JEDDAH, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on Wednesday congratulated authorities for the arrest of Bosnian Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic on genocide charges.

OIC general secretary Ekmeleddine Ihsanoglu said Monday's arrest of Karadzic after more than a decade on the run would herald a new era of coexistence in the war-scarred region.

It was 'an important step in bringing justice to Bosnia's Muslims who suffered mass slaughter and war crimes,' Ihsanoglu said in a statement.

The head of the 57-member OIC, the world's largest forum of Islamic nations, said he hoped to see the arrest of more war crimes suspects, and the start of an era of 'reconciliation and peaceful coexistance' in the Balkans.

During the Balkans wars of the 1990s, the Jeddah-based OIC, which represents 1.3 billion Muslims across the world, gave strong support to the Muslims of the former Yugoslavia.

Karadzic faces 11 counts of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity and other atrocities before the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

They mainly relate to two of Europe's worst atrocities since World War II, the 44-month siege of Sarajevo which killed more than 10,000 people and the Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys.