NAM endorses Indonesia's views as discussion basis

By Oei Eng Goan

CAIRO (JP): Foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) endorsed Indonesia's reports and views on the movement's activities since it assumed chairmanship in 1992 as a basis for talks in their eleventh meeting, the Indonesian chief delegate Nana Sutresna said here yesterday.

"The reports and analyses of the chairman of NAM have been accepted by member countries and discussions in the on-going ministerial conference will focus on four main issues covering the restructuring of the United Nations, nuclear disarmament, international economic cooperation for development and environmental preservation, as well as social development and human rights," Nana told a group of Indonesian journalists in the Egyptian capital.

Nana, who is also head executive assistant to the NAM chairman, currently President Soeharto of Indonesia, presented the report to the first plenary session of NAM's 11th ministerial meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting, held at the Cairo International Conference Center which towers over the new buildings of the prestigious Al-Azhar University, has brought together 111 delegations from NAM member countries.

A draft of the final document was made available to journalists yesterday, but the adoption of the document will take place on Friday, the closing day of the four-day conference during which the next venue for NAM's summit is expected to be announced.

The draft states among other things that the foreign ministers agreed that the movement has to adopt an approach which is capable of accommodating the broad spectrum of its members interests and intensify all forms of cooperation.

They also called on member states to devote more of their resources to NAM activities and concurred on the importance of closer and systematic links among member countries.

They recommended the role of the high-working group on the reform and restructuring of the UN as setbacks had occurred in some warring areas where UN resolutions remain unimplemented and that the Security Council had subjected itself to accusations of employing double standards in settling different conflicts.

The ministers agreed that such situations should be remedied without delay and that reform of the UN should solve these problems.

They reiterated the need for a balanced relationship between the UN General Assembly and the Security Council so as to establish dynamic interactions between the assembly and the council.

The ministers considered that both reform and restructuring of the UN Security Council, including its decision-making process, should be examined as an integral part of a common package.

On UN peacekeeping forces, NAM ministers expressed their conviction that these operations should never be regarded as substitutes for the political settlement of disputes and that they should be of a temporary nature.

The document reiterates the call by NAM on all parties in the Middle East to take urgent and practical steps towards the establishment of a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the region and that Israel has to renounce nuclear weapons and accede to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Touching on international economic cooperation, the ministers noted that there are few convincing signs for global recovery and that expectations for greater global security and economic order have not been realized.

They stressed that the new agreements and rules emanating from the Uruguay Round should be translated into increased market access and expansion of world trade and better employment opportunities world wide, particularly for developing nations.

On environment and human rights issues, the ministers reaffirmed their commitment to foster a balanced and integrated approach to sustainable development as reflected in the Rio Declaration in June 1992 and that human rights should not be used as political instruments, especially against NAM member countries.

Yesterday's meeting, which was chaired by Egypt's Foreign Minister Amr Moussa and held behind closed doors, was longer than scheduled. The sessions had to be continued through the evening.

"Although the agenda of the meeting has been adopted, there are countries which still raised issues that deviate from topics already agreed," Nana said without identifying the names of the countries.

He added, however, that the ministerial conference, which was opened by President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday, will be concluded as scheduled as many member countries from Africa will have to attend the meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).