Global consensus on freeing ME from nuclear weapons

"The United Nations (UN) General Assembly Committee on Disarmament (COD) unanimously endorsed a draft resolution on rendering the Middle East region free of nuclear weapons," said Ahmad Abul-Gheit, Egypt's permanent ambassador to the UN.

Abul-Gheit said the COD approval of the draft resolution reflected international support for taking executive steps in this respect, adding that it also sent a clear message to Israel that it has to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"Israel is the only country in the Middle East that did not join the NPT, nor were its nuclear utilities subject to the comprehensive guarantees system of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," said Abul-Gheit.

On the other hand, Abul-Gheit said Egypt's delegation has made reservations over the resolution on the treaty to ban landmines, as the treaty did not deal with responsibility of the countries that had planted mines in others' lands to remove them or even help in the dismantling operation.

He also voiced Egypt's declining to join a treaty on banning chemical weapons in light of Israel's failure to join the NPT.