CAIRO - A former Saudi minister, Iyad Madani, was named on Thursday as the next head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to succeed Turkey s Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.
Madani was named at the end of a two-day summit in Cairo of the world s largest Islamic grouping and will take over in January 2014 from Ihsanoglu, who since 2005 has headed the 57-member group based in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
A diplomat said the conservative Gulf kingdom nominated the former information minister in a possible sign of strains between Saudi Arabia and post-revolution Egypt, which were close allies under now toppled president Hosni Mubarak.
Saudi Arabia wants to "regain the initiative against Muslim Brotherhood-led Egypt, which (as host of summit) takes over the presidency of the group," the source said.
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