President Mahama calls for renewed Non-Aligned Movement to champion global south

President John Dramani Mahama has urged the revitalization of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to tackle contemporary global challenges and uphold its founding principles. Speaking at the 65th anniversary commemoration of the NAM in Belgrade, Serbia, Mahama emphasized that the movement's key tenets of peace, sovereignty, development and global justice remain vital in today's complex world.

Mahama highlighted Ghana's pivotal role in the NAM's inception, citing its founder, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, alongside other leaders such as Josip Broz Tito, Jawaharlal Nehru, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Sukarno. Nkrumah's declaration, "We neither face east nor west, we face forward," encapsulated Ghana's commitment to an independent foreign policy and non-alignment with any power bloc.

Despite significant geopolitical shifts since the Cold War, Mahama stressed that developing nations still confront issues like geopolitical rivalry, economic fragility, unequal access to resources, climate change, and under-representation in international decision-making. To address these challenges, Mahama called for the NAM to maintain its role as an independent voice for peace, dialogue, disarmament, development and justice.

He stressed that non-alignment should not equate to neutrality in the face of injustice or violations of international law.

Ghana has also been at the forefront of the global reparations movement, Mahama pointed out. The UN General Assembly's resolution A/RES/80/250 in March 2026 acknowledged the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity. Ghana's leadership in this campaign, within the African Union and CARICOM, has been instrumental, with support from the African diaspora.

Additionally, Mahama outlined Ghana's push for reparatory justice, including the Next Steps Conference on Reparatory Justice, which identified indentured labor as another historical injustice to address. In his final remarks, Mahama called for international attention to ongoing conflicts and humanitarian crises, particularly in Sudan and Gaza, urging sustained political and humanitarian support, as well as adherence to the UN Charter's principles.