NAM summit ends with 'Call from Colombia'

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

CARTAGENA DE INDIAS, Colombia (JP): Leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) made a strong appeal on Friday to wealthy countries to refrain from attaching conditions to their financial assistance to developing countries.

The leaders ended their summit with a "Call from Colombia" document, which states their position on various issues, including the need to address the economic problems of developing countries, which make up the bulk of the movement's 113 members.

Colombian President Ernesto Samper Pizano, the movement's newly-elected chairman, announced at the closing ceremony that the NAM leaders elected South Africa to be their next leader when he ends his tenure in 1998.

South Africa was admitted to the NAM soon after it ended its apartheid political system last year. The announcement of the next chairman broke NAM's tradition of naming the next leader half-way through the current leadership. Colombia only assumed the helm last week from Indonesia.

"The African continent has agreed that South Africa will host the next summit," Samper said.

The NAM chair has always been rotated among four regions -- Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe. The last African state to lead the movement was Zimbabwe, which assumed the position in 1986, a few years after it ended white rule.

The three-day summit's closing proved to be less ceremonious and colorful than the opening due to the absence of most of the 52 heads of government who had already left Colombia.

Indonesia's President Soeharto, the previous chairman, was also absent, departing earlier in the day for New York.

Due to some opposition, the summit failed to reach a consensus on the admission of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Costa Rica as members; Macedonia as observer; and Japan as guest, each for different reasons.

In a forum where every decision must have the consensus of all 113 members, the summit managed to adopt a 99-page, 345-point final document, which exhaustively covers an extensive list of global political and economic affairs.

This was condensed in the "Call from Colombia", a document almost similar to the "Jakarta Message" that was produced at the end of NAM's 10th summit in the Indonesian capital in 1992.

"The Heads of State and Government of the countries of the Non-Aligned Movement ... hereby makes a fervent appeal for the peace and development of our peoples," Ramiro Osorio of Colombia, the summit's organizing committee chairman, said in reading the "Call from Colombia"

The document opened with an appeal to restructure, revitalize and democratize the United Nations. It stressed the need for the achievement of complete disarmament, including the elimination of nuclear weapons.

In an obvious display of concern toward the growing intrusion of the more powerful states, the NAM leaders asserted their opposition against any attempt to impose unilateral measures against them.

"We shall jointly oppose all kinds of conditionalities and unilateral measures that are attempted to be imposed upon us or those that are imposed on us," the statement read.

They also requested that Samper, as NAM chairman, convey the concerns of its member states to the heads of state and government of the developed countries in the Group of Seven (G- 7).

President Soeharto, during his tenure as NAM chairman, met with leaders of the G-7 during their summit in Tokyo in 1993. At that meeting, Soeharto made a passionate appeal to the wealthy countries to address the debt problems of the poorest countries in the world. His appeal was duly noted by the G-7 leaders.

The final document is divided into four chapters based on general topics of concern.

The first chapter, on global issues, focuses on 17 topics, including the restructuring of the United Nations and the fight against international terrorism and drug trafficking.

The second chapter analyzes the international situation and reviews almost all major regional issues such as Palestine, the conflict in former Yugoslavia and the Korean Peninsula.

The third chapter discusses world economic issues and highlights the negative impacts of the current international economic system to developing countries.

Areas of special concern included the mounting debt burden of developing countries and development assistance.

To help foster development, NAM called on the industrialized states to fulfill their declared commitment of allocating at least 0.7 percent of their GNP for official development assistance by the year 2000.

To help alleviate the debt burden, NAM is urging the serious consideration of using Special Drawing Rights and the International Monetary Fund's gold reserve to implement multilateral debt reduction.

Attention was given to the critical conditions of many African states and the difficulties faces by land locked countries.

The final chapter contains social issues and social development. NAM members expressed their efforts to eradicate racism and discrimination.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he was pleased with the work accomplished.

"I think we did good work in Cartagena," he said.

"With the focus of the 50th UN General Assembly, our discussions at Cartagena must be translated into action oriented resolutions," he said.