POTUS CHAIRS UNSC SUMMIT, PASSES UNANIMOUS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000860

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PARM UNSC KNNP KSUM
SUBJECT: POTUS CHAIRS UNSC SUMMIT, PASSES UNANIMOUS
RESOLUTION ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AND NON-PROLIFERATION


1. (SBU) Summary. President Obama on September 24 convened a
heads-of-state summit of the UN Security Council at which
resolution 1887 on nuclear disarmament and nuclear
non-proliferation was adopted unanimously and with full
Council co-sponsorship. In addition to the 15 Security
Council members, the UN Secretary General and IAEA
Director-General also made statements. Although many
delegations balanced their statements among the themes of
nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of
nuclear energy, some gave particular focus to one theme.
Costa Rica, Austria, Mexico and Libya concentrated on nuclear
disarmament, France focused almost exclusively on Iran and
North Korea, and Uganda made a plea for peaceful uses of
nuclear energy. In addition to France, leaders from the UK,
Japan and the U.S. made specific references to Iran and North
Korea as proliferation threats. All delegations warmly
welcomed the President's initiative to convene the summit.
End summary.


2. (SBU) President Obama on September 24 convened a
heads-of-state summit meeting of the Security Council.
Resolution 1887 on nuclear disarmament and nuclear
non-proliferation was adopted unanimously at the beginning of
the meeting. All 15 Council members co-sponsored the text.
The President delivered the U.S. statement, stressing the
threat and spread of nuclear weapons and the goal of a world
free of nuclear weapons. (See text at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the press office.) UN Secretary
General Ban was next to speak, saying that he had emphasized
the need for a stronger role for the Council on the issue of
nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. Ban
focused his statement on three actions: increase
transparency and openness regarding the weapons programs of
the nuclear-weapon states; promote universal membership in
key treaties, such as a fissile material cut-off treaty
(FMCT)and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT); and
facilitate the parallel tracks of nuclear disarmament and
nuclear non-proliferation, by making sure that the IAEA has
the resources and support it needs.

Nuclear Disarmament


3. (SBU) Many states called for ratification of the CTBT and
an early start to negotiations on a FMCT. Oscar Arias,
President of Costa Rica, said countries choose to create more
nuclear weapons than abandon them, as evidenced by the more
than 22,000 nuclear warheads in existence. Austrian
President Heinz Fischer said the goal of all states should be
a world without nuclear weapons, and that the NPT is the core
document to promote that goal. Russian President Medvedev
said, "(Russia) continues to reduce nuclear armaments way
ahead of schedule." He reiterated that the U.S. and Russia
had carried out unprecedented reductions in strategic nuclear
armaments in the framework of START and stated Russia's
readiness to continue to move forward and its willingness to
complete the post-START negotiations by December. Mexican
President Felipe Calderon said while Mexico welcomed the
efforts of the U.S. and Russia to reduce their stockpiles of
nuclear weapons, the two countries still "control 90 percent
of the world's nuclear weapons." Resolution 1887, he said,
should help move forward the process of disarmament.


4. (SBU) Chinese Premier Hu Jintao said all nuclear-weapon
states should take the lead in nuclear disarmament and make
"drastic reductions" in their arsenals, and he called for
states to join the CTBT and start negotiations immediately on
a FMCT. Hu highlighted China's commitment to a no-first-use
policy and urged all nuclear-weapon states to make similar
pledges. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said nuclear-weapon
states must pursue "active disarmament with a credible
roadmap that will command the confidence of non-nuclear
weapon states." As a demonstration of the UK's disarmament
pledge, Brown said that when the UK's next class of nuclear
submarines entered into service in the mid-2020s, its fleet
would be reduced from four boats to three. Japan's Prime
Minister Yukio Hatoyama made several references to Japan's
unique status as the only country in the world that was the
victim of a nuclear attack. He called on the nuclear-weapon
states to reduce their arsenals and adopt transparent
measures on verification, and he urged early entry into force
of the CTBT and FMCT. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and
Libyan Permanent Representative to the UN Abdurrahman Shalgam
(Libyan Leader Qaddafi was not present at the meeting)
highlighted the importance of establishing
nuclear-weapon-free zones, in particular a zone in the Middle
East, and Shalgam further asserted that Israel's Dimona
nuclear facility should be inspected just like any other
country's facility. Shalgam said, "My country took the
historic initiative to give up the nuclear bomb," and by

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doing so, "made a great service to international peace and
security." Thus, he said, "Libya deserves the appreciation
of the world" and a permanent seat on the Security Council.

Non-Proliferation


5. (SBU) Most speakers emphasized the need to strengthen the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the IAEA. French
President Nicolas Sarkozy made the day's strongest comments
about the proliferation challenges posed by Iran and North
Korea. In unscripted remarks, Sarkozy said that Iran's and
North Korea's actions are undermining the very rules on which
collective security is based. Sarkozy said, "In violation of
five Security Council resolutions, Iran is pursuing its
nuclear proliferation activities." UK PM Gordon Brown said
the world cannot stand by while Iran and North Korea reject
the opportunities of peaceful civil nuclear power and instead
take steps to develop nuclear weapons. He also said
countries must give the IAEA the resources it needs to verify
compliance. The Japanese Prime Minister was the only other
speaker (besides the U.S.) to name Iran and North Korea as
proliferation threats, and said stronger measures were needed
to fully implement resolution 1874, which imposed sanctions
on North Korea.


6. (SBU) Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said that nuclear
non-proliferation must come before disarmament, and called
upon countries to prevent abuse of the NPT. Austrian
President Fischer and Turkish PM Erdogan noted that
resolution 1540 on non-proliferation of WMD required further
implementation. Medvedev called upon states to take
advantage of non-proliferation mechanisms through 1540 and
the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. Chinese
Premier Hu urged all countries to join the NPT and tighten
and improve export controls. IAEA Director General Mohamed
Elbaradei lamented that the IAEA's legal authority is
severely limited and 90 states have not allowed full
inspections of nuclear facilities, a problem exacerbated by
the fact that the IAEA's verification mandate only includes
nuclear material, not the weaponization of the material. To
counter this, Elbaradei said countries need to work toward
putting in place a multilateral fuel bank of low-enriched
uranium to implement an accessible nuclear fuel cycle.
Elbaradei also made a plea for adequate funding for the IAEA,
saying that the agency cannot fulfill its mandate at its
current level of funding.


Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy


7. (SBU) Most delegations voiced the need for enhancement of
access to civil nuclear energy. Uganda's President Yoweri
Museveni said that Africa is not interested in nuclear
weapons but nuclear energy, and he called on states to work
toward making access to civil nuclear energy more feasible, a
point echoed by Burkina Faso President Blaise Comaore, French
President Sarkozy, and Mexican President Calderon.
RICE