NAM ministers to adopt outcomes today, 103 states present

The Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) states ministers of Foreign Affairs will today afternoon adopt two key documents summarising deliberations of the 19th summit for adoption by the heads of state and government tomorrow.

The documents include, diplomatic sources told Monitor, the Kampala Declaration or the Outcome Document, which was split among two committees; the Political Committee, covering geo-political tensions from the powder keg Middle East; Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Kuwait and Iraq, the volatile security situations in Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali, and Comoros, and elsewhere in Myanmar and Afghanistan, to the continued sanctioning of Cuba and Venezuela, key allies of the former Unions of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), especially by the US.

Cuba and Venezuela are among the world’s most sanctioned countries, by the US and its European allies, alongside Russia, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Myanmar.

The Economic and Social Affairs Committee chaired by Uganda’s Deputy High Commissioner in London, Ambassador Leonard Mugerwa, discussed, among other issues, transnational crime, including human trafficking and climate change.

The second document is the Political Declaration on Palestine, proclaiming the 120-member states alliance’s position on the ongoing Israel-Gaza war in Gaza. Palestine’s quest for autonomy and world-wide recognition as an independent state has been a stand-alone NAM issue for years.

However, the ongoing reprisal campaign—with no end in sight—by Israel to demolish the Hamas following its surprise attack on October 7, 2023, on a music festival, south of the country, killing 1,139 people, injuring scores, and taking more than 200 as hostage, rubbed several NAM states the wrong way and they have voted overwhelmingly at the UN General Assembly for a humanitarian ceasefire.

Individually, many NAM states, and elsewhere in the Arab league—the alliance of 22 Arab states in North Africa and Arabian Peninsula established to safeguard interests of Arab states—and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the collective voice of the Muslim world, have been speaking in hushed voices on the goings-on that has heightened tensions in the Middle East and Red Sea.

There was tight-rope pulling on Tuesday during the Senior Official’s meeting about labelling of Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza and the ensuing humanitarian crisis as “genocide” to which officials indicated yesterday that the language had been “hamonised.” 

By press time last night, discussions by the NAM foreign affairs ministers troika—which consists of past, present, and future chairs—were ongoing on the finer details of the declaration. Fifty eight 58 ministers of Foreign Affairs, of 102 countries represented, are attending. About 600 delegates from 104 countries and non-state institutions like the UN and Commonwealth are attending, according to protocol.

The two documents will be approved by the heads of state and government meeting tomorrow and Saturday. At least 28 heads of state and government were expected by last weekend but sources indicated last minute downgrades to the entourages. 

NAM member states meet every three years to review progress in the implementation of the outcomes of the previous summit, as well as addressing existing, new and emerging issues of collective concern and interest to the NAM.

After hosting the summits in Kampala, the next uphill tasks will move to Uganda’s Mission in New York, where both NAM activities are coordinated. At the technical level, the NAM is overseen by a Coordinating Bureau of Ambassadors to the UN in New York, with a chairperson, in this case Uganda, and 15 vice-chairpersons, who were elected at yesterday’s meeting of foreign ministers.

NAM summit
Theme
The Kampala summit runs until Saturday under the theme “Deepening Global Corporations for Shared Global Affluence.’’