Non-Aligned Movement: Not a dead horse

In taking issue with the claim of the Western media that the Non-Aligned Movement is a 'dead horse', a former ambassador of Bangladesh asserts that the Tehran summit and its achievements attest to its continuing vitality.

Mahmood Hasan

THE 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was held in Tehran on 26-31 August. Iran is now the chair of the largest political grouping of countries in the world after the United Nations. It will hold the chair until 2015 when Venezuela hosts the 17th summit.

The 16th summit was hosted by Iran at a time when tension is highest in the region. The tension is due to two developments. First, for the past several months the US and Israel have been openly threatening Iran with war over its nuclear programme and have imposed crippling economic sanctions, trying to isolate Tehran - calling it part of the 'axis of evil'. Second, the uprising in Syria since March 2011 has degenerated into a bloody conflict due to outside interference and threatens wider conflict in the region.

NAM has 120 member states and 17 states as observers. Member states of the Movement comprise two-thirds of the UN membership and account for 55% of the world population. Thirty-five heads of state and government attended the summit, while other member states were represented by ranking envoys, mostly foreign ministers.

However, Tehran's most favoured guest was Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN. As is customary, Ban attended the summit, despite stiff opposition from Washington and Tel Aviv. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called Ban and asked him to cancel his visit. Netanyahu attacked the NAM summit, stating that it was 'a stain on humanity.' Ban's presence has put the US and Israel on the retreat on the diplomatic front.

On the concluding day, the summit adopted the Final Document, which contained some 700 paragraphs covering the viewpoints of the member states. Iran prepared the draft, which was amended as it went through the Senior Official Meeting and the Ministerial Meeting.

The summit emphasised that a peaceful solution is needed without any foreign intervention in Syria; called for the establishment of the state of Palestine; condemned unilateral sanctions on Iran; stressed peaceful use of nuclear energy for all and called for nuclear disarmament; called for reform of the UN system; and called for North-South and South-South cooperation.

The non-combative tone and contents of the summit's outcome documents abundantly demonstrate that the Movement wants to remain independent from big-power influences.

Debates and disagreement

The conference was not without its share of energetic debates and disagreement - as is normal in such summits.

Mohammed Morsi, the newly elected president of Egypt, chair of the 15th summit, was present in Tehran to hand over the NAM gavel to the new chair of the Movement. In his allocation, Morsi embarrassed his hosts by supporting the Syrian opposition against President Bashar al-Assad. Clearly Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood (Sunni) leader, is ideologically opposed to Assad (Alawite-Shia), the Ba'athist president of Syria. Morsi's speech prompted a walkout by the Syrian delegation from the plenary. Iran, a strong ally of Assad, was visibly annoyed.

It was the first visit by an Egyptian president to Iran for 33 years. Iran, fresh from the Islamic revolution, broke off diplomatic ties with Egypt in 1979 when Egypt signed the peace treaty with Israel. Morsi's visit to Iran was seen as an indication of rapprochement between Cairo and Tehran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his guests uncomfortable when he in his inaugural address termed the US as a 'hegemonic meddler' and Israel as a regime of 'Zionist wolves'.

Ban Ki-moon was irritated when Khamenei said Iran 'is never seeking nuclear weapons' and accused the UN Security Council, under US pressure, of exerting an 'overt dictatorship' over the world.

Ban in his remarks said that Iran needs to 'fully comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions and thoroughly cooperate with the IAEA.' He even went further, saying that 'a war of words can quickly spiral into a war of violence.' Ban's statement came in for sharp criticism by the media of the South for failing to remain neutral.

The summit expressed solidarity with Iran - it will certainly make Washington and Israel cautious. The warmongers in the West will now have to pause before undertaking any military adventure in Iran or Syria.

The summit was a convenient opportunity for Iran and it has used the occasion to break its diplomatic isolation and bolster its international standing. The presence of more than 100 leaders at Tehran demonstrated that Iran is not a threat to world peace or a pariah state.

Iran is going through a severe economic recession - its oil revenues are dwindling because of the economic sanctions. Holding the summit had undoubtedly cost its exchequer a huge amount of money, which it can ill afford, some Iranian journalists commented.

The Americans have always looked upon NAM with suspicion and hatred. One wonders why Washington never sought to become an observer at the Movement's summits.

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced that a temporary NAM secretariat will be established in Tehran. If it proves successful during the next three years a permanent secretariat will be set up.

The Troika - comprising past chair Egypt, current chair Iran and the next chair Venezuela - should use the temporary secretariat to revitalise the Movement and make it a forceful voice in all international fora, particularly the United Nations.

It was interesting to read the media reports from the First World (West & North) and those from the Third World (East & South). The arguments and debates at the summit were sarcastically hyped by the Western media to portray the summit as a flop. The Western media described the Movement as a 'dead horse'.

The Third World media, on the other hand, glorified the summit as a victory for Iran and a slap in the face of the West. It was Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who aptly commented: 'The Non-Aligned Movement is not meant to slap any country.'

World politics has undergone massive changes since the Bandung Conference in 1955, when NAM was conceived. It played an active role in the United Nations during the Cold War days. The Movement stands for solidarity and is still important for the nations of the South and the East.

Considering what the summit achieved, the Movement is not a dead horse.                                            

Mahmood Hasan is a former Bangladeshi Ambassador and Secretary. This article was first published in The Daily Star (Bangladesh) (6 September 2012).

*Third World Resurgence No. 263, July 2012, pp 17-18