THE new chairman of an ethnic minority development group which has been plagued by in-fighting has pledged to secure the organisation's future.

The Blackburn-based Ethnic Minorities Development Association has appointed Ibrahim Master as its new leader.

And he said his first task was to ensure the future of the organisation, which was in danger of folding.

He will be supported by Parwaiz Akhtar and Ajaib Hussain, who will both act as vice-chairmen.

Blackburn with Darwen Council were called last year to mediate in a dispute between factions in the organisation.

Major concerns were raised about the future of EMDA following internal elections, and leader of the council, Malcolm Doherty, was called on to help resolve the dispute. Moosa Karolia, the former chairman of EMDA, which acts as an umbrella group for ethnic minority organisations, retired on ill health grounds.

The new head is the General Secretary of the Indian Workers' Association and is also a member of the Lancashire Council of Mosques and Lancashire Police Authority. He said: "I intend to make use of my vast community experience and network of contacts both in Blackburn and in wider Lancashire for the benefit of the ethnic minority community."

He added: "I believe that EMDA is at an important stage in its development.

"It was recently in danger of folding up and certainly needed to get its act together." We have been successful obtaining funding and it is crucial that we recruit the right to work for us.

"People who are committed to community development and most importantly who are above domestic politics with all the bickering that this brings."