Cuba’s non-aligned status argued at summit

Press, 29 July 1978, Page 8

Cuba’s non-aligned status argued at summit

NZPA-Reuter Belgrade 1 Foreign Ministers at a ; conference of non-aligned ’ countries have become deeply divided over Cuban involvement in Africa. ; ( Egypt’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs . (Mr : Boutros Boutros Ghali) on Thursday told the conference ] next year’s non-aligned sumi mit should be moved from I its planned venue in Havana , because Cuba’s Soviet-back- ; ed military presence in Ang- ! ola and Ethiopia raised doubts about its non-aligned status. Morocco has already; i threatened to stay (from the summit if it is held, in Havana. I Two days ago the Cuban, President (Dr Fidel Castro), pledged in a speech in Ha-: Ivana that Cuba would never renounce its revolutionary ; policies in Africa or its com(mitment to the non-aligned movement. Dr Castro accused the United States of trying to subvert the non-aligned movement against Cuba, and said it wanted to sabotage the Havana summit. Dr Ghali said: “Certain non-aligned States have Become an instrument of

e power politics and hegerno- : ny adopted by a super4jPower in Africa. “, “Intervention brings " c o u n t e r-intervention; the ■'(Soviet) MiGs bring the . (French) Jaguars; the mercenaries the counter-mereen-r!aries.” .: 1 He proposed the confer-: B ence president should ask, • ; the European Security Con--1 ference to draw up an 1 j accord under which the sig-| ■jnatory States would pledge] ■ to abstain from any military', 1 intervention in Africa. I Cuba, was defended on the (conference’s third day on; "Thursday by Vietnam, Af-i ’ ghanistan and South Yemen. ; !; The conference also heard: "Vietnam label as slander" * Cambodian charges that i Vietnam sought to make it a vassal in a Hanoi-dominated ’ Indo-Chinese federation. Ministers from all the Arab States reached agreement on three draft resolu’ tions on the Middle East. Zambia said yesterday 'that negotiations in Rho-r desia and Namibia (South-1 West Africa) could not sue- 1 , ceed without the pressure of : armed struggle. The Zambian Foreign Min- ■ ; ister (Dr Siteke Mwale) told;! ; the conference that his

-: country was not against ne- - gotiations as such. ! “We are not opposed to >• negotiations aimed at gen;i uine liberation such as the i Anglo-American proposals - on Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and • the proposal of the five (Western members of the Se■'curity Council on Namibia, :| if this is what the liberation • movements are prepared to i accept. “But we wish to empha-; sise that no negotiations in, (Zimbabwe and in Namibiaj lean succeed without the: : pressure of armed struggle! .; — particularly if the nego-] •jtiations are designed to wea-| ken the liberation move-! (ments.” Dr Mwale said all pres-! (sure must be brought to] bear on the white minority; regimes in southern Africa; to compel them to succumb. “As one of the frontline ] States, Zambia will continue,' without fear or favour, to, provide a reliable rear-base i . for liberation movements ( "waging the armed struggle,”he said. Dr Mwale said Zambia attached particular importance. ,to the need to impose an ef-i (fective oil embargo against! the white-minority regimes. I Singapore bluntly told fel-IJ

- low non-aligned nations on Thursday it was their own ) fault that the super-Pow r ers -'were using their countries 1 ? as battlegrounds for proxy s wars. i The Foreign Minister (Mr s. Sinnathamby Rajaratnam): -(warned the conference that" ~the new military doctrine of i the big Powers was: “Let >]the Third World fight the Third World War.” Unwilling to fight directly! , themselves, they could ; create or control conflicts! :( simply by manipulating the (flow of arms to an area, he I said. I In the first conference ! speech questioning the basis jof non-alignment, Mr Rajaratnam said fellow members lof the movement, divided by " mutual conflicts and fear, (were themselves to blame' , for letting super-Powers use Third World countries for proxy wars. Some Third World (nations, he said,.had adopted the vices of their former im(perialist rulers, but aban-i doned some of their few virtues. . There had been 133 wars' |in the Third World since (1945, involving 80 countries. : and costing 25 million lives, ihe said. j