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Indonesia nervous about uranium enrichment talk in Australia
A former Indonesian Government official says talk of uranium enrichment in Australia is making Jakarta nervous. Doctor Dewi Anwar was an adviser to former Indonesian president Habibi and has spoken to Radio National. Dr Anwar says Australia needs to reassure its neighbours that it has no desire to acquire nuclear weapons. "I think it's very important that Australia does assure the international community that it will not add another security threat to the already very unstable global situation at the moment," she said."Indonesia and the (Association of South East Asian Nations) ASEAN countries would probably be concerned about Australia doing uranium enrichment until we get more details of it." Dr Anwar also says her country could consider the possibility of uranium enrichment. "Indonesia would also have the right to enrich uranium as long it is for peaceful purposes and within the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards," she said. "Because Indonesia would not want to be totally dependent on a few nuclear suppliers." But the Foreign Affairs Minister has assured Indonesia that Australian uranium will not be used to make nuclear weapons. Mr Downer says there is no cause for concern. "I would have that international security would have been better served by enriched uranium coming from a country as secure, as stable, as democratic and as responsible as Australia," he said. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-09-03 |
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