OSLO, Norway – Fifteen years after the end of the Cold War, the risk of nuclear disaster is as great as ever, as terrorists zealously pursue atomic weapons, chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei said Saturday in accepting the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency he leads received the coveted award in the Norwegian capital for their efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons – a job ElBaradei nearly lost because of a dispute with the United States over Iran and Iraq.
“We are in a race against time,” the 63-year-old Egyptian said about efforts to keep nuclear weapons away from terrorists.
To escape self-destruction, the world must make atomic weapons as much a taboo as slavery or genocide, ElBaradei said in his acceptance speech. It has been 60 years since the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, yet the world is still deeply concerned over nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.
ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency locked horns with Washington in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war by challenging U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were ever found.
More recently, ElBaradei’s refusal to back U.S. assertions that Iran has a covert nuclear weapons program hardened opposition to him within the Bush administration.
ElBaradei said globalization, with the free flow of people and products, presented new challenges in curbing the spread of nuclear weapons, especially by terrorists. He has warned that nuclear terror attacks could be imminent.
“Our security strategies have not yet caught up with the security threats we are facing,” ElBaradei said.
“There are three main features to this changing landscape: first, the emergence of an extensive black market in nuclear material and equipment; second, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and sensitive nuclear technology; and third, the stagnation in nuclear disarmament,” the laureate said.
Associated Press
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureates, the International Atomic Energy Agency, represented by director general Mohamed ElBaradei (left) and ambassador Yukiya Amano, light the flame of peace Saturday at an event just before the peace prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
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