Sultan Says Brunei Has Confidence In UN Over Iraq Crisis
By Ignatius Stephen in Kuala Lumpur

His Majesty (left) with Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir

His Majesty and HRH Prince Mohamed Bolkiah during the summit

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei spelled out its stand publicly for the first time on the current Iraq crisis when His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei spoke to the Non-Aligned Movement members yesterday expressing confidence in the "judgement of the UN Security Council and the due process of International Law".

Dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and red tie, His Majesty delivered his speech in a clear, even tone that inspired confidence as it won much praise from members attending the current 13th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in the Malaysian capital.

His Majesty was the 7th speaker in the 114-member body. Seated beside Cuba's Fidel Castro His Majesty keenly listened to earlier speakers including Malaysia's Prime Minister Dato Seri Mahathir Mohamad and South Africa's Thabo Mbeki.

Accompanying His Majesty to the summit is His Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, Brunei's Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Speaking on Iraq, the Brunei ruler added that he was looking forward to hearing the views of NAM members "involving our fellow member, the Republic of Iraq".

His Majesty added, "From our point of view, we have always considered diplomacy as the most effective way of settling international problems.

"We are satisfied that the focus of debate and action is the United Nations. We have confidence in the judgement of the United Nations Security Council and the due process of the International Law. We also believe that this movement has an important role to play in voicing the feelings of developing nations.

"We hope that our summit meeting here will do this," the ruler added.

The five-day conference which began on February 20 is held at Kuala Lumpur's modern Putra World Trade Centre in the heart of the city.

His Majesty also expressed his concern over the political split in the world order getting deeper than before.

"Back in the early days of the Cold War, Non-Alignment was easy to define in fairly straightforward political terms. What it amounted to was that members did not want to see the world split into two camps. Newly Independent Nations wanted to able to work out their future on their own terms. What we see today is no different. But it is no longer a question of simply not wishing to be aligned politically. What we see now is that the world is still split. But it is divided along even deeper and more lasting lines.

There are those countries and regions who can plan their own independent future and there are those who have very little chance at all to do this. In other words, nations are still polarised. And, as independent countries, this is not the kind of the world we want to see. What we wish to see is each of us being able to satisfy the needs of our people economically, socially and intellectually. In other words, we want to have the capacity to be fully independent," said His Majesty.

The movement has a very important contribution to make and its voice is as important as ever, observed His Majesty. "That is why, as small country, we in Brunei Darussalam have been very pleased to offer what we can towards the long and difficult objective of putting South-South Cooperation into real and practical form.

"We have been delighted to join our neighbours and colleagues in Indonesia in promoting modern capacity-building through the South-South Centre in Jakarta. The Centre has now been in operation over the past couple of years and its aim is to promote and accelerate development in developing countries," said the ruler.

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