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Statement by Mr AS Minty, the South
African Governor on the IAEA Board of Governors, Vienna
Agenda item 8(d)
Implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in the
Islamic Republic of Iran: Report by the Director General
Chairperson,
At the outset, we should like to fully support the
statement made on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) on this agenda item.
My delegation wishes to thank the Director General
for his comprehensive report as contained in GOV/2004/60
on the implementation of the safeguards agreement in
the Islamic Republic of Iran. I should like to commend
the Agency for its highly professional efforts and to
express my appreciation for the continued co-operation
extended by the Iranian authorities to the Director
General and his staff.
In his introductory statement to the Board, the Director
General noted that his report deals with "two interrelated,
but distinct sets of issues". In the words of the
Director General, "the first related to the Agency's
verification of Iran's compliance with its legal obligations
under its NPT Safeguards Agreement and the second related
to the Agency's monitoring of Iran's voluntary undertakings
to suspend enrichment-related and reprocessing activities,
as confidence-building measures requested by the Board".
Thus, the Board has to consider, first, matters that
relate to the legal obligations of Iran and, second,
the situation regarding the voluntary confidence building
measures of Iran involving undertakings of Iran about
suspending enrichment related and reprocessing activities.
South Africa has studied the factual report of the
Director General and noted that the report welcomes
the additional information recently provided by Iran
in response to the Agency's requests, including the
prompt provision by Iran of clarifications concerning
its initial declaration pursuant to its Additional Protocol.
We are also pleased to note that since the June 2004
Board Meeting, Iran has granted six complementary accesses.
We have further noted that the Agency continues to
make steady progress in understanding Iran's nuclear
programme. It is therefore expected that, if the verification
process is allowed to continue unhindered and makes
progress, and the relevant factual information enables
the Agency in future to draw definitive conclusions
that confirm the correctness and completeness of Iran's
declarations related to all aspects of its nuclear programme,
it would then enable the Board to conclude this matter.
However, if the process discloses any factual findings
of serious concern, then the Board will have to reach
appropriate conclusions.
We also note that the report states that with regard
to the issue of laser enrichment activities and Iran's
declared uranium conversion experiments, investigations
have reached a point where further follow-up can now
be carried out as a routine safeguards implementation
matter.
There are concerns expressed in the report in relation
to the issues that remain unresolved. On the issue of
the origin of HEU and LEU contamination found at various
locations in Iran, South Africa notes that the co-operation
of other States is required to assist the Agency in
understanding the remaining aspects of this contamination.
We would consequently urge all third countries to provide
their full and prompt co-operation with the Agency.
To all those who have already done so, we express our
appreciation and look forward to their continued co-operation.
Regarding the importation and fabrication of P-1 and
P-2 centrifuge components, South Africa notes that the
Agency has gained a better understanding of Iran's efforts
regarding both designs. In this regard, my delegation
would urge Iran to actively co-operate with the Agency
in providing the necessary clarifications and support
to the ongoing inspections. We hope that the remaining
questions concerning Iran's programme will be clarified
soon.
As my delegation has stated on various occasions, we
recognise and support the inalienable right of all States
to utilise the atom for peaceful purposes only as provided
for in Article IV and in conformity with Articles I,
II and III of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (NPT). As agreed at the 2000 Review
Conference of the NPT, "each country's choices
and decisions in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear
energy should be respected without jeopardising its
policies or international co-operation agreements and
arrangements for peaceful uses of nuclear energy and
its fuel cycle policies".
Based on our own experience and capabilities, we believe
that ownership of the capabilities that could be utilised
to develop nuclear weapons places a special responsibility
on the States concerned, especially those that have
developed full nuclear fuel cycles. The Agency has to
be able to verify that all such capabilities are being
used for peaceful purposes only, including through the
mechanisms available under the Additional Protocol for
strengthened safeguards. In this regard, I wish to remind
Members that when we negotiated the Additional Protocol,
our intention was to strengthen the Agency's non-proliferation
activities in verifying the non-diversion of nuclear
materials in a comprehensive manner. It is for this
reason that South Africa has continued to support the
universal application of the Additional Protocol.
It is our view that should we find, through recent
experience, that existing instruments available to the
Agency are not adequate and the non-proliferation regime
needs to be strengthened, we should discuss the matter
collectively in the relevant multilateral fora and,
if necessary, negotiate new measures within the relevant
technically competent and established multilateral institutions.
The matter would also have to be discussed by the 2005
NPT Review conference. Above all, it is of critical
importance that any legally binding instrument must
be the result of an inclusive and all-encompassing process,
thereby ensuring its full co-ownership by the international
community. This means that we must rely essentially
on dialogue and co-operation in order to secure the
best result.
