In a major step forward for France's five million Muslims, the government and Islamic leaders today agreed to set up the first ever unified representative body authorised to press the community's interests.
Agreement came at a two-day conclave at a secluded chateau outside Paris presided over by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who succeeded in persuading rival Muslim groups to overcome their differences and divide up positions on a new French Council for the Muslim Religion.
The breakthrough represents the conclusion of several years of efforts to set up a proper line of contact between the government and the country's second largest religious group, with the unspoken aim of encouraging a homegrown, liberal version of Islam.
The process was accelerated by the anti-US attacks on September 11th, when it became clear that many young French Muslims of North African origin had been radicalised in prayer halls escaping official supervision.
Under the deal the three major Muslim bodies in France - the Union of Islamic Organisations in France (UOIF), the National Federation of Muslims in France (FNMF) and the Paris mosque - agreed to share out top posts on the Council's 20-member central committee.
The Council's president is to be Dalil Boubaker, a 62-year-old Algerian doctor, who is rector of the Paris mosque and has been the favoured interlocutor of successive French governments.
AFP