Nuclear arms conference collapses without deal

UNITED NATIONS - After a month of bickering, the 188 signatories to the global pact against atomic weapons have ended their conference with no agreement on new steps to combat the danger of a nuclear holocaust and many blamed the United States and Iran.

The review of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was characterized by divisive debates over North Korea, Iran's nuclear enrichment ambitions, Israel's presumed atomic arsenal and US plans for new and improved atomic weapons.

When the conference began on May 2, countries had hoped to agree on a plan to repair loopholes in the treaty that enable countries to acquire sensitive atomic technology and to hear from Washington and the four other NPT members with nuclear weapons that they remained committed to disarming.

But it quickly descended into procedural bickering, led by the United States, Iran and Egypt, and ended after approving only a document that listed the agenda and participants.

In a clear swipe at Washington, which angered developing countries by refusing to reaffirm previous pledges to scrap its own nuclear arsenal, Canada's chief delegate blasted countries that tossed aside earlier commitments.

"If governments simply ignore or discard commitments whenever they prove inconvenient, we will never be able to build an edifice of international cooperation and confidence in the security realm," Ambassador Paul Meyer, the head of Canada's delegation, said in a speech to the conference.

"We believe this is a treaty worth fighting for and we are not prepared to stand idly by while its crucial supports are undermined," Meyer said.

The United States has denied undermining the conference. Privately, US officials blamed Iran and Egypt, who they said hijacked the block of non-aligned nations in an attempt to focus criticism on the United States and Israel.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said he was not surprised there were no breakthroughs and said the world is too divided on how to address the nuclear threat.

"The treaty is still there. It will continue to work, but it will continue to work with the same shortcomings," he told Reuters from Vienna. "I think the best thing is to move forward and not to engage in recriminations over who is to blame."

US officials said that in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the most urgent issue was not disarmament but proliferation and the possibility that terrorists could obtain atomic weapons.

"Much has changed since we last met five years ago," Ambassador Jackie Sanders told the conference. In addition to North Korea withdrawing from the NPT and announcing it has nuclear weapons, Iran appears to want the bomb, she said.

"Iran's nuclear weapons programme, previously shrouded in secrecy and deceit, has been exposed, as have Iran's violations of its (NPT) obligations," she said.

Iran's UN ambassador, Javad Zarif, slammed the United States for not disarming as called for by the NPT and invoked memories of the 1945 US atomic bombing of Japan.

"The extremist attitude reflected ... seems to indicate that no lessons have been learned from the nightmare of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If history is any guide, nuclear arms, ladies and gentlemen, are in the most dangerous hands," he said.

"It is no wonder that the US tried to create a smoke screen at this conference to deflect attention from its dismal record," he said.

Nine countries possess some 30,000 atomic weapons, nearly all of them in the United States and Russia - enough to destroy the planet many times over. And dozens more nations could build a bomb if they wanted to.

By signing the NPT, the acknowledged nuclear powers - the United States, Russia, Britain, China and France - pledged to eventually scrap their deadly arsenals but have not done so.

KEY FACTS

Member states:

* 188 states are members of the NPT including the five declared nuclear weapons states: the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia.

* Three states have not signed but are understood to have nuclear arms: India, Pakistan and Israel.

* One state, North Korea, signed the treaty and then withdrew in 2002. It recently announced it has nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons arsenals:

* UN experts estimate there are 30,000 weapons worldwide.

* Of this number, the United States is estimated to have 7,100 operational nuclear warheads with 3000-5000 more in its stockpile.

* Russia is thought to have 8000 operational nuclear warheads and 8000 stockpiled.

* China is said to have 402 nuclear weapons; France, 348; and Britain, 185.

* As for non-NPT members, India and Pakistan are said to have 40 operational warheads each, while Israel's arsenal is put at around 200.

* US officials estimate North Korea may have produced enough nuclear fuel for nine weapons.

Disarmament debate:

Nuclear have-nots complain that nuclear states, especially the United States, are not moving fast enough toward NPT-mandated disarmament. Washington has mounted a vigorous defense, insisting it leads the world in efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological arms in these ways:

*  The United States has reduced its nuclear stockpile by more than 13,000 weapons since 1988, officials say.

* A US-sponsored resolution, adopted by the UN Security Council, requires states to enact and enforce effective anti-proliferation measures.

* More than 60 states have joined the US-launched Proliferation Security Initiative that encourages states to interdict shipments of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) on sea, land and in the air.

* Since 1991, the United States has spent more than $9 billion in cooperative projects to safeguard and eliminate WMD technology and facilities, including destroying 6312 nuclear warheads, 537 intercontinental ballistic missiles and 27 nuclear submarines.

* The United States and Britain played leading roles in shutting down the nuclear black market headed by Pakistani Abdul Qadeer Khan and in persuading Libya to jettison its nuclear programme.

- REUTERS