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)