CUBA: Cuba opens summit of Non-Aligned Movement of 116 developing nations with expression of support for Iran and Lebanon

Cuba on Monday (September 11) voiced support for Iran and Lebanon as the Non-Aligned Movement summit got underway in Havana. Cuba appealed to non-aligned nations to stand together to defend Iran's right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program and to stand firm in the face of aggression in Lebanon and Palestine. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on Sunday (September 10) denounced the United States' role as global policeman. This week the 116-nation NAM will endorse Iran's right to use nuclear energy for peaceful ends, including the right to enrich uranium to produce electricity. As Malaysia handed over the presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement on Monday, it wished Cuba well in the work ahead. "I will take this opportunity to congratulate Cuba on assuming chairmanship of the movement at a very critical time and to express Malaysia's best wishes for the success of this meeting and of the 14th summit," said Malaysian Secretary General of Foreign Affairs, Rastam Mohammad Isa. Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, urged the non-aligned nations to stand united against aggression and to support Iran in its right to pursue a peaceful nuclear programme. "We meet after the brutal aggression against our brothers in Lebanon as we indignantly watch the daily genocide to which the Palestinian people are subjected. Our summit takes places at the same time that Iran is under increasing pressure as it exercises its right to pursue a peaceful nuclear programme and when other non-aligned countries are threatened by war and are facing aggression," said Roque. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected in Cuba on Thursday, one of more than 50 heads of state and government who plan to attend the summit. Iran's nuclear negotiator and the European Union made progress on Sunday in talks in Vienna to explore a compromise before possible punitive action after Iran ignored an Aug. 31 U.N Security Council deadline to stop enriching uranium, a process that could yield atomic bombs. At a briefing by conference spokesman by Abelardo Montero Fernandez, chief of the Plenary Session of Senior Officials, Cuba said the Non-Aligned Movement was committed to the fight against terrorism, but that the battle could not be organised according to dates, in a reference to the September 11 attacks on the United States. "It can't be dictated by dates. I believe the fight against terrorism must be dictated by attitudes, policies, behaviour, actions and this is being said by a representative of one of the countries which has been most affected by terrorism for the last 45 years," said Montero Fernandez, referring to Cuba and U.S. actions against the island. He was speaking on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States. Montero Fernandez said the summit would include a declaration rejecting and condemning terrorism in all its forms. "In the final document approved by the Heads of State there is a chapter dedicated to condemnation and repudiation of terrorism in all its shape and forms from the non-aligned countries against whoever and by whomever it is committed and under whatever guise," he said. The NAM was founded in Belgrade in 1961 by Third World nations to try to avoid alignment with either the United States or the Soviet Union. Since the Cold War ended, the movement has struggled to find a purpose.

ITN Source | September 12, 2006

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