Tuesday May 19, 2009
U.N. chief seeks global talks to curb nuclear arms
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Tuesday for countries to exploit greater political will to launch global negotiations to curb nuclear weapons.
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WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (L) welcomes United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the World Health Organization's (WHO) headquarters in Geneva May 19, 2009. Ban called on Tuesday for countries to exploit greater political will to launch global negotiations to curb nuclear weapons. (REUTERS/Denis Balibouse) |
In a speech to the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament, Ban said a draft proposal to start negotiations on fissile material at the same time as talks related to preventing an arms race in outer space, "can achieve consensus".
"There are now a number of initiatives from nuclear and non-nuclear states that together provide a new momentum for disarmament," Ban told the Geneva forum.
"These signs of greater political will represent an opportunity we cannot afford to miss."
Diplomats hope that the new U.S. administration will offer initiatives to revive the moribund conference. President Barack Obama has called for a world without nuclear weapons.
Ban specifically welcomed efforts to kick-start negotiations to ban production of fissile material such as plutonium and highly-enriched uranium used in making nuclear weapons.
The latest proposal from the current Algerian conference president includes an inspection mechanism to check against cheating on the so-called fissile "cut-off" treaty.
"This is an important step forward," Ban said. "Now is the time to break more than 10 years of stalemate."
The 65-member-state forum has failed to clinch any pacts since its international treaties banning chemical weapons and underground nuclear explosions in the 1990s.
Its members include the five official nuclear weapon powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- as well as nuclear-capable India and Pakistan, and Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arms.
Ban said he was encouraged by moves by the United States and Russia to pursue a deal on cutting nuclear weapons that would replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), which expires in December. U.S. and Russian arms control negotiators began talks in Moscow on Tuesday.
Copyright © 2008 Reuters
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