MEDIA REACTION NAM/IRAQ; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 000452 SIPDIS FOR INR/R/MR AND AF/PDPA DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION NAM/IRAQ; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "New challenges for NAM" the pro-government weekly the "Sunday Mirror" dedicated its March 2 editorial to calling on the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) to transform into "a reasonable, balanced and objective counter-force" in international issues. "In this regard, the call by NAM for a peaceful resolution to the Iraq arms crisis becomes even more relevant," the editorial stated. ¶2. "The NAM, created forty-eight years ago, was born to defend the freedom of those countries in the developing world that did not want to be constrained by allegiance to any of the super-powers of the time, namely the U. S. A. and the Soviet Union. Today, that bipolar scenario has changed with the demise of the Soviet Union, leaving the U. S. A. as the only superpower. However, a unipolar situation has not made the world a safer place to live in and smaller nations, especially in the Third World, have become even more vulnerable. Therefore, NAM becomes even more relevant as it now has to protect its members from being swallowed up by the one increasingly dictatorial superpower, the U. S. A. In this lopsided world order, the prospect of a world divided on lines of wealth, race or religious faith is real, but a calamitous one for human kind. Because of the diversity of its nationalities, NAM offers the only hope for a reasonable, balanced and objective counter-force. But in order for that hope to be translated into reality, NAM members are required to strengthen their solidarity with each other. ". . .In order not be misunderstood, NAM needs to proclaim loudly and clearly that for which the movement stands. First, it should acknowledge the supremacy of the United Nations while demanding that the world body be reformed so that its structures and actions follow modern concepts of democracy, which the developed world has been preaching to the rest of the world. NAM should further affirm its adherence to the rule of law, while not only agitating for, but acting to ensure collective peace and human security. In this regard, the call by NAM for a peaceful resolution to the Iraq arms crisis becomes even more relevant. NAM reiterated its call to Iraq to comply with resolution 1441 of the U. N. Security Council, while at the same time condemning the planned unilateral military actions of the U. S., and a few of its allies who seek to plunge the world into catastrophe for no better reason than to secure for themselves the rich oil fields of the Gulf region. In the final analysis, NAM should not only be aware of the economic motives of the latest imperialist wars of the U. S. and its allies, but should demand responses to the needs of the majority of the people of the world." SULLIVAN