U.S.-Russian led initiative against nuclear terrorism holds first meeting

RABAT, Morocco (AP) - The world's five leading nuclear powers and eight other countries, including Canada, kicked off a new program Monday aimed at keeping nuclear weapons beyond the reach of terrorists. Amid the global concerns over North Korea's test of an atomic bomb and suspicions Iran is trying to develop such weapons, delegations from the United States and the other states said it was paramount for the world to guard against terrorist groups joining the hunt.

"The concern is fundamental - we must stop terrorists from acquiring" nuclear weapons, said Robert Joseph, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.

The world's five leading nuclear powers - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - form the core of the new Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.

Those five plus Canada, Italy, Japan, China, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Australia and Morocco signed two agreements on common principles and "terms of reference" that were not immediately made public after the start of the two-day meeting in Rabat.

The initiative aims to provide guidelines for keeping track of radioactive materials, ensuring the safety of nuclear facilities, and combating illicit trafficking that could deliver nuclear materials into the hands of terrorists.

But one nuclear proliferation expert said the project offered little new, warning that porous Russian military bases, insufficient security at U.S. nuclear sites, and the absence of nuclear powers like Pakistan and India from the coalition were gaping holes.

Laura Holgate, an analyst for Nuclear Threat Initiative, a non-governmental organization in the United States, said the effort offered few new ideas from those discussed over the last five years.

If nuclear materials were safely stored, she said, problems of their trafficking and possible acquisition by terrorists would never arise.

"The security issue has got to be front and centre," she said by phone from Washington, D.C. Co-operation on oversight entailed in the new efforts does not include military facilities, where most nuclear material lies, she said.

With the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs topping the international diplomatic agenda, the project's U.S. and Russian leaders want to better secure the world's nuclear materials and knowledge.

"It's about galvanizing the elements in the world to protect . . . people from one of the most dangerous threats we face," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak.

"We do agree on some things. We have disagreements and nuances on others," he added.

"I think we will work together, but we might disagree on the technique," he said.

A senior Western diplomat said the meeting was an important sign of co-operation between Americans and Russians in an area where they haven't always seen eye-to-eye, particularly over whether to impose sanctions on Iran.

The U.S. and its allies are seeking to force the Iranians to halt uranium enrichment, which can produce material for fuelling nuclear reactors but also for nuclear warheads.

Russia and China, which have economic links to Iran, have shied away from imposing punitive measures. Iran insists its nuclear effort is solely aimed at using reactors to generate electricity.

The diplomat, who agreed to discuss the meeting only on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, said the initiative's sponsors hope to prevent nuclear terrorism by doing more to curtail terrorist financing and improving safeguards for radioactive materials, from naturally occurring sources to hospital equipment.

U.S. President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, announced the initiative July 15 at the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In a statement, the two leaders urged like-minded countries to expand joint efforts to "combat nuclear terrorism on a determined and systematic basis."

© The Canadian Press, 2006