By Jean Christou
CYPRUS will have to pull out of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) when it joins the EU next year, outgoing Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday.
The NAM, which was founded in 1961, represents 114 developing countries around the world and was originally set up as a counter body to the rival Cold War blocks.
Cyprus, since its independence in 1960, has been a consistent and active founding member of NAM. The first President of the Republic, Archbishop Makarios, was one of the founders of the Movement and several NAM conferences have been held in Cyprus.
Papapetrou said that even though Cyprus would no longer be a member of NAM, the island would continue to maintain special links with the organisation. “A lot of things connect us with this movement, including historical tradition,” he said.
The latest NAM conference, which opened in Malaysia yesterday, was being held under the shadow of the proposed US-led war on Iraq, which the organisation opposes. The 114-member states represent the overwhelming majority of the 191 UN member-states, and six of its countries sit on the 15-member Security Council.
Cyprus is being represented at the conference by its High Commissioner in Malaysia, the Press and Information Office said. “Usually the Foreign Minister and the President attend, but they could not because of the elections,” a spokesman said.
The first Conference of Non-Aligned Heads of State, at which 25 countries were represented, was convened in Belgrade in September 1961, largely through the initiative of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito.
Subsequent conferences involved ever-increasing participation by developing countries. The 1964 Conference in Cairo, with 47 countries represented, featured widespread condemnation of Western colonialism and the retention of foreign military installations. Thereafter, the focus shifted away from political issues to the advocacy of solutions to global economic and other problem.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
