The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Malaysia next week is shaping up as a major platform against war on Iraq for leaders of the 114-nation grouping, the largest organisation of states outside the United Nations. Both the outgoing and incoming heads of the movement — South Africa and Malaysia — are strong opponents of threats by the United States to lead an invasion to disarm Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction without the support of the UN Security
Council.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is deeply involved in international efforts to prevent a conflict, hands over the chairmanship of NAM to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a Muslim leader with an increasingly hard line against a war. Sharing the stage at the summit on Monday and Tuesday could be
two veteran arch-critics of Washington’s foreign policy, Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Libya’s Muammar Gadaffi, along with dozens of national leaders seeking a new voice in a world dominated by one superpower.
Although a final list of heads of government planning to attend has not been released, government sources said Castro had confirmed his participation, a sign that the Iraq crisis could revitalise a movement in decline since the end of the Cold War.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, divided by almost everything except their opposition to war against Iraq, are also scheduled to attend the summit, which begins with meetings of officials and ministers on Thursday.
Most member states are developing countries without international clout of their own but many are also key players in the US’s ”war on terrorism” — with NAM’s roll-call stuffed with countries from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
NAM was formed as an alternative to the Western and Eastern blocs in the 1950s and has been seen as increasingly irrelevant since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
But with Iraq itself a member state, the crisis over its alleged illicit weapons is seen as an opportunity to reverse the decline in the organisation’s fortunes.
The movement includes in its ranks 40 of the 57 members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and Mahathir is pressing for the OIC leaders to hold a special meeting on Iraq the day after the summit ends.
Malaysia is due to take over the chairmanship of the OIC in October from US-ally Qatar, which has been criticised by Mahathir for vetoing a plan to hold a fully-fledged OIC crisis summit on the sidelines of the NAM meeting.
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted in local media on Monday as saying that Malaysia would instead initiate ”an informal meeting”.
He denied that Malaysia was trying to take over Qatar’s role, but said: ”We simply cannot afford to wait on this because the possibility of war breaking out in Iraq anytime now is very real.”
Mahathir said during a tour of the summit venue on Monday that an invitation to the informal talks was being extended to heads of government of ”other Muslim countries” which are not NAM members. The Malaysian leader, who has consistently opposed any unilateral US action against Iraq, hardened his position last week, saying Malaysia would not support a war even if the Security Council gave the go-ahead.
Mahathir is a bitter critic of Islamic extremism and has supported the ”war on terrorism” but he has warned repeatedly that an attack on Iraq would create more anger among Muslims and thus more recruits to terrorist ranks.
He made it clear on Monday that Iraq would dominate discussions at the NAM meeting, despite the myriad problems facing member states.
Any hopes that India’s Vajpayee and Pakistan’s Musharraf could hold talks on the tensions between the two nuclear neighbours on the sidelines of the conference have been played down by both sides.
”I don’t think there are any chances of such a meeting,” Pakistani foreign ministry representative Aziz Ahmed Khan told a weekly press briefing on Monday. – Sapa-AFP