Clash over S.A. at atomic agency talks

Press, 23 September 1987, Page 11

Clash over S.A. at atomic agency talks

NZPA-Reuter Vienna Nigerian-led attempts to suspend South Africa from the International Atomic Energy Agency have struck a discordant note in newly-harmonised United States-Soviet relations, diplomats said.

At an agency conference, the American Energy Secretary, John Herrington, warmly greeted the Soviet delegation’s head, Andrei Petrosyants, on Monday, reflecting super-Power relations since they agreed in principle to scrap medium and shorter-range nuclear missiles. But soon after a senior American official criticised Moscow for backing a proposal to suspend Pretoria, accused of developing nuclear weapons,

from the United Nations agency. “It’s baffling to us how (the Soviet Union) can vote for exclusion of South Africa ... and still talk about non-prolifera-tion and nuclear safety,” the official said, requesting anonymity. Meanwhile, the South African President, Pieter W. Botha, said in Johannesburg that his Government hopes soon to sign a United Nations treaty designed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

Delegation sources said Mr Herrington and Mr Petrosyants would discuss the suspend-South Africa resolution, due to be debated at the end of the five-day conference. The Nigerian Oil Minister, Rilwanu Lukman, lambasted South Africa, quoting “highly reliable sources” as saying Pretoria had tested nuclear weapons devices as long ago as 1979. “The nuclear capacity of South Africa constitutes a very grave danger to

international peace and security. In particular it jeopardises the security of African States,” he told the conference. Mr Herrington told Reuters he condemned apartheid but the agency, a technical organisation, should be kept free of politics. But Mr Lukman said: "This distinction between what is technical and what is political is artificial and only selfserving.” Addressing Western views that a suspension would harm the agency’s influence over Pretoria, Mr Lukman said: “South Africa developed its nuclear weapons while still a member of this agency. The situation cannot be worse than it is now.”