CUBA: Absent Castro overshadows non-aligned summit

Cuban President Fidel Castro overshadowed a summit of Non-Aligned nations on Thursday (September 14) even in his absence as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived with fresh criticism of the United States. It was unclear whether the 80-year-old Communist leader would make his first public appearance at the summit of around 40 heads of state and government since falling ill. Cuban television aired images of Chavez paying a visit to Castro who at one point could be seen standing and speaking in an animated fashion with his Venezuelan counterpart. It is the first video of the ailing leader since heads of state began arriving for the summit. Many delegates travelled to the summit -- labelled a relic of the Cold War by critics -- to gather more first-hand information on the fate of a leader who has symbolized opposition to the United States for over four decades. Meetings began on Monday, with a plethora of national agendas to be discussed, and should wrap up on Saturday. States including Cuba, its ally Venezuela, Bolivia and Iran appeared keen to use the summit to forge a broad front of countries opposed to the United States on issues ranging from ideology, nuclear power and oil. Any anti-U.S. agenda will likely rattle the leaders of states at the summit such as Pakistan, India and the Philippines who have forged closer ties with Washington over security since the September 11 attacks. Delegates were due to discuss a conference document that included sharp criticism of Israel over its recent war in Lebanon and a rejection of the term "axis of evil", used by President Bush in 2002 to describe Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Havana for the summit. He was expected to visit a local international school on Thursday. Bolivia's President Evo Morales took part in the first summit of Land-locked Developing countries during a sideline event of NAM which was chaired by Lao President and General Secretary of the People's Revolutionary Party Choummaly Sayasone. "The land-locked countries should develop jointly with the non-aligned countries an alternative path to free trade and should sustain themselves in fair trade, import what we don't produce and export what we produce, a trade on which our people would decide in a sovereign way," Morales said. The LLDC -- comprising 30 nations -- was created in 1994 in New York. The first summit was also attended by five observing nations and organizations. India's Foreign Minister Anand Sharma donated computers to a learning centre in a Havana neighbourhood - a joint venture between Cuba and India. However, Sharma would not answer any questions regarding an expected meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Havana on Saturday. The meeting is intended to ease tensions after a year of recriminations over terror attacks and Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani officials said. The two leaders last met a year ago at the United Nations, but expectations for the talks were modest given political pressure both faced at home, the officials said. The talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours follow a summer of accusations and cancelled meetings following the July 11 train bombings that killed 186 people in Mumbai. The Non-Aligned Movement countries were originally linked by a desire to mark their independence from Washington and Moscow during the Cold War. Some 116 nations make up the movement, comprising more than half of the membership of the United Nations and a variety of national viewpoints.

ITN Source | September 16, 2006

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