From SIFY News:

NAM: 114 nations to say 'No' to Iraq war

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 19

One hundred and fourteen nations begin a conference in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur Thursday, preparing to deliver a resounding 'No' to a US-led war on Iraq.

Most of the countries grouped in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) carry little clout of their own, but they hope their official voices will be heard alongside those of millions of ordinary people protesting the war around the world.

The NAM states are mostly militarily weak, although two of them -- India and Pakistan -- are nuclear powers and another, North Korea, is believed to be able to produce nuclear weapons within months, if it doesn't have them already.

The others range from Afghanistan, with its new government installed courtesy of a US-led war, to Iraq itself, Washington's latest target in its military reaction to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US.

In fact, the whole of George Bush's renowned "Axis of Evil" will be represented -- Iran, Iraq and North Korea.

Long-time foe from ideological battles past, Fidel Castro of Cuba, will also be there when the summit gets under way on Monday and Tuesday next week, after kicking off with meetings of senior officials and ministers beginning Thursday.

But most of the 114 nations are small players on the world stage, struggling countries on the fringes of power in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Recognising this, the host prime minister, Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad, said in a television interview ahead of the conference: "We have no military and financial strength but we can join the world movement to oppose war on moral grounds."

Mahathir acknowledged that the big powers rarely listened to the voice of NAM, but said they would now be forced to do so after millions of people -- many in developed countries -- took to the streets last weekend in anti-war protests.

He said one focus of the summit would be to drive home the point that big countries should not resort to military action to change a government they did not like.

"We do not agree that the government of a country not suitable to big countries be changed by military means through a pre-emptive strike. If this thing is allowed to happen, maybe other countries will also suffer the same fate in the future," he said.

However, it is not only a fear of the world being reshaped to its liking by the lone superpower that galvanises the incoming leader of the NAM, which was originally formed during the Cold War as an alternative to the Western and Eastern power blocs.

Mahathir is a bitter critic of religious extremism and has supported the US-led war on terrorism, but he has warned repeatedly that an attack on Iraq would create more anger among Muslims and thus more recruits to terrorist ranks.

He made it clear that despite the myriad problems facing the developing world, such as globalisation, debt and HIV/AIDS, Iraq would dominate discussions at the NAM meeting.

While there will be some support for Washington, from countries such as the Philippines where US troops are helping the fight against Islamic guerrillas, Mahathir had no hesitation in predicting the outcome of the debate.

Asked what would be contained in the summit's final declaration, he replied: "Certainly it is about our anti-war stand."

That stand will likely be endorsed by a second meeting immediately after the NAM summit. Malaysia has called an "informal" meeting of members of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, most of which are also NAM states, for February 26.

Page created February 19, 2003 by Charlie Jenks.