarity and the will to protect themselves against terrorism,” Hollande noted.

In the same vein, Fouad Massoum, Iraqi President said the ISIS fighters were responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed in Iraq’s history.

“We should spend more efforts, and therefore we ask to continue the airstrikes against the terrorist positions. We will not give them any safe haven,” Massoum added.

Foreign ministers from European states, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Iraq’s neighbors and Gulf Arab states Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, are in Paris to discuss broad political, security and humanitarian aspects of tackling ISIS.

About 40 countries, including 10 Arab states, have signed up to a coalition to help fight IS in Iraq and Syria.

The conference follows a whirlwind tour of the Middle East by John Kerry, US Secretary of State. Kerry, has been drumming up support for a plan of action unveiled by President Barack Obama last week.

ISIS controls large parts of Iraq and Syria. The CIA estimates that the group could have as many as 30,000 fighters in the region.