Indonesia joins anti-nuclear test club

Indonesia joins anti-nuclear test club

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas has
signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), making Indonesia
among the first countries to sign the agreement which officially
puts an end to nuclear testing, Antara said yesterday.

Alatas is currently in New York to attend the 51st session of
the United Nations General Assembly.

The first to sign the treaty was U.S. President Bill Clinton
whose country has the largest nuclear arsenal. A total of 71
countries are expected to sign the treaty. India is refusing to
do so.

Indonesia has always supported concluding the CTBT this year.

While it shares India's worry that the CTBT does not guarantee
an overall elimination of nuclear weapons within a specified time
frame, Indonesia feels that a test ban treaty is significant
enough to warrant its full support. Another point of concern is
that it does not ban simulated nuclear tests.

Indonesia was a member of the disarmament committee which
negotiated the draft of the treaty.

Indonesia's signature on the CTBT is also important since it
is one of the 44 countries which will need to ratify the treaty
before it comes into force.

Each of the signatories has 180 days to ratify the treaty
within it through their respective legislatures before the
agreement comes into force.

Indonesia already has a nuclear research facility, the
National Research Center in Serpong, West Java, and is currently
conducting feasibility studies on building a nuclear power
station in Central Java.

As reported by Antara from New York, Alatas said the signing
was in line with Indonesia's constitutional duty to help preserve
and promote global peace.

Indonesia considers the signing of the CTBT another step
towards the total abolition of nuclear weapons.

The CTBT is a major achievement since all five nuclear powers
-- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- have
now made a political commitment to stop nuclear test explosions
forever.

Since World War II over 2,000 nuclear tests have been carried
out. The cap on further testing means that further development of
nuclear weapons will also be very difficult.

Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy is scheduled to sign the
treaty today. Israel's signature was a condition of Egypt's for
its own signature. However, as reported by AFP, Egyptian Foreign
Minister Amr Mussa has not said when he would sign, saying that
he would do so "in the coming weeks".

Because of India's refusal to sign, Pakistan is also
refusing. (mds)