MaximsNewsNetwork: Amb. MAGED ABDELAZIZ (EGYPT & NAM): MIDDLE EAST: NUCLEAR-FREE-WEAPON ZONE

MaximsNewsNetwork: 24 September 2010 - UNTV: United Nations, New York -- Ambassador Maged A. Abdelaziz from Egypt, who representes the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), said today at the United Nations (UN) that the progress on the goal of establishing a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East "should not be lost" and that the May 2010 NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) Review Conference's Plan of Action "gives impetus to intensify work aimed at to beginning the negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention."

On the prospect of a Middle East nuclear weapons free zone, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that the "only regime that has these nuclear weapons is the Zionist regime in the Middle East."

He asked that the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provide a "timetable" for the "destruction of the weapons and warheads which are there in occupied Palestine."

Iraq's representative said that his country "believes that it is essential to make Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destructions." He added that his Government is coordinating "its efforts with the Arab group and IAEA and other international relevant forum."

Yesterday, in an exclusive interview with UNifeed, when asked about Iran's relationship with the IAEA, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that "if the international law says that disarmament must happen, then it must happen. If it says proliferation must cease, then it must cease."

When asked about whether his country has any intentions of withdrawing from the NPT, he talked the need for the NPT regulations to be "carried out strictly for everyone whether the United States or small island states in the Pacific Ocean."

On US President Barack Obama's call for Iran to demonstrate peaceful intentions of its nuclear programme, Ahmadinejad said "when Obama says that Iran is unable to prove its adherence to the NPT, one can assume that the United States itself is able to prove adherence or other nuclear powers or other states that possess the nuclear bomb are also able to show their adherence to the NPT."

Meanwhile today at the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) general conference held in Vienna, a draft resolution was adopted on "making the Middle East a nuclear free zone" with 120 votes in favour. No country voted against the draft resolution.

However, Member States of the IAEA voted against an Arab-proposed resolution demanding that Israel comply with the NPT.

At a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (GA), League of Arab States Director General Amr Moussa said "defending Israel on everything, even to call on Israel to join the NPT is something very, very strange and does not go well with building confidence pertaining to the joint work in the Middle East."




In May this year, at the latest review of the NPT, there was a unanimous adoption of a document that, among other things, contained steps towards achieving a nuclear-free Middle East.

The final document called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the co-sponsors of a 1995 resolution proposing a Middle East free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction to convene a conference to be attended by all States in the region.

...... ( UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION: UNTV ) ... ..............................................................
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