FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
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Reuters]
Busher nuke station building site. Reuters
[http://images.thetimes.co.uk/images/trans.gif]
The Times November 04, 2006
Six Arab states join rush to go nuclearBy Richard Beeston, Diplomatic
Editor
Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE and Saudi Arabia seek atom
technology [http://images.thetimes.co.uk/images/trans.gif] THE
SPECTRE of a nuclear race in the Middle East was raised yesterday when
six Arab states announced that they were embarking on programmes to
master atomic technology.
The move, which follows the failure by the West to curb Iran's
controversial nuclear programme, could see a rapid spread of nuclear
reactors in one of the world's most unstable regions, stretching
from the Gulf to the Levant and into North Africa.
The countries involved were named by the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) as Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Tunisia and
the UAE have also shown interest.
All want to build civilian nuclear energy programmes, as they are
permitted to under international law. But the sudden rush to nuclear
power has raised suspicions that the real intention is to acquire
nuclear technology which could be used for the first Arab atomic bomb.
"Some Middle East states, including Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and
Saudi Arabia, have shown initial interest [in using] nuclear power
primarily for desalination purposes," Tomihiro Taniguch, the deputy
director-general of the IAEA, told the business weekly Middle East
Economic Digest. He said that they had held preliminary discussions with
the governments and that the IAEA's technical advisory programme
would be offered to them to help with studies into creating power
plants.
Mark Fitzpatrick, an expert on nuclear proliferation at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that it was clear
that the sudden drive for nuclear expertise was to provide the Arabs
with a "security hedge".
"If Iran was not on the path to a nuclear weapons capability you
would probably not see this sudden rush [in the Arab world]," he
said.
The announcement by the six nations is a stunning reversal of policy in
the Arab world, which had until recently been pressing for a nuclear
free Middle East, where only Israel has nuclear weapons.
Egypt and other North African states can argue with some justification
that they need cheap, safe energy for their expanding economies and
growing populations at a time of high oil prices.
The case will be much harder for Saudi Arabia, which sits on the
world's largest oil reserves. Earlier this year Prince Saud
al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, told The Times that his country opposed
the spread of nuclear power and weapons in the Arab world.
Since then, however, the Iranians have accelerated their nuclear power
and enrichment programmes.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2436948,00.html
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2436948,00.html>
MichaelK.
--- In osint@yahoogroups.com, Dietmar Muehlboeck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=11/5/2006&Cat=2&Num=017
>
> Six Arab countries look to nuclear power: report
>
>
> DUBAI (Reuters) - At least six Arab countries are developing domestic
> nuclear power programs to diversify energy sources, a Middle East
> economic magazine reported on Saturday.
>
> Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria have shown interest in
> developing nuclear power primarily for water desalination, the Middle
> East Economic Digest (MEED) quoted Tomihiro Taniguchi, deputy
> director-general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy
Agency
> (IAEA), as saying.
>
> "We held preliminary discussions with these governments. We will offer
> them help under our technical advisory program to conduct a study for
> the power plants," he was quoted as saying, adding that the interest
the
> four nations had shown was "at a tertiary stage".
>
> The United Arab Emirates and Tunisia have also shown interest in
nuclear
> power, but their plans are at an infant stage, the magazine said.
>
> Nobody at the IAEA was immediately available to comment. A diplomat
> close to the IAEA said the plans of Arab countries reflected "renewed
> interest in nuclear power".
>
> Egypt's nuclear program is the Arab world's most advanced. Russia is
> looking to take part in a tender to construct nuclear power stations
in
> the country, a Russian official said this week.
>
> Egypt has ordered studies into building atomic power stations after
> President Hosni Mubarak in September called for a national dialogue on
> the issue.
>
> MEED said Algeria's plans were the next most advanced after Egypt.
>
> +++
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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