[17/March/2010]

UNITED NATIONS, March 17 (Saba) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday appealed for a rejection of extremism, underscoring that the international grouping of over 100 countries known as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has an invaluable role to play in promoting greater understanding, according to China Xinhua.

"We need to counter those who polarize and distort, or who humiliate and manipulate for electoral aims," the secretary- general said in a video message to the Special Non-Aligned Movement Ministerial Meeting on Interfaith Dialogue for Peace and Development in Manila, capital of Philippines.

"We have had enough of mutual suspicion and fear," Ban said.

To that end, NAM, with its "wonderfully diverse" membership of 118 nations, the secretary-general said, can help to foster greater understanding, "which can be a foundation for a better future and a world of peaceful coexistence."

He also appealed in his message for the organization's support for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, launched in 2005 to help overcome prejudices between nations, cultures and religions.

"Peace, development and human rights all depend on mutual understanding and respect," he said.

Saba