NPT conference mulls draft of possible measures

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 5/25/10 | Michael Adler

[NormsRevenge]

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Israel and Iran would be expected to attend talks on making the Middle East free of nuclear weapons, according to a draft final document of a UN non-proliferation conference released Tuesday.

A nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East is among the most contentious issues at the conference reviewing the 189-nation Non-Proliferation Treaty, a global mandate for fighting the spread of atomic weapons.

The draft calls for an initial conference in 2012 "to be attended by all states of the Middle East, leading to the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction, on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at by the states in the region."

Neither Israel nor Iran were mentioned by name, although the draft calls for Israel to join the NPT. Arab countries had wanted Israel denounced as a secret nuclear weapons state.

The draft also failed to mention Iran's NPT violations in concealing its nuclear activities and its defiance of UN Security Council resolutions to suspend uranium enrichment in order to allay fears it is producing nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian program.

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The plenary meeting resumed in the afternoon, after non-aligned (NAM) countries, which are clashing with nuclear weapon states over many issues, initially blocked the talks with an hour-long meeting of their own.

The previous twice-a-decade review, in 2005, failed to even agree on a final document. The conference in 2000 approved steps to disarmament.

The 1995 meeting indefinitely extended the treaty, which went into effect in 1970, and made the initial call for a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons.