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| Friday, 25 February 2005 |
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Annan urges action against spread of nuclear arms UNITED NATIONS, Thursday (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned on Wednesday that the treaty to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons was being challenged and urged governments to accept short-notice intrusive inspections. Among the examples he gave was the need for nuclear disarmament, the threat of terrorists acquiring weapons of mass destruction, and the slow pace of a pact that would allow more robust inspections. Annan was speaking to a 23-member board of arms experts, who were keenly aware that North Korea declared it has nuclear weapons and that Europe and the United States differed on how to make Iran abandon a uranium enrichment program at the heart of its suspected nuclear weapons ambitions. But he did not mention either country. "Like many of you, I am convinced that efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation must go hand in hand with progress in nuclear disarmament," Annan said in a speech to the U.N. Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. He noted that in May there would be a five-year review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, the cornerstone of arms reduction accords agreed 35 years ago. "The NPT has served us extremely well over the past decades," Annan said. "However, the regime faces serious challenges to its credibility." The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. atomic arms watchdog, is lobbying for an "additional protocol," to the NPT, which would allow short-notice and intrusive inspections that most countries in the world have not ratified. "I trust you will give this and other proposals serious consideration," Annan told the group that advises him on arms control. But many arms experts believe the protocol is not enough. Iran has signed it but several military sites that inspectors would like to visit are technically off-limits to the IAEA, which only can go to declared nuclear sites. The NPT has been signed by 188 countries but North Korea withdrew in 2003. Three de facto nuclear states - Israel, Pakistan and India have refused to join the accord. Under the treaty, only five countries - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China - are permitted to have nuclear arms and move towards disarmament. The other 182 nations have to renounce nuclear weapons for good. Annan also said he wanted the May conference to discuss some of the proposals made in November by his high-level panel on U.N. reform. Among its recommendations was that the U.N. Security Council take "collective" measures against any state or group that launches a nuclear attack or or even threatens an attack on a nonnuclear weapon state. "I will be urging states to agree soon on an agenda for the conference that addresses the most pressing challenges which you and the high-level panel have identified," Annan said. The high-level panel also recommended countries stop building enrichment or reprocessing facilities until a global plan can guarantee that fissile materials went to "civil nuclear users". Another major challenge, Annan said, was to find ways to prevent nuclear technology from being diverted to illegal weapons programs. "We all share serious concerns at the prospect of terrorist groups' developing, acquiring or using weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery," he said.. |
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