www.haveeru.com.mv Wednesday, 19 February 2003  

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 (AFP) - One hundred and fourteen nations begin a conference in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur Thursday, preparing to deliver a resounding 'No' to a US-led war on Iraq.

Most of the countries grouped in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) carry little clout of their own, but they hope their official voices will be heard alongside those of millions of ordinary people protesting the war around the world.

The NAM states are mostly poor and militarily weak, although two of them -- India and Pakistan -- are nuclear powers and another, North Korea, is believed to be able to produce nuclear weapons within months, if it doesn't have them already.

The others range from Afghanistan, with its new government installed courtesy of a US-led war, to Iraq itself, Washington's latest target in its military reaction to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US.

In fact, the whole of George Bush's renowned "Axis of Evil" will be represented -- Iran, Iraq and North Korea.

Long-time foe from ideological battles past, Fidel Castro of Cuba, will also be there when the summit gets under way on Monday and Tuesday next week, after kicking off with meetings of senior officials and ministers beginning Thursday.

But most of the 114 nations are small players on the world stage, struggling countries on the fringes of power in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Recognising this, the host prime minister, Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad, said in a television interview ahead of the conference: "We have no military and financial strength but we can join the world movement to oppose war on moral grounds."

Mahathir acknowledged that the big powers rarely listened to the voice of NAM, but said they would now be forced to do so after millions of people -- many in developed countries -- took to the streets last weekend in anti-war protests.

He said one focus of the summit would be to drive home the point that big countries should not resort to military action to change a government they did not like.

"We do not agree that the government of a country not suitable to big countries be changed by military means through a pre-emptive strike. If this thing is allowed to happen, maybe other countries will also suffer the same fate in the future," he said.

However, it is not only a fear of the world being reshaped to its liking by the lone superpower that galvanises the incoming leader of the NAM, which was originally formed during the Cold War as an alternative to the Western and Eastern power blocs.

Mahathir, a Muslim, is a bitter critic of Islamic extremism and has supported the US-led war on terrorism, but he has warned repeatedly that an attack on Iraq would create more anger among Muslims and thus more recruits to terrorist ranks.

He made it clear that despite the myriad problems facing the developing world, such as globalisation, debt and HIV/AIDS, Iraq would dominate discussions at the NAM meeting.

While there will be some support for Washington, from countries such as the Philippines where US troops are helping the fight against Islamic guerrillas, Mahathir had no hesitation in predicting the outcome of the debate.

Asked what would be contained in the summit's final declaration, he replied: "Certainly it is about our anti-war stand."

That stand will likely be endorsed by a second meeting immediately after the NAM summit. Malaysia has called an "informal" meeting of members of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, most of which are also NAM states, for February 26.

NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT: A FACTFILE

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 (AFP) - The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which holds its 13th summit in the Malaysian capital on February 24-25, groups 114 member states.

Originally conceived as an alternative to the Western and Eastern blocs during the Cold War, it now aims to represent the political and economic interests of developing countries.

The movement had its origins in the Asia-Africa Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955, which brought together leaders of 29 states, mostly former colonies, to discuss common concerns and to develop joint policies in international relations.

Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, along with Indonesia's Soekarno and Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, led the meeting, which examined the problems of resisting the pressures of the major powers, maintaining independence and opposing colonialism and neo-colonialism.

The first Conference of Non-Aligned Heads of State or Government, at which 25 countries were represented, was convened at Belgrade in September 1961, largely through the initiative of Yugoslavian President Tito.

Subsequent summits have been held in: Cairo 1964, Lusaka 1970, Algiers 1973, Colombo 1976, Havana 1979, New Delhi 1983, Harare 1986, Belgrade 1989, Jakarta 1992, Cartagena de Indias 1995, Durban 1998.

Issues such as globalisation, South-South and North-South co-operation, the debt crisis and international trade, investment flows and disarmament have been high on the movement's agenda.

The last few summits also saw issues such as transnational crime, international drug trafficking and HIV/AIDS being addressed.

The Kuala Lumpur summit is expected to be dominated by debate on a possible United States-led war on Iraq, which is a member of the movement.

MEMBER STATES:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People's Rep of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine (PLO), Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

NKOREA TO COME UNDER PRESSURE OVER NUKES AT NAM SUMMIT

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 (AFP) - North Korea will come under pressure to drop its nuclear weapons programme when it attends the upcoming summit of the 114-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), host nation Malaysia indicated Wednesday

The issue would "definitely" be discussed and Malaysia would try to persuade North Korea to end its quest for nuclear capability, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told a news conference.

