A Move Toward Moderation

By Marguerite Johnson

The nonaligned nations return to their original course

New Delhi, a stately capital even under normal circumstances, sparkled for the occasion. Signposts and road markers had been freshly whitewashed, silken banners fluttered along the main thoroughfares, and garlands of spring flowers and marigolds hung from the brick walls leading to the international conference center of Vigyan Bhavan. The elaborate preparations signaled the arrival of delegates from 101 countries, including 60 national leaders ranging from Argentina's President Reynaldo Bignone to Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Robert Mugabe. They had come to India for the first summit meeting since 1979 of nations belonging to the nonaligned movement.

Unlike earlier gatherings, which often resounded with anti-U.S. declarations that made a mockery of the movement's name, the New Delhi summit marked a return to moderation. The main reason was the influence of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who, as the summit's host, automatically assumed the leadership from Cuban President Fidel Castro. At the last summit meeting, which took place in Havana, Castro tried, but failed, to have the conference formally recognize the Soviet Union as the natural ally of the nonaligned. In contrast, last week's meeting returned to the principle established by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1961, when they founded the movement as an organization of nations that wanted to remain independent of the superpowers. Said a State Department official in Washington: "It's quite clear that the nonaligned movement is undergoing a process of genuine reappraisal and self-searching. There's serious concern among many members about the double standard and hypocrisy that have characterized many declarations on many issues under Cuba's leadership."

Setting the tone for the meeting, Mrs. Gandhi quoted Nehru, her father, when she said in her keynote speech: "Our policy will continue to be not only to keep aloof from alignments but to try to make friendly cooperation possible." She addressed common Third World concerns, urging "comprehensive reforms" of the international monetary and financial system, which she described as "out of date, inequitable and inadequate." Carefully avoiding any mention of the U.S. and the Soviet Union by name, she asked the two superpowers to "give up the use or threat of nuclear weapons." Mrs. Gandhi appealed to Iran and Iraq "to end their tragic war" and demanded respect for the "legitimate rights" of the Palestinians. She said that Israel was "unabashed in its aggression" and predictably named South Africa as "the other notorious outlaw." Mrs. Gandhi also asked vaguely for "early normalcy" in Afghanistan, but, in what many considered an outrageous omission, failed to mention so much as a word about the occupation of that country by some 100,000 Soviet troops.

Among the more moderate forces were the leaders of Sri Lanka, Kenya, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Yugoslavia and Venezuela. Some demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, a retreat of Vietnamese forces from Kampuchea, and the removal of all nuclear weapons from vessels and bases in the Indian Ocean. Said Malaysian Prune Minister Mahathir bin Mohammed: "The Soviet Union claims to champion the cause of the weak and the oppressed, but it had no hesitation about marching into Afghanistan to prop up an unpopular regime." Meanwhile, Cuba's Castro railed against "criminal Yankee imperialism" and new CIA plots to assassinate him, while Viet Nam's Premier Pham Van Dong attacked China for its collusion with the U.S. in a "policy of hostility" toward China's neighbors. China has never been a member of the nonaligned movement, and did not attend the meeting.

Some of the most important business took place behind the scenes. Mrs. Gandhi and Pakistani President Mohammed Ziaul-Haq, whose countries have fought three wars over the past 35 years, signed a five-year agreement on economic, scientific and cultural cooperation. Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, informed Lebanese President Amin Gemayel that he would pull his forces out of Lebanon whenever the Lebanese government requested it. (Previously, the P.L.O. had said it would withdraw only when Syrian forces did.) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met with Jordan's King Hussein and Arafat, who had ostracized Egypt when President Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1978.

The presence of so many kings, presidents, prime ministers and sundry potentates presented the Indians with a security nightmare. To forestall violence or the danger of terrorist attacks, the government had posted battalions of army troops, equipped with machine guns deftly concealed behind flowers, at key intersections throughout the city. At the last minute, Libya's erratic Colonel Muammar Gaddafi abandoned an elaborate scheme to fly into the city in a trio of Learjets, two of them decoys in case someone should try to shoot him down, and stayed home. So did Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who had been scheduled to be host at the nonaligned summit in Baghdad last September until his country's war with Iran forced the change in venue. There were a few jittery moments when 200 Iraqi bodyguards carrying AK-47s landed at the airport, but Indian security men disarmed them of the rifles.

At week's end the delegates passed an Indian-sponsored resolution that called for the withdrawal of "foreign troops" from Afghanistan and full respect for the country's "independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-aligned status." The document did not mention the Soviet Union by name. The other resolutions adopted unanimously included a series of economic proposals intended to promote greater regional cooperation and to strengthen the non-aligned countries' bargaining position with the developed world. The delegates came out strongly for nuclear disarmament, which they called "an issue of human survival," and rejected the use of atomic weapons under any circumstances.

Reversing their one-sided attitude at Havana, the nonaligned nations chastised both the U.S. and the Soviet Union for contributing to tension in the Indian Ocean. But then, for the first time, they supported claims by the tiny Indian Ocean island of Mauritius to sovereignty over the British-owned island of Diego Garcia, 1,300 miles away, which the U.S. has leased for a vital nuclear base. They called for a "war crimes tribunal" to try Israel for its treatment of Palestinians, but, in a display of the double standard that all too often applies at such conferences, they made no mention of widespread human rights abuses in many of the nonaligned countries.

The U.S. was pleased, however, that the resolution on Central America turned out to be more moderate than expected. It stated that the region's problems could not be attributed to ideological confrontation between East and West and urged Washington to adopt "a constructive position which would contribute to the peaceful solution of the problem." Said an American diplomat in New Delhi: "Mrs. Gandhi's influence is already being felt." Even if everything that was said in New Delhi did not please the U.S., the diversity of voices was an auspicious sign that nonalignment as an idea is not dead. --By Marguerite Johnson. Reported by Dean Brelis/New Delhi

With reporting by Dean Brelis/New Delhi This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.