- KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Sunday the world was in
a state of terror, allowing fear of Muslims to affect international policy,
and a war on Iraq would be seen as a war on Muslims.
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- He was speaking on the eve of a three-yearly summit of
leaders of the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) that is to issue a
declaration calling on Baghdad to comply with U.N. resolutions while challenging
Washington with vociferous opposition to any U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
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- "The attack against Iraq will simply anger more
Muslims who see this as being anti-Muslim rather than anti-terror,"
Mahathir, chairman and host of the summit, told a business forum.
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- Many of the nations from as far apart as Afghanistan
and Zambia have seized on a deadline set for Iraq to destroy its longer-range
missiles as a chance to avoid war.
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- The United States and Britain are massing 150,000 troops
on Iraq's border, threatening war unless President Saddam Hussein surrenders
alleged stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. Opinion polls show many
people believe Washington's motive is control of Iraq's vast oilfields.
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- Mahathir was in somber mood before the leaders' two-day
summit opens Monday.
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- "The world is in a state of terror," he said.
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- "We are quite paranoid. We are afraid of flying,
of going to certain countries... We are afraid of Muslims, of Arabs, of
bearded people," he said, referring to the September 11, 2001 attacks
on New York and Washington.
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- The issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and
North Korea has dominated the run-up to the summit of leaders of NAM, a
movement founded during the Cold War as a counterweight to the Eastern
and Western blocs.
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- While delegates agreed after two days of wrangling on
a draft statement urging isolated North Korea to curb its nuclear ambitions,
they fell short of winning Pyongyang's agreement to reconsider its decision
last month to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
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- "WAR AGAINST MUSLIMS"
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- Mahathir cited U.S. inaction on North Korea as evidence
of the polarization of the world over Iraq.
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- "The fact that North Korea's open admission that
it has weapons of mass destruction has met only with mild admonishment
by the West seems to prove that indeed it is a war against Muslims and
not against the fear of possession of weapons of mass destruction by the
so-called rogue countries," he said.
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- Differences simmered in a gathering of so many disparate
nations, with the issue of how to define and tackle terrorism sparking
fierce disputes between India and Pakistan. New Delhi accuses Islamabad
of sponsoring terrorism in the disputed Kashmir region while Pakistan says
the insurgency is a popular movement.
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- Those divisions have prompted India to reject a move
by Malaysia to hold a NAM conference on terror and resulted in deadlock
over how to phrase a final statement on the issue.
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- "The Arab states are behind Pakistan because they
feel it helps the Palestinian cause," said a Philippine delegate.
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- But the Palestinian issue took a back seat to Iraq.
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- Delegates said they saw a chance to avoid war after the
chief U.N. weapons inspector, Hans Blix, gave Baghdad until March 1 to
start destroying its longer-range missiles.
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- THE BIG QUESTION
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- "Here's the big question for Iraq of their real
commitment to comply," said a delegate from Chile, one of six current
U.N. Security Council members belonging to the movement that accounts for
almost two-thirds of the United Nations.
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- "If Iraq can realize this and destroy those missiles,
it can really give a very strong message to the international community
that it is complying and it can really help those countries that are interested
to find a peaceful solution," he told Reuters.
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- In their draft statement, the grouping, which includes
Iran, Iraq and North Korea -- the three states President Bush has branded
an "axis of evil" -- harden demands that Iraq comply and also
criticize the United States, stressing the need for multilateral, not unilateral,
actions to avoid war.
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- While the statement represented the views of the 114
members, the positions of the six non-aligned countries on the 15-member
Security Council were crucial. Seven votes against are enough to defeat
a resolution. Most want the weapons inspectors to be given more time.
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- The six are Angola, Guinea, Syria, Pakistan, Chile and
Cameroon.
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- Consensus on Iraq was followed late Saturday by a deal
on North Korea. North Korea and fellow NAM members negotiated their way
to a compromise that urges the communist nation to curb the nuclear ambitions
upsetting its neighbors.
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- Members of NAM had been eager for a statement that would
boost their credibility on non-proliferation, but they had to make do with
less to break the deadlock.
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- photo credit and caption:
- Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri arrives under tight
security at Kuala Lumpur International Airport February 21, 2003 for the
Non-Aligned Movement(NAM) summit. Developing countries as far apart as
Afghanistan and Zimbabwe threw their weight on Friday against war in Iraq
but refused Baghdad's request that they bar U.S. troops from using their
soil as a launch pad for attack. The issue of weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq and North Korea dominated preparatory talks before next week's
summit of the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the Malaysian capital.
Photo by Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters
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- Copyright 2003 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved.
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