West spars with developing countries on IAEA aid for Syria

By Albert Otti Nov 24, 2008, 14:48 GMT

Vienna - Western countries on Monday questioned proposed nuclear technology aid for Syria, while developing countries did not want to defer the project for the country that allegedly worked on a secret nuclear reactor, diplomats said.

In a meeting of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) member states, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei also defended the project that Syria applied for with his organization.

At issue is a project worth 350,000 dollars, to be spent over three years, in which the IAEA would help Syria define a suitable location for a nuclear reactor.

The US, France, Britain and Australia, among others, suggested the project should be deferred to a later date or not be funded, as there are suspicions that Syria built a secret nuclear reactor at al-Kibar in its eastern desert. The site was destroyed by the Israeli air force in September 2007.

US deputy ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt said his country would agree to approve all other IAEA technical aid projects for next year, except for this one, according to diplomats.

However, the developing countries of the Group of 77, together with China, as well as the groups of Latin American and African countries each issued joint statements calling for IAEA aid not to become politicized.

Referring to the IAEA statute, ElBaradei indicated Monday that the organization's technical cooperation projects could only be stalled if a member country was found to have violated IAEA rules, if it did not pay its dues, or was under sanctions of the United Nations Security Council.

ElBaradei pointed out that Israel had its IAEA technical aid curtailed under a UN resolution in 1991, after it had destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq.

The IAEA issued a first report on Syria last week, which noted that the features of the destroyed al-Kibar site were what was be expected at a nuclear reactor, and which said that uranium particles had been found there.

But the report did not draw any conclusion, and neither the IAEA governing board, which is set to meet from Thursday, nor the Security Council have issued any resolutions on the matter.

The IAEA board committee dealing with technical aid has until Wednesday to decide on the Syrian project.