US embassy cable - 03HARARE452

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