The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) wrapped up a summit on Sunday in Venezuela with an expression of support for its embattled host, President Nicolas Maduro, and scathing attacks on U.S. “interventionism” around the world.
The 120-member group issued a statement at the end of the two-day meeting calling for peace, urging world powers not to meddle in other countries’ affairs and voicing concern over violence in Syria, Iraq and the Palestinian Territories.
Struggle against terrorismThe 190-page document also urges support for “the struggle against terrorism, for solidarity with refugees in northern Africa, and the Venezuelan people’s right to peace”, Mr. Maduro told a press conference.
Founded 55 years ago to give a greater voice to countries squeezed in the power struggle between the United States and Soviet Union, the Non-Aligned Movement has struggled to stay relevant since the end of the Cold War. Just a handful of heads of state or government attended the summit on the Caribbean island of Margarita, though organisers did not say exactly how many.
But it was a key diplomatic encounter for Mr. Maduro, who has been left increasingly isolated as Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy has skidded into crisis amid a collapse in global crude prices, fuelling calls for his ouster.
Mr. Maduro, who accuses the United States of backing opposition attempts to remove him in a “coup”, emphasised that the summit had backed his government’s condemnation of U.S. sanctions that declare Venezuela a threat to U.S. national security.
Venezuela took over the rotating presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement from Iran at the meeting. It will hold it for the next three years. Mr. Maduro looks keen to recast the group as a bulwark against “interventionism” and “neo-colonialism”, analysts say.
Syria’s condemnationsSyria had harsh condemnation for the United States after a U.S.-led coalition strike killed dozens of Syrian soldiers on Saturday. Syria’s UN ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, accused Washington of seeking the “failure” of the U.S.-Russian ceasefire deal.
Finding common ground with other members, he also lashed out at U.S. sanctions on Syria as “economic terrorism”. ”My country is suffering a unilateral blockade similar to the ones imposed on Cuba, Venezuela and other countries, in flagrant violation of the UN charter,” he said. — AFP
