Latin America against war
KUALA LUMPUR: The Latin American countries in NAM favour a peaceful resolution to the Iraq crisis but will agree to the use of force if Iraq does not comply with the UN resolution on the matter.
The Peruvian Foreign Ministry's Multilateral Affairs secretary Jose Luis Perez said the common stand was adopted recently by members in the Group of Rio chaired by Peru.
Of the 19 countries in the group, 11 are NAM members – Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela.
Perez said the countries believedIraq needed to fulfil the clauses spelt out in Resolution 1441, including disarmament and co-operation with weapons inspectors to avoid war.
“We favour a peaceful resolution but the use of force will be inevitable if Iraq fails to comply with Resolution 1441.
“We are against unilateral action against Iraq. Upon verifying the possession of weapons of mass destruction, any follow-up actions should go through a multilateral approach under the UN,” he said in an interview.
Asked if the Iraq crisis had stolen the limelight at the summit, Perez said a crisis of such magnitude demanded attention.
“We foresee a split of opinions on the issue as the NAM membership is very diversified but it is NAM's main function to provide a platform for political consultation.
“We should place more importance on social issues such as poverty and unemployment as these are deep concerns affecting many developing countries,” he said.
Ecuador, another Group of Rio member, is chairing the political committee for the two-day NAM Senior Officials Meeting that began yesterday.