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IAEA Chief: Arabs don't address security
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The Arab-Israeli conflict has kept Arabs from addressing other security concerns, including the need to rid the region of weapons of mass destruction, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Monday. Mohamed ElBaradei head of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency told a forum of international leaders that the Middle East must free itself of all weapons of mass destruction. "We only focus on land for peace, we never really look at security," ElBaradei said. "Clearly we need to have a nuclear weapon free zone, clearly we have to rid ourselves of chemical and biological weapons and that has to be, again, part of the security dialogue that should to be parallel to the peace process." ElBaradei said Arab states need to consider such questions as how to deal with neighbors like Iran and whether regional or international alliances or alliances with major powers would better serve their security needs. "The problem is we never really defined, in the Arab world, what is our security threat," he said. Security in the region is undermined by poverty, lack of basic freedoms and violations of human rights, which breeds terrorism and extremism, ElBaradei said. Posted by: Seafarious 2004-12-14 |
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