BY T.J. FIGUEROA
DURBAN, South Africa - The 12th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, which includes 113 governments, mostly from semicolonial nations oppressed by imperialism - convened here August 29. The summit began with meetings of senior officials, followed by foreign ministers, and culminates in a conference of heads of state September 2-3. Several thousand delegates and government officials are in attendance, along with hundreds of journalists.

The NAM held its first meeting, attended by representatives of 25 governments, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1961. Today, the vast majority of the governments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean are members. Several workers states are among them, including Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Vietnam. Yugoslavia's membership (Serbia and Montenegro) has been suspended.

Several imperialist governments have for the first time been given observer status at the meeting, including Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which is represented by State Department functionary Princeton Lyman.

At this meeting, South Africa is taking the revolving presidency of the organization from Colombia.

Fidel Castro to start state visit
Cuban president Fidel Castro arrived here September 1 to take part in the summit, which is expected to denounce the U.S. embargo against the Caribbean island. Immediately following the meeting, the revolutionary leader will begin a state visit hosted by the South African government. Among other activities, Castro will address the National Assembly in Cape Town September 4 and travel to Johannesburg and Pretoria.

This is Castro's second visit to South Africa, the first being a brief trip to attend the inauguration of African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela as president following the first democratic, nonracial elections in 1994. Mandela has long urged Castro to return.

To millions of black South Africans and others who fought in the revolutionary democratic struggle against apartheid, the decisive role of Cuban troops in defeating South African invaders in Angola - and the contribution this made to apartheid's demise - is well known. Also appreciated by working people is the presence of about 300 Cuban volunteer doctors who are working in rural areas throughout this country.

"There can be no more an appropriate person to address our parliament than President Fidel Castro," read an August 27 statement from the African National Congress. "We wish to extend our appreciation for the role the Cuban people have played in the anticolonial struggles in Africa, Southern Africa, and the antiapartheid struggle in South Africa." The statement concluded by demanding an immediate end to Washington's embargo against Cuba. The Cuban leader's visit is opposed by defenders of the privileged social relations inherited from apartheid, such as the Democratic Party, which has announced that it will not attend Castro's speech before the National Assembly.

Sudanese gov't denounces U.S. attack
The Sudanese government has asked the NAM summit to condemn the U.S. cruise missile assault on the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum last month. Mustafa Osman Ismail, Sudan's foreign minister, said at a press conference here August 31 that his government's request for a UN investigation of the bombed site would also be addressed by the gathering. Ismail said one person was killed, 12 seriously injured, and more than 300 put out of a job by the blasts. He rejected U.S. claims that the plant produced "chemical weapons," and also denied that it had any ties to Osama bin Laden, who Washington claims is a "terrorist."

"No country has the unilateral right to attack, destroy, or violate the sovereignty of another country," said the Sudanese official. "We want the American people to know the truth, and the world to know the truth," which is why Khartoum is pressing for a UN investigating team.

Slave vs. slavemaster
South African deputy president Thabo Mbeki, who is also president of the ANC, opened the ministerial portion of the NAM meeting on August 31. Nelson Mandela was scheduled to open the heads of state meeting, which took place after press time.

Mbeki asked, "How can it be permissible that some die of hunger and curable diseases and exposure to the elements because of poverty, and perish in civil wars driven by competition for virtually nonexistent resources, when the volumes of wealth concentrated in some parts of our globe are themselves are becoming something of a destructive force?"

Processes falling under the rubric of "globalization" and similar terms "originate from the developed countries of the north, reflect the imperatives of the economies and the levels of development of these countries and therefore, naturally, serve the purposes of our rich global neighbors."

Mbeki said that semicolonial nations cannot develop "through opting out of the world economy and therefore extricating ourselves from the process of globalization." He said that "developing" countries needed to make "globalization" work to their benefit. He said the NAM summit would address the questions of restructuring the UN so that it is more democratic; changing the functioning of the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and World Bank; and other economic and trade issues.

"Inasmuch as the slave cannot ask the slave master to provide the strategy and tactics for a successful uprising of the slaves, so must we, who are hungry and treated as minors in a world of adults, also take upon ourselves the task of defining the new world order of prosperity and development for all and equality among nations of the world," Mbeki said.

War in Democratic Republic of Congo
Another central issue before the summit is the war raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is drawing in forces from throughout central and southern Africa. A flurry of talks is taking place between various government representatives and UN officials present in Durban.

The governments of Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe have now sent troops into Congo to fight on the side of the shaky government of President Laurent Kabila, which says it is under attack from Rwanda.

Rwanda denies that it has sent troops, but says it may do so if there are widespread killings of people of Tutsi background in the conflict. Kabila's forces have stepped up their anti-Tutsi, anti-Rwandan propaganda in recent days.

The South African government has consistently called for a cease-fire and said it would not send troops. South African officials insist that only the Congolese can secure a long-term end to fighting there. Pretoria has come under political fire for this stance from both Kabila and Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, who called those opposed to sending troops "hypocrites."  
 
 
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