Babangida strengthened the foreign relations of Nigeria. He rejected apartheid in South Africa, involved Nigerian troops in the Liberian Civil War, hosted the Abuja Treaty which gave rise to the African Union and enhanced relations with the United States and United Kingdom. In 1986, Nigeria joined the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation an international organisation considered the "collective voice of the Muslim world". This move was welcomed in Northern Nigeria, where there is a Muslim majority population. However non-Muslims criticised the move likening it to an Islamisation agenda of Nigeria, a secular country. Babangida's then second-in-command Commodore Ebitu Okoh Ukiwe, opposed the decision to join the Islamic organization and was removed as Chief of General Staff.