Non-aligned nations criticize U.S. over Iraq policy

Non-aligned nations criticize U.S. over Iraq policy

Saif Eldin Hamdan, Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Leaders of the developing world stepped up behind Iraq on the final day of a summit on Tuesday, lashing out at U.S. aggression and upholding the role of the United Nations to resolve crises.

Casting a shadow over the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was a missile launch by member North Korea that drew expressions of consternation from nations trying to present a united front and to end a crisis over the North's suspected nuclear program.

Iraq told the 115 other members it was doing its utmost to comply with UN weapons inspections. Its officials have voiced delight at a succession of speeches denouncing war by leaders of a bloc that accounts for almost two-thirds of the United Nations.

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe opened proceedings on the second and final day of the three-yearly NAM summit with a blistering attack on the United States and President George W. Bush as a "big brother" proliferating arms and on Britain's Tony Blair as a neo-colonialist.

The United States should set an example by being the first to destroy its enormous stocks of weapons, Mugabe said.

"Iraq might have developed or desired to develop arms of mass destruction," he said. "But the United States has massive arms of that magnitude. Why can't they demonstrate what Iraq should (do) by destroying their own massive heaps first?"

Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan welcomed the NAM position. "International support and sympathy with Iraq was a decisive element in exposing American colonialist intentions," he said told the gathering.

"We express our gratitude to all for what NAM has done to oppose the aggressive intentions by the U.S. against Iraq," said the cigar-chomping Iraqi official.

Support came from an expected quarter when Syria said it would vote against a second resolution on Iraq filed by Britain on Monday at the United Nations.

"There is no justification for suggesting any draft. The inspectors are doing their work in implementation of resolution 1441," Vice-President Abdel-Halim Khaddam told Reuters. "Therefore, we do not agree with this draft."

Syria holds one of the revolving seats on the 15-member Security Council and is the only Arab member.

NAM's views matter because five other members are currently on the UN Security Council -- Angola, Guinea, Chile, Pakistan and Cameroon. Seven votes against can defeat a resolution.

Delegates from Cameroon and Pakistan said they needed to take a close look at the resolution before they could comment. Angola said Washington would have to explain why a second resolution on Iraq was needed before it decided its position.

Most developing nations want weapons inspectors in Iraq to be given more time. NAM nations have seized on a March 1 deadline for Iraq to start destroying longer-range missiles and avert war.

Leaders stressed the importance of respect for U.N. processes as NAM struggles for relevance in a world with just one remaining superpower.

The speeches that increasingly pitched the Third World against the richer nations maintained the theme of opposition to war while urging Iraq to comply with UN resolutions and get rid of any weapons of mass destruction.

The United States, Britain and the West "have turned themselves into ferocious hunting bull-dogs raring to go as they sniff for more blood, Third World blood", Mugabe said.

"We, their hunted game, are for slaughter," he said. The summit was set to issue a statement that Baghdad comply with UN demands and scrap weapons of mass destruction, but it would also take a swipe at the United States by stressing the need for multilateral, rather than unilateral, action.

The United States, backed by Britain, is massing troops on Iraq's border and threatening war unless Saddam Hussein surrenders the alleged weapons.

Many NAM members want to discuss ways to boost the living standards of countries whose 116 economies combined are equal only to 90 percent of the U.S. economy, but the issue of weapons of mass destruction dominated and North Korea's missile test may force yet another last-minute change to their final statement.

Kim Yong Nam, president of secretive North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, made a rare appearance at an international forum. Kim did not mince words in attacking the United States.

"The nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula is the eventual product of the deep-rooted policy pursued by the U.S. for more than half a century in order to isolate and stifle the DPRK (North Korea)," Kim said.

Kim repeated North Korea's demand for a non-aggression treaty with Washington as the way to solve the crisis.

Members of NAM, which had watered down a statement on North Korea's nuclear ambitions after Pyongyang insisted there be no criticism of its policy, expressed consternation.