Wake up call to the world

The Summit of the Non Aligned Movement which groups 118 countries is meeting this weekend in Cuba. Malta was a member of the NAM until it withdrew in 2004 following membership of the European Union. In his address to NAM leaders, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the world must solve the problems of the Middle East:

Mr Annan told the Non-Aligned Movement in Cuba that the war in Lebanon had been a wake up call to the world. He also urged leaders to respect human rights, to end oppression and to honour press freedom. The summit was opened by Cuba's acting leader Raul Castro, in the absence of his sick brother, Fidel..

The UN chief said the Lebanon crisis had made nations "more and more convinced of the need to deal with the root causes of the problem" in the Middle East. "The daily violence we are witnessing in Iraq and Afghanistan provides a powerful reminder that, without judicious intervention on the political front, the slide to anarchy and civil war becomes inexorable."..."We need governments of the south to fulfil their obligations to their people at home," Mr Annan said.

The leaders of more than 50 developing countries have gathered in Cuba for the summit, which brings together 118 nations - nearly two-thirds of the UN's members - including many developing countries, for an alternative forum of debate...

Against NAM; In favour of NAM; NAM secretariat; NAM 1984 meeting in Malta