Egypt and the Non-Aligned Movement
Egypt was one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The preparatory meeting for the First NAM Conference in Belgrade was held in Cairo between 5 and 12 June 1961.{{cite web |url=https://www.nti.org/learn/treaties-and-regimes/non-aligned-movement-nam/ |title=NAM Resources |date=2018 |publisher=Nuclear Threat Initiative |access-date=28 December 2020 }} The first NAM conference was cosponsored between President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser and President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito who sent joint letter to other leaders during their bilateral meeting in Egypt.{{cite web |url=https://radio.hrt.hr/ep/pokret-nesvrstanih-i-dio/345871/ |title=Pokret nesvrstanih, I. dio |date=23 July 2020 |publisher=Hrvatska radiotelevizija |access-date=28 December 2020 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415110603/https://radio.hrt.hr/ep/pokret-nesvrstanih-i-dio/345871/ |url-status=dead }} Cairo hosted the Second Conference in October 1964 attended by forty-seven countries while Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh hosted the Fifteenth Conference in 2009. At the time of the Sharm el-Sheikh Conference 118 countries participated in the activities of the movement with some other countries having the observer status.{{cite web |url=http://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/95156/Poceo-15-Samit-nesvrstanih |title=Почео 15. Самит несврстаних |author=Tanjug |date=11 July 2009 |publisher=Politika |access-date=28 December 2020 }} 55 heads of state attended the 2009 conference.{{cite web |url=https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/dunya/kangurudan-yedigi-yumrukla-yere-serildi-41699808?kisa-haber |title=Bağlantısızlar Hareketi Zirvesi Mısır'da başlıyor |date=15 July 2009 |publisher=Hürriyet |access-date=28 December 2020 }} Official Egyptian state institutions view the movement as the broadest and the most important framework for developing countries to coordinate their stances on issues on the agenda of the United Nations and to act together against unilateral policies.{{cite web |url=https://www.sis.gov.eg/Story/335/Non-Aligned-Movement-(NAM)?lang=en-us |title=Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) |date=20 July 2009 |publisher=State Information Service |access-date=28 December 2020 }}
History
File:Jawaharlal Nehru’s tour of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1961 (02).jpg in 1956]]
President Gamal Abdel Nasser, together with Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Sukarno of Indonesia played the leading role in the early days of the movement.{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Non-Aligned-Movement |title=Non-Aligned Movement |author=André Munro |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=28 December 2020 }} Following the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and president Nasser's charismatic authority in other Arab countries other countries in the Arab world followed Egyptian lead in joining the Non-Aligned Movement.{{cite journal |last=Peretz |first=Don |date=1965 |title=Nonalignment in the Arab World |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |issue=362 |pages=36–43 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1035788 }}
After the Camp David Accords some Arab countries and Cuba strongly criticized Egypt with Iraqi representatives calling for suspension of Egypt's membership in the NAM.{{cite book |author= Tvrtko Jakovina |author-link= Tvrtko Jakovina |date=2011|title=Treća strana Hladnog rata |publisher=Fraktura |isbn=978-953-266-203-0 }} This initiative was opposed by India and Yugoslavia as a matter of principle with Yugoslavia underlining its dissatisfaction with Egyptian failure to ensure earlier Arab common stance for the Camp David negotiations.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Non-Aligned Movement}}
{{Foreign relations of Egypt}}