"As far as NAM is concerned, I will be able to state Malaysia's stand: We think there should be a total ban on nuclear weapons," he said in reply to a question.

North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-Sun will represent Pyongyang at the NAM conference, which begins with preparatory meetings Thursday and culminates in a meeting of heads of government on Monday and Tuesday next week.

Along with North Korea, the other two legs of US President George Bush's "axis of evil" -- Iraq and Iran -- will also be present at the summit, which is expected to condemn any unilateral military action against Baghdad.

Earlier Wednesday, in an abrupt departure from its strident attacks of recent months, North Korea toned down its rhetoric over the nuclear crisis and stressed its goal of reforming its struggling economy.

North Korea also denied it was resorting to brinkmanship tactics and using the nuclear standoff as a means of seeking concessions in negotiations with Washington.

The statement followed North Korea's aggressive warning Tuesday that it was ready to pull out of the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War and has helped keep the peace for half a century on the Korean peninsula.

The crisis erupted in October after the United States accused North Korea of running a secret uranium-enrichment program and later cut off fuel aid to the energy-starved regime.

Pyongyang responded by expelling UN inspectors and reactivating a mothballed plant capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.

The case has been passed on to the UN Security Council which can impose an array of sanctions on North Korea, a move which Pyongyang says would be tantamount to a declaration of war.

The NAM was formed during the Cold War as an alternative to the Western and Eastern power blocs, and has been seen as increasingly irrelevant since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Most members are poor, developing countries, but Malaysia has indicated it believes international terrorism and the crisis over Iraq have given the movement a new role in world politics.

Apart from the "axis of evil", NAM includes some 50 of the 57 members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

MALAYSIA DRAWS FLACK FOR USING BMWS, MERCEDES AT NAM SUMMIT

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 (AFP) - The Malaysian government has come under fire for buying more than 150 Mercedes Benz and BMW cars for VIPs attending next week's Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit instead of using the national car, Proton.

"They should not have sacrificed our international pride and prestige in having a national car," Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Chinese-based Democratic Action Party told AFP Wednesday.

"By using BMWs and Mercedes, they are admitting our Protons are not up to international standards."

Most ordinary Malaysians are virtually forced to buy Protons -- a pet project of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad -- because of huge tariffs slapped on imported models.

But the organisers of the summit recently took delivery of 66 brand new BMWs worth 50 million ringgit and 86 Mercedes 350 series worth millions of dollars.

Eleven of the cars are bomb and bulletproof, apparently for the less popular heads of government among the 114 NAM member states.

Local newspapers have published letters from indignant Malaysians criticising the purchase of the foreign cars.

"We always talk about being proud of Malaysian-made products, but when it is critical that we show it, we fail miserably," said one.

www.suntimes.com February 19, 2003 BY ART GOLAB STAFF REPORTER

A fire Tuesday shut down most of the gasoline-producing capacity at the BP oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., prompting an immediate rise in Chicago area wholesale gas prices of 7.5 cents a gallon and making it likely that prices will rise at the pump later this week.

"That's a terrific jump," said Bill Fleischli, vice president of the Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association, which represents independently owned gas stations and convenience store operators.

The wholesale hikes could translate to higher prices at the pump later in the week, when gas stations are resupplied, Fleischli said, though he added that, in competitive markets like this, dealers sometimes will absorb the increases for a while before passing them on.

Already last week, gas prices in the Chicago area hit a record high for February, $1.60 a gallon, on average, for regular unleaded, according to a survey by the AAA-Chicago Motor Club. On Tuesday, the Chicago average was $1.74 a gallon, according to chica gogasprices.com, a Web site that compiles averages based on reports from consumers throughout the area.

"Stockpiles of crude oil are the lowest since 1975," Fleischli said. "So now you've got an interruption of a major refinery in the Midwest, this along with problems in Venezuela, the uncertainty of the political situation in the Middle East and the cold weather on the East Coast. All that has caused supplies to shrink and has sent the markets higher."

Not helping matters is that the fire happened at a critical time, as refineries across the nation are preparing to make the switch to summer-grade fuels, said Dave Sykuta, executive director of the Illinois Petroleum Council, which represents major refiners and oil companies.

