No breakthrough at NAM over Bosnian membership

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

CARTAGENA DE INDIA, Colombia (JP): Despite an eleventh-hour effort by Indonesia and Malaysia, ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) failed yesterday to break an impasse over whether or not to admit Bosnia-Herzegovina as a member at their leaders' summit, which opened here yesterday.

The ministers also failed to agree on Costa Rica's admission as well as on the applications for guest status from Japan and Macedonia.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the Bosnian question would not be taken up by the NAM leaders during their summit, which will go on until Friday.

Instead, their ministers will continue with their consultations, Alatas said.

Informed sources said Alatas and Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi made last minute efforts to change the minds of a number of African states, particularly Zimbabwe, and accept Bosnia's membership application.

The African states support the former Yugoslavia, now only consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, whose membership in NAM was suspended in 1992 because of its continuing support for the Serb insurgency in Croatia and Bosnia.

Costa Rica's membership is opposed by Middle East countries in view of its decision to relocate its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Japan's application was blocked by North Korea and Macedonia's application was blocked by Greece.

Because NAM's statutes require full consensus on every decision, a single member can hold back a resolution.

Bosnian foreign minister Muhamed Sacirbey lashed out yesterday at the opposition to his country's membership in NAM, saying that the arguments presented were "based upon rotten ideas".

"They seem to be denying to Bosnia what one would uphold as a very basic principle of the Non-Aligned (movement), that is, membership of all countries committed to the non-aligned principles," Sacirbey said. "Unfortunately, the countries whose interest they seem to be defending here, Serbia and Montenegro, are not committed to the non-aligned principles.

"I suspect there is some kind of hold that Serbia and Montenegro have on these countries that can only be described in rather unflattering terms," he added.

NAM ministers did reach agreement on the draft of the 99-page final document that will be presented to their leaders for adoption during the summit.

The movement will, for example, push for sweeping reforms of the United Nations to make the world body more effective.

Other topics include the need to address the position of developing countries in an increasingly competitive global economy.

"This (the position of developing countries) is like putting me and Tyson in the ring. And if I cry murder, you would think I'm unreasonable," former Tanzanian president Julius K. Nyerere told reporters.

Nyerere, who now chairs the Geneva-based South Center which studies the development problems of countries in the southern hemisphere, said NAM should also address the question of the American economic blockade against Cuba, which he described as "illegal and immoral".

NAM countries should ignore the blockade and maintain cordial relations with Cuba, he suggested. "The rest of the world should just reject American pressures and do business with Cuba."

Colombian foreign minister Rodrigo Pardo Garcia-Pena has also stated that NAM, under Bogota's leadership, will continue to oppose the American sanctions against Cuba.

Cuban President Fidel Castro is attending the summit.

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