Non-proliferation 'going in circles'

Friday, 19 June 2009

Trying to maintain a global freeze on nuclear weapons technology has been tough for Mohamed ElBaradei, the outgoing head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), although he has hopes for progress on disarmament in the near future.

 

ElBaradei made an intervention on non-proliferation during the IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna on 17 June. He said that much that was under discussion was the same as three years ago: "We have been going around in circles on some of the issues we are facing."

 

Proliferation issues such those as in North Korea and Iran were taking too long to be resolved - the North Korean problem began in 1992 and has only really got worse. "If every verification issue took us 20 years to clarify, then we are obviously on the wrong track," he complained before adding that the IAEA is not even allowed in North Korea and is not present at the Six Party Talks.

 

Dialogue and equality between states as well as open minds are required to resolve current 'gridlocks'. ElBaradei called on weapons states to recognise the real security concerns of others, and for the Security Council to act positively rather than keep imposing sanctions. "Why can't we go for a freeze-for-freeze," he asked in relation to Iran's controversial uranium enrichment program.

 

"I hope that you will move in parallel," Elbaradei told the Ambassadors from the IAEA's member states, "that the weapons states will move to reduce and eliminate their stockpiles and the non-nuclear weapon states will continue to assume their legal obligations."

 

There is good reason to believe the disarmament process will restart, given that Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev have commited to work towards a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, to have the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty implemented and to slash the size of their nuclear arsenals. British prime minister Gordon Brown has also called for a new deal for disarmament, and these developments give ElBaradei hope that next year's NPT conference could produce "concrete actions from weapons states."

 

However, any checks to ensure nuclear weapons are not secretly under development or that recognised stocks are being dismantled can only take place under the IAEA's legal authority. A major tool in this is the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows the IAEA the crucial freedom to check for nuclear materials outside those declared for science, research or power generation.

 

"We have learned since 1991 in Iraq, that if any country tries to divert nuclear material, they don't divert from declared material, they divert through a clandestine program. And yet we still have over 100 countries without Additional Protocols, which means we do not have the authority."

 

ElBaradei has been director general of the IAEA for 12 years and is due to step down on 30 November. There are currently two candidates to take over, Yukiya Amano and Abdul Samad Minty.