NAM: Ministers condemn Israel invasion of Palestine

Fifty-eight ministers of Foreign Affairs, from different Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states, on Wednesday unanimously condemned the Israel invasion of the Gaza strip in Palestine.

Since Monday, the 19th NAM summit being held in Munyonyo, Kampala, has been dominated by discussions surrounding the Israel-Gaza invasion  and regional conflicts.

During NAM Ministerial meeting that was officially opened by Vice President Jessica Alupo, different Ministers zeroed their submissions on the Gaza crisis, which they said must be ended now since it’s claiming thousands of innocent lives.

Ms Alupo who asked delegates to deliberate on the ongoing geopolitical tension, including the Gaza tension among others, which she said is causing destruction of lives and property and contributing to the already precarious humanitarian situations in the world.

“The meeting has come at a challenging time for our membership from the political and diplomatic to the social and economic. There are many existing new and old issues that challenge our individual efforts towards building prosperous and resilient societies,” she said.

Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Gen Jeje Odongo upon being elected as the chairperson of the NAM Ministerial meeting, pointed his speech towards global tension, directing the discussion towards international peace and security; fight against terrorism; humanitarian crises; human trafficking and drug smuggling; and Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goal.

“I entreat you, Your Excellencies, to work with Uganda to promote a stronger and united NAM that is cohesive and contributes to a better world for all. This is important to enable our organisation to continue to be relevant and influential in decision making at the international level,” Gen Odongo said, before different ministers started spitting fire at Israel.

The Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, Mr Ahmed Attaf, said: “The ongoing genocide by Israel in Gaza should be brought to an end sooner and the legitimate State of Palestine be respected.”
Since its escalation, the Israel-Gaza war has so far claimed at least 20,000 lives and also had 750,000 displaced from their homes in the Gaza Strip.

The South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Naledi Madisa, whose country dragged Israel into the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rallied NAM member states to have a collective voice and call an end to the ongoing “genocide”.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of Namibia, Ms Ndaitwa Netumandi, said: “We call upon Israel to end its military operations and stability come back in Palestine”.  
On  Tuesday,  senior officials failed to agree on whether the current invasion should be called a genocide or not.

Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Adonia Ayebare told Daily Monitor on the sidelines of yesterday’s event: “We really had a long discussion and negotiation give and take spirit and the language that was adapted to Gaza was agreed upon. We really applauded South Africa and welcomed the initiative to take the course to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and that was really a bold move and we are waiting to see what ICJ decides”. 

He noted that the disagreement led to drag on of the meeting from ending at the earlier anticipated 6pm to 1am on Wednesday, “but we came up with the documents’’  .
Meanwhile, a consideration to admit South Sudan as a member of NAM is going on. 
Officials said it will be decided at the end of the summit.