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ElBaradei Wins Third Term as IAEA Chief By Greg Webb VIENNA — Mohamed ElBaradei effectively won today a third term as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The consensus decision by the agency’s Board of Governors capped several months of controversy which only ended last week when the United States formally dropped its opposition to ElBaradei’s candidacy (see GSN, June 10). Technically, all the agency’s members must deliver ElBaradei’s reappointment at their annual meeting in September, but today’s board decision was the final practical hurdle he faced. The Bush administration had opposed having ElBaradei serve another four-year term, ostensibly based on the principle that heads of major international organizations should serve two terms at most. Behind the scenes, however, diplomats acknowledged that U.S. officials were unhappy with ElBaradei, believing him to be too passive in building pressure against Iraq before the war and more recently in investigating Iran’s nuclear activities. Finally conceding that it was alone in its opposition, the United States reversed course last week and agreed to support ElBaradei, who traveled to Washington Thursday to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and White House officials. Despite clearing that obstacle, ElBaradei’s re-election was not without minor drama today. Most of the board meeting was absorbed by a procedural conflict, during which Japan opposed moving the ElBaradei decision to the top of the agenda. Meeting Chairwoman Ingrid Hall of Canada had sought the change and all other nations on the 35-member board agreed. While Japan claimed it was unhappy with the procedural precedents that could be set by making last-minute agenda changes, few in the board room doubted there were other explanations, said one Western diplomat. The diplomat speculated that Japan was unhappy with the agenda fiasco at last month’s review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (see GSN, May 31). At that meeting in New York, treaty parties could not agree on an agenda until nearly two weeks into the monthlong meeting. That agenda debate drew out because NPT meetings virtually require all decisions to be made by consensus, but the same rule does not apply here at the IAEA board meetings. Decisions by vote are possible, but Hall declined to hold a vote on the agenda switch, despite receiving pressure early in the day from 34 of the 35 board members to do so, said another diplomat who participates in the board meetings. “The chair is losing control of the meeting,” the diplomat said at midday, describing a frenzy of dissatisfaction within the board room. Hall ultimately won the day, by successfully obtaining consensus without a vote to move ElBaradei’s re-election to the top of the list. ElBaradei Looks Forward“I am humbled and awed by the unanimous support I received today,” ElBaradei said afterwards. He looked forward to addressing several nonproliferation challenges the agency faces and said he and Washington largely agreed on the issues. “We might once in a while disagree on tactics, but on many objectives, we share the same common view that we need to stem the proliferation of nuclear weapons, we need to ensure the authority of the agency in terms of verification, we need to have better control over the sensitive fuel cycle and we need to have a more efficient compliance mechanism,” ElBaradei said. Iranian officials appeared to enjoy today’s procedural controversy, as they have been seen as the nation of difficulty at recent IAEA meetings. Senior nuclear negotiator Sirus Naseri atypically roamed the agency halls chatting easily with journalists and decrying the proceedings as “silly.” His lightheartedness could change later in the week, however, when the agency’s head of safeguards is expected to issue a stern report describing Iran’s compliance with agreements to allow the agency to monitor and review its nuclear activities (see related GSN story, today). The agency report is expected to say that Iran has complied with its deal to allow agency inspectors to confirm that it is not conducting any uranium enrichment, wire services reported today. However, the report is also expected to express frustration with Iran’s unwillingness to offer additional access or information. ElBaradei told reporters today that his own statement to the board would note positive and negative aspects of the agency’s effort to learn about Iran’s nuclear program. “I am going to report that Iran has facilitated access to nuclear materials, nuclear sites. I am going to report that Iran has respected its commitment with regard to the suspension of the fuel cycle activities. These are all positive. I am also going to report that we are making progress with regards to the contamination issue and we are getting good cooperation from Pakistan in that regard. “But I’m also going to say on the issue of the extent and nature of their centrifuge program, we still need additional information from Iran,” he said. This week’s meeting is scheduled to take on several other issues, including Saudi Arabia’s request to receive minimal nuclear oversight from the agency. ElBaradei is expected to address this and other issues in his formal statement to the board tomorrow morning.
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