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Ahmadinejad in Havana as NAM backs Iran in nuclear row
AFP/Georges Gobet
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shortly after arriving at Jose Marti Airport in Havana.By Patrick Moser
AFP
HAVANA
Petroleumworld.com 09 15 06Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Havana Thursday for a Non-Aligned Movement summit that firmly backs Tehran in the tense international standoff over its nuclear program.
His trip came as the United States pushed for sanctions against Iran, which has ignored an August 31 UN deadline to stop enriching uranium.
As his delegation lobbies for further support from the 118 NAM member states, Ahmadinejad will hold a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit.
He was scheduled to meet with President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, a country Washington calls Europe's "last dictatorship."
Ahmadinejad was also widely expected to hold talks with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, a fellow foe of the United States who lashed out at Washington as soon as he arrived on Thursday, saying "the Empire is in decline ... it is a paper tiger."
Speaking at Havana's international airport, Chavez said he was heading straight to visit Cuba's communist President Fidel Castro, 80, who has not been seen in public since he underwent surgery and temporarily ceded power to his brother Raul in July.
There was no immediate indication as to whether Castro would also meet with Ahmadinejad, though Cuba has been vocal in backing Tehran.
Leaders of the NAM countries were expected to adopt a statement stressing Iran's right to acquire and use nuclear energy and technology for peaceful means.
On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki told his counterparts in Havana that Tehran was willing "to resume the negotiations without any preconditions with the interested countries to clarify outstanding issues with the purpose of increasing confidence and transparency."
But in Washington, the White House reiterated its condition for such negotiations.
"We can't be any more clear about this; suspend enrichment and reprocessing activities and we'll talk," White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Thursday.
Ahmedinajad on Wednesday urged US officials "not to make angry statements" and stressed the need for dialogue. Speaking during a visit to Senegal on his way to Havana, he said sanctions were both unlikely and unwarranted.
Nuclear powers India and Pakistan were also expected to play a prominent role in Havana as national leaders hold two days of talks that will cap the six-day gathering.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf planned to meet on the sidelines of the summit in a bid to restart negotiations aimed at resolving the decades-old conflict over Kashmir, a Himalayan territory shared by the two countries but claimed in its entirety by both.
The negotiations have been stalled since India abruptly called off scheduled talks after bomb attacks on trains in Mumbai killed 183 people on July 11. New Delhi had pointed the finger at Islamabad and a Pakistan-backed Islamic rebel group for the blasts.
Several of the speakers at the ministerial meetings insisted that the NAM, created at the height of the Cold War, remained relevant as a tool for developing nations to counter US global might.
The United States has faced some sharp verbal attacks at the Havana meeting, which also harshly condemned Israel for what a draft statement called "excessive and indiscriminate force, targeted attacks and extrajudicial executions" in the Palestinian territories.
The summit was abuzz with speculation that Castro, who cherishes the international spotlight, might show up at the summit despite his ill health, though Cuban authorities remained mum on the subject.
An Argentine lawmaker who met Castro on Wednesday quoted him as saying he had regained much of the weight he had lost since his operation, adding that the Cuban leader can once again speak in a loud voice fit for speeches.
"I lost 41 pounds (18.6 kilos) ... But I'm putting the weight back on. Nearly half what I lost already," Miguel Bonasso, writing in Argentina's Pagina12 daily, quoted Castro as saying.
AFP 14 1715 GMT 09 06
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