Islamic Countries Criticize Nato Dialogue on Extremism

Some Islamic countries are criticizing a dialogue initiated by the North American Treaty Organization about fundamentalism in the Arab world, particularly because the countries in question were not included in the discussions.

Iran and Libya were among the nations that sharply attacked the NATO initiative, according to sources.

Stressing that the initiative was not “a crusade against Islam,” NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes held separate talks last Friday with the ambassadors of Israel, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritania. None of the five countries is a member of NATO.

Earlier this month in Brussels, 16 NATO ambassadors had concluded that more attention should be paid to the instability of areas such as Northern Africa and the Middle East.

Claes said Islamic fundamentalism had emerged as perhaps the single gravest threat to the alliance and Western security since the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.

“The purpose of this dialogue is to spread security, not find new enemies,” a NATO diplomat said last week. “NATO doesn’t want to interfere in the internal affairs of the southern Mediterranean countries.”

Claes himself tried to defuse the controversy by saying that “religious fundamentalism, whether Islamic or of other varieties, is not a concern for NATO.”

After the meetings with Claes, Egyptian Ambassador Mohamed Shaaban and Mordechai Drori, Israel’s ambassador to the European Union, said the issue of religious fundamentalism was not raised.

They said discussions with Claes were about security and stability in the Mediterranean area.

Spain introduced the idea of a dialogue, which was supported by Italy and France, though it was reported that Italy and Spain feared that Claes’ statements about Islamic fundamentalism would increase the risk of terrorist attacks in their countries.