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| Sunday, 30 January 2005 |
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Features |  |
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Memoirs of Sirima R.D.Bandaranaike : From Cairo to Algiers
The 2nd Summit was held in Cairo in 1964. The Venue was Al Azad University. The guests stayed at the big hotels in Cairo. The sponsors of the Cairo Summit were Egypt, Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia. Sri Lanka was invited by President Nasser to be a sponsor to which we gladly consented. Though Pakistan could not participate at the Summit in Colombo. P.M. Bhutto gave us a lot of material aid for the conference. 47 Members participated. President Nasser as the host presided. Crisis There was a near crisis mid way during the Conference. Congo was represented by whose govt was recognised by the NA movement as the rightful govt. Suddenly Tsombe who claimed to be leader arrived in Cairo and wanted to be accommodated at the Conference. President Nasser as host was in a fix. He summoned the Sponsors, President Tito, Soekarno and myself for a discussion. We conferred and decided that he should not be allowed to participate. He had to be told so. President Tito suggested to confine him to the hotel and treat him well and tell him he cannot participate. After a few days he left Cairo. 3rd summit The 3rd Summit was in Lusaka in 1970 which was held after 6 years. For many reasons it could not beheld earlier. 53 countries participated. President Nasser unfortunately could not participate due to problems in the regime. Shortly after that he passed away. The Conference was held in a hall specially built for the occasion along with villas to house the leaders attending the conference in the village of Murungishi. Yugoslavia assisted President Kaunda to build the Hall and villas. The Conference was faced with a problem of Cyprus. Who was to occupy the seat ? Turkey objected. So it was kept vacant. Foreign Minister of Cyprus Cypriani was present in Lusaka to canvass for his country, but could not take his seat. After the Lusaka summit we the Ceylon delegation stayed on for a few days longer as did some other delegations. The govt of Zambia organised a visit to a famous game Sanctuary, Kafur Park which is supposed to be one of the largest in Zambia. We flew there and spent a night at a resthouse in the precincts of the park. In the morning we were taken around the park in jeeps. We saw a variety of wild animals including many bears, rhinoceros, zebras, giraffes, elephants and many many other varieties which we do not have in the Ceylon sanctuaries. It is very rarely one gets an opportunity of visiting game sanctuaries in the African jungles which are famous of their variety of animals. We were lucky to have got that opportunity. Between these Summits Foreign Ministers met periodically to discuss important issues and also to monitor the progress of the movement and also to decide the venue for the next Summit. Foreign Ministers met at George town in Guyana after the Lusaka Summit. One of the matters to be discussed was the venue of the next Summit and date. I sent Felix Dias Bandaranaike as my deputy Foreign Minister with the necessary officials and with instructions to him to extend the invitation for the next summit to be held in Sri Lanka. Asia's turn It was really Asia's turn because, the 3 previous Summits were held in East Europe, in an Arab country and African. There were seven Asian countries holding membership in the NA Movement. So we had a claim. When the question of venue camp up Felix had put forward Sri Lanka's invitation. Algeria had also offered to host in Algiers. This question became a problem for Foreign Ministers. I think they realized that Sri Lanka's claim was fair but it seemed Algeria had been canvassing among the Arab League countries and the O.A.U. organization of African Unity to support their claim, which we were not aware of early.
We did not think it was necessary to canvass because we were under the belief that it will go by areas. Anyway Felix had my instructions and pressed for our claim which I am told many countries felt was a very fair claim. Felix had requested it to be put to a vote, normally at NA we don't on principle put issues to a vote. So it became a problem for the host Chairman Mr. X Forbes Birnham, P.M.of Guyana. Felix and rightly said that he had to carry out my instructions and he could not agree unless she consulted me. So at about 1 a.m. in the morning, probably it was sometime in the evening there, due to time difference. Mr. Birnham himself spoke to be and appealed to me to allow Algiers for the next Summit and assured me that the next one would definitely be in Sri Lanka. I insisted that he puts it to the vote. He pleaded with me to allow consensus to prevail. Finally after much argument I reluctantly agreed. And I believe after he finished talking to me his remark to Felix was 'My God, the lady is very tough. Anyway finally it was by consensus agreed to hold it in Algiers in 1973. In 1973 the 4th Summit was held at Algiers. I participated with Felix and other officials. Leaders were accommodated in Villas built for the occasion and Conference held in a new hall built for the occasion. President Boummedienne as the host presided. Several current issues were discussed and resolutions passed. Fiftynine member countries, ten observers and six liberation movements were present. Reproduced with the kind permission of ANCL Editorial Consultant Malalgoda Bandutilleka custodian of the manuscript and pictures. |
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