Global Security Newswire

The Obama administration dispatched a high-level diplomat to South Africa last week to consult with one of the country's top nuclear officials over the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference schedule for May, the Star newspaper reported (see GSN, Feb. 3).

South Africa's decision two decades ago to relinquish its small nuclear arsenal has placed the country in a special position to advance the goals of the upcoming conference, said U.S. special envoy Susan Burk. The U.S. diplomat met with Abdul Minty, South Africa's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The treaty, which entered force in 1970, calls for nuclear-weapon states to move toward eliminating their atomic arsenals, for non-nuclear weapon states not to acquire such armaments, and for all signatories to receive access to civilian nuclear power capabilities.

Treaty members, including South Africa, have been frustrated by the slow pace at which the five recognized nuclear powers -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- have moved to eliminate their arsenals, Burk told The Star on Friday.

"But now the U.S. has an opportunity we have not had in a while to advance the agenda on all three pillars of the NPT," she said.

Washington intends to "participate constructively and substantively" at the NPT meeting, Burk said. She did not offer details of how the Obama administration would seek to reinforce and strengthen the nonproliferation regime.

"We welcome the fact that the Obama administration is committed to multilateralism," Minty said, referring to the nuclear disarmament agenda laid out by U.S. President Barack Obama in a speech in Prague last April (see GSN, April 6, 2009).

"We welcome the Prague speech, but if expectations are raised too high and are not met, this could be damaging," Minty said (Peter Fabricius, The Star, Feb. 22).