U.N. Delays Decision on IAEA Chief

04/28/2005

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has postponed a decision on the reappointment of its head rather than risk a confrontation between the United States and other nations at a special meeting held to decide who should lead organization.

The board of the International Atomic Energy Agency has until June, when it meets for a regular session, to make a decision on letting Mohammed ElBaradei stay on for a third term as agency head, a move the United States opposes.

Wednesday’s deferral was aimed at avoiding a vote that would pit the United States against most of the 34 other board nations, who traditionally reach decisions through consensus.

Support increased for ElBaradei, said one diplomat, commenting on the closed IAEA meeting only on condition of anonymity. He said 34 of the 35 IAEA board member countries were either actively or tacitly in favor of ElBaradei’s bid for another four-year term.

Another diplomat who attended the meeting said its chairwoman, Canadian diplomat Ingrid Hall, spoke of “strong and broad support” for ElBaradei.

At the meeting, representatives of China and Russia spoke strongly in support of ElBaradei, the diplomat said.

The Russian delegate called for his reappointment “the sooner the better,” she said, adding that a delegate for Luxembourg, speaking for the European Union, urged further consultations to achieve consensus.

Before the meeting, Ramzy Ezzelin Ramzy, chief delegate to the IAEA from Egypt, told reporters he hoped the meeting would “be an additional step towards ensuring the reappointment of Dr. ElBaradei.”

Wednesday’s meeting was called at the request of developing nations on the board that support ElBaradei. Washington is opposed in principle to heads of U.N. agencies serving a third term but also dislikes ElBaradei’s views on Iran and prewar Iraq.

U.S. officials refused to comment on the meeting. But a Western diplomat familiar with their position said they were weighing their options before June and hoping to swing traditional allies behind them to muster the minimum of 12 votes needed to block ElBaradei.

The agency spearheads international attempts to prevent nuclear proliferation, and the issue of who controls the IAEA is key for Washington, as it wants someone sharing its view of which countries represent nuclear threats and how to deal with them.

ElBaradei has challenged those views - particularly over prewar Iraq and Iran, both of which President Bush labeled part of an “axis of evil.”

ElBaradei first disputed U.S. assertions that Saddam Hussein had an active nuclear weapons program - claims that remain unproven. He then refused to endorse assertions by Washington that Iran was working to make nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear program is for generating electricity.