Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Non-Aligned foreign ministers late yesterday expressed opposition to a US-led war on Iraq, in a draft declaration that was watered down after three days of intense debate.

In the draft statement to be presented to the Non-Aligned Movement’s heads of state and governments scheduled to meet here February 24-25, the foreign ministers agreed to express their “grave concern” at “the precarious and rapidly deteriorating situation arising from the looming threat of war against Iraq”.

The statement recognises “the concerns expressed by millions in our countries, as well as in other parts of the world, who reject war and believe, like we do, that war against Iraq will be a destabilising factor for the whole region”.

The ministers reiterated the Non-Aligned Movement’s commitment “to the fundamental principles of the non-use of force and respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and security of all member states of the United Nations”.

They also reaffirmed “the central role of the United Nations and the Security Council in maintaining international peace and security”.

At the same time, the statement calls on Iraq to continue to actively comply with Security Council Resolution 1441 and all other relevant Security Council resolutions and to remain engaged in the process, stressing that the current disarmament efforts in Iraq “should not be an end in itself but should also constitute a step towards the lifting of sanctions in accordance with Security Resolution 687”.

Senior officials and ministers from member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement had remained stumped after three days as they sought to agree on the text of the political declaration to place before their heads of government and state.

At yesterday’s opening of the Ministerial Meeting, which precedes the summit, set to start tomorrow, Syed Hamid Albar, Malaysia’s minister of foreign affairs and chairman of the session, reported that the senior officials had not been able to agree on the final text of the political declaration.

The matter had become bogged down in the meeting of senior officials, held February 20-21. It was eventually referred to an open-ended committee to review the existing draft and make recommendations for a final document.

Before the statement was completed, Stafford Neil, Jamaica’s ambassador to the United Nations, expressed to the Sunday Observer, confidence in the prospects for consensus, saying that the issue was being held up, not by the substance of the group’s views on the matter, but by particular areas of emphases in the wording of the document.

The statement, he said, was likely to dwell on two areas: the importance of the multi-lateral process in deciding on what happens with Iraq, and the peaceful resolution of the issue. “The question really is the kind of language to be used, with some wanting a stronger expression than others,” Neil said.

Abdulla Ahmad Badawi, deputy prime minister of Malaysia, in his welcoming remarks at the start of the Ministerial Meeting, placed the situation in Iraq at the top of his list of concerns.

The summit of the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement, he said, was being held at a time of “profound unease and uncertainty about the future”, with the post-Cold War characterised by “the pre-eminence and growing influence of just one superpower”.

This state of affairs, he warned, had brought the world to “the brink of conflict – a conflict which the peoples of the world have loudly and clearly opposed”.

“That the collective voice of the global majority that says no to war can be ignored,” he said, “suggests that we live in a world that is no better than the one which the founding fathers of this movement found themselves” in (1961).

Neil, comparing the situation in the Non-Aligned Movement with that at the UN, said there was “a broader variety of views” in New York (at the UN), with some members being more in favour of the American position on Iraq, whereas in the Non-Aligned Movement, “you’re likely to find people being generally of the same mind”.

Nonetheless, sources in the meetings revealed that the US government, while not being a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, was still exercising significant influence on the sidelines, effectively having a moderating effect on the text being proposed by some members.

Ambassador Neil, while acknowledging the friendly relationship shared by Jamaica and the United States, said Jamaica did not “see fully eye-to-eye with them on this issue”.

It was important, he argued, to “emphasise the importance of multi-lateralism and the peaceful approach to the matter”, with the UN weapons inspectors being given more time to conduct their search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The Jamaican/Caricom position on the matter, he said, was not one of hostility towards the United States, noting that there were “genuine concerns about both the process and the consequences of war”.

Delegates attending the preliminary meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement also reported difficulties in arriving at consensus on those sections of the text covering the situation on the Korean Peninsular and on terrorism.

Far fewer problems were reported in arriving at consensus on the chapter of the declaration on economic issues.

That section places emphasis on overcoming the exclusion of developing countries from the major benefits of globalisation. It stresses as well the importance of foreign direct investment to the economies of the movement and the need to promote South-South co-operation.

Support has also been expressed for implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for Sustainable Development of Small Island States and the Millennium Declaration, which recognises the need to address the special concerns of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).