Shortages of these fuels, which are refined especially for the Chicago area because of federal air pollution regulations, have pushed prices higher here in past summers. The special formulations have to be in the pipeline May 1, and refineries need 45 to 60 days to make the switch and build up adequate supplies.

The fire at the BP refinery in northwest Indiana knocked out 550,000-gallons-a-day of gasoline-refining capacity at the largest of the three oil refineries in the Chicago area.

It started around noon Tuesday and was extinguished within an hour. A preliminary investigation indicates it started when a leak from an oil line ignited, BP spokesman Tom Keilman said.

Three BP employees received hospital treatment for minor injuries.

Keilman said the blaze affected a part of the refinery that makes gasoline and that other parts of the plant will still be operational. The company might not know until the end of the week how extensive the damage is or how long it will take to repair, he said.

News of the fire sent the wholesale price of gasoline here--the price paid by gas stations buying on the "spot" market--up by 7.5 cents and contributed to smaller increases in New York and the Gulf Coast.

www.rediff.com February 19, 2003 17:03 IST

Institute of Economic Growth warned on Wednesday that the rise in oil prices due to fears of war in Iraq might "hamper" the government's plan for acquiring and maintaining strategic oil reserves for 45 days and the import bill was bound to go up by 20 per cent this year.

The economic thin-tank also said the exports growth rate would decline due to rising domestic prices, brought about by increased inflation.

"The rise in (international) oil prices will lead to rise in the domestic fuel prices and also this will hamper the government's plan for acquiring and maintaining strategic oil reserves for 45 days," IEG said in its latest report.

However, the signs of "weakening" strike in Venezuela, an important oil producer, and "ebbing" winter demand for oil would put downward pressure on world prices, the Delhi-based institution said.

If there were a prolonged war in Iraq, the inflation based on both Wholesale Price Index and Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers might go up, IEG warned.

The decline in farm production and expected rise in domestic oil prices would push the inflation rates upward in the coming months from the supply side, even as predicted decline in money supply would to some extent, dampen the high growth in inflation, it said.

On the industrial performance, though the upturn was expected to continue for the rest of the financial year 2002-03, the decline in agricultural growth would be a dampener since the agriculture had strong linkage with the industrial sector.

It said though exports registered a buoyant 34 per cent growth till December, "such a level of growth might not be sustainable."

"It is expected that growth rate of exports will decline to settle around 18.5 per cent on account of increase in domestic prices," IEG said.

Referring to imports, it said the increase in world oil prices would put upward pressure on the import bill, which was expected to go up by 20 per cent in 2002-03.

IEG said the exchange rate might not appreciate further due to expected increase in trade deficit (due to rise in world oil prices) and decline in foreign institutional investments.

It said the foreign exchange reserves, which reached $73.6 billion by January 2003, might not rise further due to the government's decision to pay back $2.8 billion high cost debts in this financial year.

"Moreover, increasing world oil prices, declining real interest rates and lackluster financial markets might also put downward pressure on foreign currency reserves," it said, adding that the repayment of Resurgent India Bond, due in middle of 2003, would also restrain further growth.

On the interest rates, it said the excess liquidity in the economy and the external factors might contain any hike in the interest rates in the coming months.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

The government and the opposition have signed a declaration condemning the use of violence in Venezuela's ongoing political crisis following a successful proposal by Organization of American States (OAS) secretary general Cesar Gaviria, who is facilitating the talks.

The agreement sees both sides rejecting aggressive rhetoric and acts of violence and vandalism, as well as acknowledging the role the media has been playing in the conflict. This is the first formal agreement that has resulted from the talks which have now been going for 100 days.

Both the government and the opposition have agreed to respect articles 57 and 58 of the Constitution, which guarantees Venezuelans the right to freedom of speech and to impartial sources of information. The agreement also provides for the setting up of a Commission to help facilitate peace and will be made up of both opposition and government representatives.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

According to Currency Administration Commission (Cadavi) president Edgar Hernandez, once Venezuela resumes the sale of foreign currency it will be initially only done through state-owned banks. "The objective is to open currency operations as quickly as possible."

• The two banks that will initially make foreign currency one again available are Banco Industrial (BIV) and Banfoandes.

This follows the signing of agreements with the two banks and Hernandez says similar agreements are expected to be signed with privately-owned banks some time next week.

Trading is expected to resume this week, with the bolivar pegged to the US dollar at Bs.1,600.00 / Bs.1,596.00. To obtain large amounts of foreign currency businesses will have to apply to Cadavi and application processing times are expected to be around three to four days.