South Africa has always held the view that States have
the responsibility of building confidence with the international
community so as to remove any legitimate concerns about
nuclear weapons proliferation. This requires transparency
and full co-operation with the Agency. In this regard,
South Africa welcomes the report by the Director General
to the effect that the Agency has been able to verify
Iran's suspension of enrichment related activities at
specific facilities and sites, and has also been able
to confirm that it has not observed, to date, any activities
at those locations inconsistent with Iran's voluntary
decision.
In terms of confidence-building measures, South Africa
wishes to reiterate, once again, that it cannot support
unwarranted restrictions on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) guaranteed access to such capabilities
for peaceful purposes by States that are fully compliant
with their obligations under the NPT. The imposition
of additional restrictive measures on some NPT States,
while allowing others to have access to these capabilities,
only serves to exacerbate existing inequalities that
are already inherent in the NPT and undermines one of
the central bargains that are contained in the Treaty.
It is South Africa's principled view that no action
should be taken by this Board that may impinge on the
Agency's statutory responsibility of verifying, in an
impartial and unbiased manner, compliance with its safeguards
agreements. It is of paramount importance to the integrity
and survival of the Agency that we resolve the issue
of Iran in a way that would strengthen, and not weaken,
this multilateral institution. If we fail in this regard,
we will also contribute to the further weakening of
the NPT itself, which remains the only legally binding
instrument that seeks to ensure both nuclear disarmament
and nuclear non-proliferation.
Chairperson,
Regarding the resolution on Iran, South Africa wishes
to express its profound disappointment with the inflexibility
shown by some negotiating partners in arriving at the
final text that was presented to this Board today. My
delegation has noted that whilst the reports of the
Director General have been increasingly positive regarding
the level of co-operation extended by Iran and the clarification
it has provided on many issues raised by the Agency,
the Board's resolutions have, in contrast, become increasingly
strong. South Africa is concerned that we should not
seek the path of confrontation but that of negotiation.
We would call on all involved to co-operate in good
faith so that this matter can be resolved in a manner
that will contribute to maintaining the solidarity of
the Board and the strengthening of the Agency.
The proposals that we made to improve the language
of the resolution, both in the context of the Non-Aligned
Movement and bilaterally, were based on issues of principle,
in line with the report of the Director General and
in accordance with the statutory mandate of the Agency
and international law. These proposals were made to
ensure that the text accurately reflects and is fully
consistent with the powers and mandate of the Board.
We believe that it is of paramount importance for all
of us to address our concerns in an appropriate manner
and do nothing that would damage the integrity, authority
and credibility of the Agency.
In this context, Chairperson, we have consistently
emphasised the importance of differentiating between
the legal obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran
and the confidence building measures that it has voluntarily
undertaken, without in any way negating the importance
of such measures to remove concerns about nuclear weapons
proliferation.
We also do not believe in micro-managing the Director
General. It will be perilous for the Agency to do so.
We are, furthermore, very seriously concerned about
the evolution of the recent discussions arising out
of the original agreement between the three European
countries and Iran. We are grateful for the important
interaction of the three European countries and the
co-operation by Iran in agreeing to the voluntary confidence
building measures, which allowed us to make important
progress on this matter. It is now critical that the
three European countries and Iran, with the necessary
goodwill and good faith, clarify and resolve all the
pertinent issues so that we are able to make further
progress.
Chairperson,
My delegation has noted that the Agency has, to date,
not reported on any evidence found of the diversion
of Iran's nuclear program for military purposes. However,
we call on Iran to continue taking all possible measures
to assist the Agency in clarifying the outstanding issues,
build confidence and thus contribute to the process
that can bring these matters to a close. At the same
time, we are fully aware of the fact that it will also
need commitment on the part of all third countries to
also provide their full and pro-active co-operation
to the Agency to clarify and resolve these matters.
Without their fullest co-operation, the Agency will
not be able to bring finality to this matter.
In conclusion, Chairperson,
We hope that our deliberations today will be properly
recorded - including the NAM proposals - and that these
texts also be placed on the IAEA website.
I also wish to thank the Ambassador of Germany for
his reminder relating to our working methods.
We look forward to the Director General's report to
the November 2004 Board meeting, or earlier, to enable
the Board to reach appropriate conclusions. My delegation
would urge all Board Members, through dialogue and co-operation,
to ensure that we continue to act in a co-ordinated
and unified manner to resolve all the outstanding issues
on the basis of consensus.
We wish to thank the Director General and his staff
for keeping the Board informed of developments related
to the implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement
in the Islamic Republic of Iran and look forward to
an early conclusion of all outstanding issues.
Finally, Chairperson, I would like to pay tribute to
your role as our Chairperson and to thank you for your
personal kindness and the courtesy extended to all Members
of the Board. It is vital that the Chair always remains
fair and impartial. We shall miss you and South Africa
will also miss you as our alphabetical neighbour.
I thank you.
Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001
18 September 2004
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