NAM seeks new relevancy as Iraq war looms

NAM seeks new relevancy as Iraq war looms

Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press, Bandung, Indonesia

Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is covered with dust and his right ear is chipped, while Indonesian President Sukarno is lashed to the rostrum with a rope to keep him from toppling over.

The life-sized diorama in the great hall that served as the birthplace of the Non-Aligned Movement depicts the creation on April 18, 1955 of what grew into one of the largest political blocs in the world.

"The exhibit needs a bit of refurbishing every now and then," said Dedie Sutardi, a curator at the Asia-Africa Museum in this hilltop town on the Indonesian island of Java. "Just like the Non-Aligned Movement itself," he added with a smile.

With war looming in the Middle East, the movement's 114 nations, beginning a week-long summit meeting on Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, now have a crucial reason to try to regain the influence they enjoyed during the Cold War.

The possibility of a U.S. attack on Iraq -- a founding member -- has energized the movement which appeared moribund in the past decade, and will likely dominate its upcoming summit. Many members have condemned the possibility of war and have urged Washington to seek a peaceful solution.

Baghdad has appealed to the conference to condemn U.S. "aggression" and express support for Iraq.

"The noble principles of non-alignment are opposed to attempts by the United States to dominate the world," said Kais Al- Yacoubi, Iraq's ambassador to Malaysia.

Iraq will attend the conference, but has not yet confirmed who will lead its delegation.

The crisis will likely overshadow another critical issue facing the 58 leaders attending the conference -- the need to redefine their movement's relevance in the age of globalization. Since the end of the Cold War, Third World countries, which once used their combined leverage to pressure the Soviet bloc and the United States for their own benefit, have struggled to carve out a new role for the grouping.

"There is a need for a renaissance of NAM ... for a reinterpretation of what the movement could do," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told The Associated Press.

A Malaysian proposal aims to invigorate the organization by creating a permanent secretariat for the first time. Until now, the nation hosting the summit -- held every three or four years -- has acted as the group's temporary chairman.

This year's agenda also calls for the leaders, including Cuban President Fidel Castro, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and South African President Thabo Mbeki, to consider other topics, including achieving a fairer trade relationship with the West and obtaining a permanent seat on the Security Council for the movement.

Syed Hamid said the summit declaration will reflect the members' commitment to ensure "NAM has an active role to play in world affairs."

"We need to ... help create a more just and equal global order," he said.

The movement -- whose nations account for 55 percent of the world's population but only 7 percent of its economic output -- has traditionally had a rocky relationship with the United States. Successive U.S. administrations were infuriated by the movement's criticism of Israel and its backing for the Palestinian cause.

Relations hit rock-bottom in 1975, when non-aligned nations sponsored a United Nations resolution equating Zionism with racism.

But ties with the world's sole superpower improved considerably during the administration of President Bill Clinton, who in 1998 dispatched the first U.S. observers to a summit in Durban, South Africa. A U.S. envoy will also attend the Kuala Lumpur conference.

Budimir Loncar, a former Yugoslav foreign minister who participated in all 12 previous summits, is predicting that some of the more radical members -- such as Cuba or North Korea -- will put forth proposals condemning the United States. "I don't expect them to succeed," Loncar said.

Whatever changes the leaders adopt to reinvigorate their movement, they are unlikely to abandon core principles enunciated at Bandung nearly six decades ago, including mutual respect for territorial integrity and peaceful coexistence. These have enabled the movement to span the political and ideological spectrum.

At Bandung, the inclusion of communist nations such as North Vietnam was counterbalanced by the presence of conservative monarchies like Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and U.S. allies South Vietnam and the Philippines.

But analysts warn that although such political diversity remains a trademark of non-alignment, much of its significance has been lost with the end of the Cold War.

"For NAM to remain relevant it should not abandon its political fight, but it should put more emphasis on economic cooperation with the developed world," said Ali Alatas, a former Indonesian foreign minister and current adviser to President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Sukarno's daughter.

"The problem now is the North-South relationship, rather than an East-West confrontation," he said.