Nuclear arms pact 'in need of repair'

The cornerstone international treaty curbing the spread of nuclear weapons is in urgent need of repair if it is to keep pace with globalisation and atomic technology, says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

He delivered his bleak warning yesterday as delegates from more than 180 countries began a conference at the United Nations in a bid to strengthen the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The month-long review comes at a time of rising tensions, spurred by North Korea's suspected development of a nuclear weapon, and Iran's apparent pursuit of such arms.

Warning of a possible nuclear calamity in a major city, Annan said that in an interconnected world, "a threat to one is a threat to all, and we all share responsibility for each other's security".

The plain fact was "that the regime has not kept pace with the march of technology and globalisation, and developments of many kinds in recent years have placed it under great stress".

Annan said Russia and the United States, which account for more than 90 per cent of the estimated 30,000 nuclear warheads in the world, should cut their arsenals "so that warheads number in the hundreds, not in the thousands".

On Iran, which is in fitful talks with the EU to freeze its uranium enrichment programme, Annan said it should "not insist" on manufacturing nuclear fuel, but acquire it from multilaterally controlled agencies.

All countries must work "towards a world of reduced nuclear threat."

But Annan's words may fall on deaf ears. The conference has no agreed agenda, and Iran is preparing to reject demands to dismantle its nuclear power programme, arguing that its purposes are peaceful.

In a speech scheduled for today, Kamal Kharrazi, Iran's Foreign Minister, was likely to raise the diplomatic temperature further by arguing that his country is perfectly entitled to such technology.

He may also accuse the US of not doing enough to reduce the threat, by failing to ratify a comprehensive test ban treaty, and working on a new generation of nuclear weapons.

The US is demanding that Iran place its programme under international control. If not, Washington says it will seek sanctions against Iran at the UN or elsewhere.

Many non-nuclear countries accuse the US, Britain, Russia, France and China of hypocrisy by not reducing their arsenals.

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Nuclear curbs

* 188 states have signed 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.
* North Korea signed the treaty and then withdrew. It says it has nuclear weapons.
* United Nations experts estimate there are 30,000 weapons worldwide.
* The US is estimated to have 7100 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.
* Of non-NPT members, India and Pakistan are said to have some 40 operational warheads each, while Israel's arsenal is put at about 200.
* US officials estimate North Korea may have produced enough nuclear fuel for nine weapons.

- REUTERS