In times of strife, it is good to know who your friends are. So, in the absence of support from traditional allies such as France and Germany, it will come as welcome news to British troops in the Gulf this week that when the going gets tough, Azerbaijan is right behind them.
The ”coalition of the willing”, as United States Secretary of State Colin Powell has called it, is the list of 30 or so countries that responded positively to a phone call from Washington, seeking their support against Iraq.
Starting with Afghanistan, ending with Uzbekistan and with 15 countries in between preferring to remain anonymous, it is an imaginative list, eschewing the usual suspects to give those nations not used to playing a role on the world stage a chance to shine. Albania, for example. And Georgia.
At the London embassy of the former Soviet Republic, I ask a representative what being in the coalition of the willing entails. ”I don’t know,” he says. ”We don’t have an official line yet. I’ll have to get someone to call you.”
Will Georgia be offering practical support in the war with Iraq, or purely moral? A suspicious pause ensues. ”I know what you’re talking about,” says the spokesperson.
”Well. OK,” says Adrianne Foglia at the Colombian embassy. Foglia is a realist. She predicts that support for the war from Latin and Central America will be largely symbolic. ”Number one, I don’t think they need to fly over Colombia in order to get to Iraq. Looking at that list, I think the countries involved might offer primarily intelligence information, if there is any, or moral support. Other than that, I’m not sure that there’s much we can do from the other side of the world.”
Still, the story of Colombia’s inclusion in the coalition is playing big in Bogota. Leafing through the daily newspapers, Foglia translates a front-page headline from the Spanish: ”US applauds the backing of the Colombian government for supporting the military intervention in Iraq.”
She points out that before December, Colombia was a member of the United Nations Security Council. Still, it’s not an altogether obvious ally for the US to seek out, is it? Foglia concedes that, yes, there might indeed be something eccentric about the coalition of the willing. ”You know what?” she confides. ”I took a look at the list this morning and I thought, oh gee, I wonder how Nicaragua is going to help?”
Andres Gomez, at the Nicaraguan embassy, counters smartly: ”Physical support or moral support?” Either. ”Well.” He laughs. ”To my knowledge we’re not sending any troops. But we do support fully the US, the [United Kingdom] and Spain.”
Was it a difficult decision to come to? ”Yes. I believe it’s been a difficult decision for everyone to come to. But it’s a communal decision that the Central American countries have arrived at together. Honduras, Panama, El Salvador and Guatemala: We’re trying to act together.” Hang on a minute, Panama isn’t on the official coalition list. Perhaps it’s one of the secret 15. I call the embassy. Is Panama secretly a member of the coalition of the willing? ”Well, actually,” says the spokesman, ”just today the central American presidents will make a declaration about the war.” In it, will Panama come out in support of US and British action against Iraq? ”How?” Any how. ”We aren’t sending anyone to the Gulf.”
Is Panama offering the coalition of the willing moral support? A short pause. ”Not really,” says the spokesperson. ”No. Not really,” he reiterated.
Luckily, Eastern Europe is standing firm. ”We are part of the coalition,” says a spokesperson from the embassy of the Czech Republic, decisively. This week, a Czech unit of 500 troops, including 60 to 70 Slovak soldiers, massed in Kuwait under American command. Theirs is a non-combatant role, approved in the Czech Parliament in January. Was it a controversial decision to get involved? ”That’s a good question. Parliament is sitting right now, discussing the matter.” Is it dominating the headlines to the exclusion of all else? ”Of course. It’s quite a lively issue.”
Romania, meanwhile, has sent 278 non-combatants, experts mainly in mining and decontamination in case of biological or chemical attack. How has the country’s decision to back George W Bush and Tony Blair gone down in Romania? ”No, no, not at all, no controversy,” says an embassy spokesperson. ”It was a political decision. The government has the support of public opinion. If you compare to the UK, there is a small debate in Romania. No, no, no. The Supreme Council of Defence approved it with a large majority. Everything goes smoothly.”
I phone my friend Alina, a schoolteacher who lives in southern Romania, for confirmation. ”There are voices for and voices against,” she says. ”Last week, a meeting of about 200 people took place in Bucharest protesting against Romanian involvement. But most Romanians seem to agree with this war.”
For those citizens of Uzbekistan who might be worried that their government is involving them in a conflict of little local relevance, there was reassurance on Uzbek TV this week. Qobilbek Karimbekov, a well-known pundit and political commentator, reassured viewers that ”at present the fight against international terrorism continues to be a topical issue’.’ going on to urge viewers that aggression in the Gulf should not be construed as a war of Christianity against Islam.
Elsewhere in the Uzbek media, Bush’s letter of thanks to President Islam Karimov was quoted in the newspapers at length, knocking news of the imminent extinction of the male Saiga antelope off the front pages. ”The contribution of Uzbekistan in these efforts is significant,” Bush is quoted as saying, ”and I am extremely grateful for this.”
Nevertheless, before the US president starts counting his chickens, he should register the ambivalence of tone at the Uzbekistan embassy in London, where a spokesman allows that his country’s membership of the coalition is ”a controversial issue. From one side, war is not good. Absolutely not good.” Ominously, he says: ”In Uzbekistan, so many people have their own opinions.”
Eritrea is one of the poorest, most war-torn countries in the world. I call the embassy to ask how it intends to show its support of the US and the coalition of the willing, of which it is a member? There is a long, stunned pause before the spokeswoman says: ”Can you call back tomorrow morning?” — Â