DEVELOPMENT-KENYA: Tips For Revitalising NAM

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Sep 14 2006 (IPS) - Hundreds of journalists have converged on Havana for the fourteenth summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), while dozens of leaders are expected to be in attendance during the final days of the meeting. For some in Kenya, however, NAM remains a mystery – even though the East African country is a member of the movement.

“I have never heard about NAM. What is it?” a journalist working with the international media asked in an interview with IPS.

“Is it in Kenya? Where exactly is it?” enquired an administrator with a women’s organisation based in the capital, Nairobi.

What, then, is the future for NAM in Kenya – and can anything be done to ensure that the movement has greater brand name recognition when its members convene again in Egypt, in three years time?

“People identify with tangible things that change their lives. Since we are in a world of partnerships, let NAM form partnerships with other organisations that are on the ground to change peoples’ lives,” said Fred Jonyo of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, at the University of Nairobi.

“Let it actively engage in various activities that touch the lives of people; then, everyone will be talking about it.”

A revamping of the movement is not only being debated in Kenya, however. It is also a central issue at this week’s summit – continuing a discussion that was already underway at the 1992 NAM summit held in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, as the fall of the Berlin Wall forced the movement to re-examine its role in international affairs.

NAM’s inception dates back half a century to efforts by certain countries to avoid becoming embroiled in Cold War politics, with the first non-aligned summit taking place in 1961. The bloc denounced colonial rule and apartheid, amongst other ills – and eventually grew to encompass over a 100 countries, not all of which were scrupulous in upholding the principle of neutrality in their dealings with the U.S and Soviet Union.

“Having achieved decolonisation, NAM failed to modify itself. It lacked the momentum to use its success as a springboard to address emerging challenges,” Jonyo told IPS.

But, this does not mean the movement has exhausted its usefulness, says Oduor Ong’wen, the Kenya country director for the Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute. This donor-funded organisation, based in Harare, is dedicated to helping Africa play a bigger role in global trade.

“I think we need the NAM more than ever before,” he noted in an interview with IPS.

“For example the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) which were forced on us have not worked. These are the kinds of issues which the NAM should be fighting against.”

SAPs were introduced about three decades ago by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to bring about economic improvements in countries that sought financial assistance from the two institutions. Loans were contingent on states accepting the various requirements of the programmes, which included privatisation, deregulation and the lifting of price controls and trade barriers.

In practice, however, SAPs have often had the opposite effect to that intended, pushing developing countries into deeper financial difficulties.

Jonyo believes NAM could also bolster the economies of African nations in other respects.

“We have many resources, but cannot transform them into utilities. You cannot be self-reliant if you are unable to transform your utilities into value,” he said, adding that NAM needed to engage in talks with industrialised countries on this matter.

“The dialogue should focus on Africans being allowed to add value to their products and get access to external markets,” Jonyo noted.

Efforts to give developing nations greater access to international markets were dealt a blow in July, with the collapse of the Doha round of trade talks – named after the Qatari capital where they began in 2001. The negotiations were intended to deal with trade barriers such as the agricultural subsidies paid to producers in Western nations, which disadvantage competitors in poor states.

The NAM summit, which began in the Cuban capital Monday, wraps up Sep. 16.

Member countries are expected to adopt a declaration at the end of the meeting that addresses various political, economic and social issues – such as the situation in the Middle East, co-operation amongst developing states and migration.

“With the end of the Cold War and the emergence of one super power which uses bully tactics over the rest of the world, we need the NAM to assertively counter such aggression,” said Ong’wen, in reference to the United States.