KAMPALA, Uganda
Senior officials of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member countries on Monday started a two-day meeting here with a call that the issue of the Palestine-Israel crisis should top the agenda.
The meeting was opened by
Yalchin Rafiyev, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan and head of
the Azerbaijani delegation, who urged member countries to remain united amid
complex global challenges.
"We continue to face
challenges, we must remain united in making joint progress towards achieving a
peaceful and prosperous world in a truly just and equitable world order,"
Rafiyev said.
Azerbaijan assumed the
chairmanship of NAM in 2019 and is set to hand it over to Uganda later this
week.
Jeje Odongo, Uganda's minister
of Foreign Affairs, urged member countries to exercise collective
responsibility in addressing emerging issues. "It is crucial for us to
address existing, new and emerging issues collectively and in the interest of
our membership for the good of mankind," Odongo said.
In the plenary session, Riyad
Mansour, Palestine's ambassador to the UN, urged the members to address the
Palestine-Israel crisis. Mansour argued that while the Movement faces several
challenges, the crisis in the Middle East is the most pressing.
Mansour said there is a need
for a humanitarian ceasefire. He said Palestinians are in urgent need of
humanitarian aid like water, food, and fuel. "NAM forum from its inception
has always supported the Palestinian people. We are confident that NAM will not
leave Palestinian people outside," he said.
Delegates from Lebanon, the
United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Togo, Mauritania, and Maldives among others
seconded the push to put the Israel-Palestine issue on top of the agenda.
Hamza Adan Haadoow, permanent
secretary of Somalia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation, told the meeting that member states must also address the
undermining of Somalia's sovereignty by one of its neighbors. Adan said one of
its neighbors reached a memorandum of understanding with its regional states to
access the sea. "We were requesting NAM delegates to support Somalia as a
nation recovering from conflict. To help us safeguard our sovereignty, unity
and integrity, which are the core principles (of NAM)," he said.
Ethiopia and Somaliland, a
self-declared region of Somalia, signed an agreement allowing Ethiopia access
to the Red Sea in return for its recognition of Somaliland as an independent
state. Somalia described this as a violation of its territorial integrity.
According to Uganda's Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, 93 countries out of the 120 member states of NAM are
attending the meeting, which will culminate in the foreign ministers' meeting
and the summit later this week.
The meeting is held under the
theme titled "Deepening Cooperation For Shared Global Affluence." The
summit is held every three years.
The NAM forum is guided by the
Bandung Principles, which include respect for the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of all nations, recognition of the equality of all races and nations,
large and small, and abstention from intervention or interference in the
internal affairs of other countries.
Uganda says it will use the
summits to promote South-South cooperation and solidarity among member states.
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