Kuala Lumpur Summit
Redefined Role Of NAM

By Shirish B. Pradhan

THE 13th Non-Aligned Summit has vowed to eradicate poverty, attain sustainable development, counter terrorism, fight HIV/AIDS and achieve disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. Besides concentrating on issues of peace, development and security the 116 nation-organisation focused its attention on the needs of the least developed countries (LDCs).

World Order

Four decades have already passed since the NAM was founded by a group of 25 countries in Belgrade, Yugoslavia with an objective of freeing the world from ongoing ideological conflicts and arms race. The Non-Aligned Movement was created when the countries gaining independence from the colonial grips following the World War II felt the need of an organisation to check the growing military hegemony. Pioneers in the movement were Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India, President Joseph Tito of Yugoslavia, President Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt and President Sukarno of Indonesia. The leaders of the world who propounded the concept of non-alignment were inspired by the aim of creating a world order free from both ideological groupings as well as arms race. The Non-aligned countries courageously rejected the idea of bi-polar world led by Soviet Union in the one hand and the United States in the other hand.

The movement gained popularity in a short period as the world witnessed growing tension between the NATO block and Warsaw Pact. Later, over one hundred countries joined it taking a tough stand against military grouping resulting in the bi-polar world. In fact, the end of cold war and cessation of bi-polar world in 1989-90 proved the legitimacy of the Non-aligned movement. Now after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and collapse of Communism from Eastern Europe ideological conflict became irrelevant. In this changing context a need has been felt that NAM's role be redefined. In fact, the end of cold war and collapse of the bi-polar world was a victory for the non-aligned countries. The domination of any single country in the world was not what the non-aligned countries have thought for. Non-aligned movement was aimed at establishing a world order on the basis of peace, security, justice, freedom and development. These issues are equally relevant even today when the bi-polar world has ceased to exist.

Disarming of Iraq, resolving Israel-Palestinian conflict and urging North Korea to adhere to nuclear non-proliferation treaty were the major international issues raised during the NAM deliberations in Kuala Lumpur. NAM opposed unilateral military action against Iraq and at the same time firmly asked Baghdad to disarm itself complying with the UN resolution. The Summit also vowed to fight against international terrorism and end arms race in the world.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan addressing the Summit observed that the UN weapons inspection team must be allowed to do its duty urging Iraq to fully maintain transparency and cooperate with the inspection team. He also pointed out that war was not inevitable adding any action not backed by the UN lacks legitimacy.

New NAM leader, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad criticised the western world including the USA on the ground that they maintained double standard while dealing with the problem of terrorism. "It is no longer just a war against terrorism. It is in fact a war to dominate the world," said Mahathir Mohammed adding, "powerful countries no longer respect borders and international law."
Another issue that drew the attention of the Summit was related with the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Summit deliberations focused on the position of developing economies in the WTO. Developing and the least developed countries are not in a position to compete with the developed economies. Some delegates have argued that free and fair trade is possible among the nations with equal economic strength. Thus, the participating non-aligned member countries voiced for having a common voice to safeguard the economic interests of poor nations in the world trade regime.
Nepal is also one of the founding members of the NAM and has been committed to the principles of non-alignment since its inception in 1961. Addressing the NAM Summit Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand has called upon the non-aligned countries to join hands to fulfilling collective commitments including eradication of poverty, creation of a fair world trading regime and adequate funding for development in a sustainable manner.

During the Summit, Nepal also stressed on the need for developed nations to provide deeper debt relief and open their markets for developing countries, particularly the least developed ones. In the interest of world peace and stability, Nepal would like to see all obligations regarding weapons of mass destruction fulfilled as well as all diplomatic avenues exhausted before any military options are mandated, the Prime Minister observed.

The observations made by Premier Chand that "hard-earned momentum of the post-Cold War era continues to be arrested by the frustrating waves of recession and terrorism, ethnic strife and complex conflicts and religious intolerance" were the hard realities of the present day world. In fact, end of the Cold War has not ended the sufferings of the world community. The gap between developed and underdeveloped countries widened, problems of poverty and hunger further worsened and terrorism and religious intolerance have reached an alarming stage. The September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York must have opened the eyes of the powerful nations that they too are no longer safe in this world full of economic disparity and injustice. It is evident from our long experience that the concept of uni-polar world was to some extent responsible for spreading conflict and hatred among nations, which ultimately result in religious intolerance and acts of terror.

In this context non-aligned movement can play a vital role in maintaining a world order based on justice, equality and freedom. An order based on military power, threat and economic dominance would not last for long. Thus, non-aligned movement should focus on these burning issues. Instead of toeing to the dictates of powerful nations it should concentrate on the well-being of poor and underdeveloped countries.

Pressure Group

The resolutions adopted by the non-aligned summit should be implemented effectively and a monitoring mechanism should also be built to see whether the commitments made by the summit were properly implemented or not. The non-aligned movement should serve as a strong pressure group to direct the United Nations to perform its tasks free from dominations of the powerful nations. Some of the members of the UN Security Council are also the members of the non-aligned movement. They can prevent UNSC from making decisions that would lead to war and destruction.

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