The arrogant instruction from the Clinton administration came during a January 17 meeting in New York with African ambassadors. "I respectfully ask the African countries to reconsider their association with the Non-Aligned Movement," Holbrooke said. "[It] is not Africa's friend at this point. Your goals and the [movement's] are not synonymous."

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which first met in 1961, is a forum grouping 113 governments, the great majority from semicolonial nations oppressed by imperialism in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Among its members are several countries where capitalist property relations have been overturned, such as Cuba, Vietnam, and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Others are targets of U.S. aggression, including Libya, Iran, and Sudan.

The Non-Aligned Movement has been a thorn in Washington's side. It has consistently called for an end to the U.S. embargo of Cuba; stood in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for a homeland; and supported the Korean people's fight for unification.

Its members have at times acted as a bloc within the UN in their own interests. The organization has also opposed specific actions taken by the U.S. government that trample on national sovereignty. For example, its 12th summit, held in Durban, South Africa, in September 1998, denounced "the continuing threats made by the U.S. government against the Sudan" and condemned the U.S. missile attack two weeks earlier on Al Shifa Pharmaceutical Plant in Khartoum.

Holbrooke, who has postured as a "friend" of Africa, declared, "I have not seen any single issue that NAM has served African interest." He urged those present to "think of Africa and don't get used for other people's battles."

Most African diplomats quoted in the press rejected this advice. Jeanette Ndlovu of South Africa, who currently holds the group's rotating presidency, said the body has "been in the forefront of seeking to address and redress many African problems, including debt relief and drawing foreign direct investment. So those comments are not in line with reality as we perceive it. We are committed to the [movement] and to its agenda."

Algerian ambassador Abdallah Baali "totally disagreed" with Holbrooke. "I don't see any country in Africa today breaking with the [movement]. It's something I can't imagine."

However, the U.S. diplomat's speech did find at least one sympathetic listener. "All he is saying as a friend of Africa is that Africa should now look at itself. We must listen to what he is saying," said Nigerian UN ambassador Arthur Mbanefo.

African governments, Holbrooke stated, "should consider distancing yourself from [the movement] so you can protect African interests and not allow yourself to be pushed by less than 10 radicalized states in positions that you don't need." He declared that "you weaken your voice...by associating with a group that is dominated by non-African radicals."

While Holbrooke named no specific "radicals," Public Enemy Number One in Washington's eyes has been, and remains, the government of revolutionary Cuba. Through the meetings and statements of the Non-Aligned Movement, Cuban leaders have helped raise a voice in defense of the interests of the majority of the world's population, overwhelmingly workers and peasants, who reside in countries that belong to this organization. They have sought to forge diplomatic unity among the semicolonial governments in opposition to imperialism.

"There is no need for the Movement to apologize or ask anyone's permission to exist and continue fighting," Cuban president Fidel Castro told the Non-Aligned summit in 1998. "Even the United States earnestly requested to attend this meeting as a guest--so be it. It's better that way, so that the great empire may learn how its modest subjects feel."  
 
 
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