Nations say US shirks its arms vows

UNITED NATIONS -- The United States is seeking to use a major UN conference on nuclear nonproliferation to highlight the dangers of North Korea and Iran, but has been undermined by allegations from some developing countries that Washington itself has backtracked on commitments to reduce its nuclear arsenal, according to UN diplomats and delegates to the conference.

One week into the four-week conference, delegates have failed to agree on an agenda, while the United States insists on focusing on the threat of rogue states and terrorist groups and developing countries insist on talking about unfulfilled US pledges.

The conference is aimed at strengthening the landmark 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, widely considered to be the world's most important arms-control blueprint. Nearly every nation in the world has signed on. Three that haven't -- Pakistan, India, and Israel -- have either acquired nuclear weapons or are believed to have done so.

Many delegates say the treaty is in jeopardy, as member states wrestle with how to handle Iran, which is suspected of developing a military nuclear program, and North Korea, which pulled out of the treaty in 2003 and could be preparing for its first nuclear test. Some delegates warn that the treaty could unravel if the states with nuclear weapons give up on their promises to eliminate them.

The Bush administration, which has expressed skepticism about the usefulness of several international agreements, is addressing the challenges outside the formal discussions about the treaty in talks with North Korea's neighbors and by supporting negotiations between Iran, Britain, France, and Germany.

Washington is also hoping to build a consensus for enforcement measures that could eventually result in sanctions against Iran and North Korea, according to UN officials and delegates. US officials also said they are hoping to win support for a series of unilateral actions to stem proliferation, including an initiative to intercept ships believed to be carrying nuclear supplies and tougher national safeguards of nuclear facilities.

But the US efforts have been frustrated by a block of developing countries, led by Egypt, that have insisted the gathering should also address US disarmament pledges.

The United States is under fire for what some nations see as its violations of agreements made under the nonproliferation treaty in 1995 and 2000 to dismantle some of its weapons. In preparatory meetings with other countries before this year's conference, the Bush administration distanced itself from those commitments and refused to sign on to an agenda for the conference that explicitly referenced past pledges, saying those commitments were not binding, according to the UN officials and delegates involved.

That assertion alarmed many arms-control advocates.

''I think it's unprecedented," said Ben Sanders, an adviser to the Dutch delegation who has attended every treaty-review conference.

The UN undersecretary general for disarmament, Nobuyasu Abe, said the US delegation showed more flexibility last week, seeking only a ''weaker reference" to the 2000 pledges. ''You just cannot erase it from the record of the conference," Abe said.

But the general US resistance to discussing such pledges -- and Egypt's insistence on doing so -- appeared to be at the heart of the failure to reach an agenda for the meeting Friday.

The treaty rests on the premise that nonnuclear states will seek only peaceful nuclear technology if the five nuclear powers who are party to the treaty work toward irreversibly and verifiably destroying their own nuclear arsenals.

But the Bush administration has talked openly about developing new nuclear weapons technology, rejected a treaty banning new nuclear tests, and has negotiated a pullout from an accord with Russia that had strict benchmarks for destroying weapons.

Instead, US officials entered into a new agreement with Russia that requires a reduction in quickly deployable strategic warheads, but does not require the destruction of dismantled parts.

US officials say that the Bush administration has taken major steps to reduce America's nuclear arsenal, but that the real threats in the world today are rogue states and terrorist networks.

''We hope that the delegates recognize that the world is much different than the last time we met and that we all must work together in creative ways to combat those who try to go around the NPT," said Richard Grenell, spokesman for the US mission at the United Nations.

To some analysts, the US stance undermines Washington's ability to play a leadership role in brokering deals at the conference.

''It's self-defeating," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a Washington-based research and advocacy group. ''By denying the decisions taken at the 2000 conference, they are cheapening the value of outcome at this conference and risk that other states may cherry pick which commitments they wish to honor."

''The nuclear weapons states . . . continue to develop and modernize their nuclear arsenals," Syed Hamid Albar, Malaysia's foreign minister said at the conference last week, speaking on behalf of a bloc of ''nonaligned" developing countries. ''We must call for an end to this madness."

Albar said the moves by nuclear states threatened to ''unravel" the treaty, and he reiterated calls for nuclear states to make a legally-binding pledge not to attack countries that do not possess nuclear weapons. The United States has rejected that proposal.

The makeup of the US delegation has also raised questions about the Bush administration's interest in the treaty.

''I took as a sign the fact that [Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice did not come down," said one UN official working on arms-control issues, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. ''I took it as sign that this was very low-level attention and they weren't necessarily putting that much focus and emphasis on it."

The most senior US official in this year's delegation is Stephen G. Rademaker, assistant secretary of state for arms control, in part because Robert Joseph, nominated for undersecretary for arms control, has not yet been confirmed for the post.

In past years, the United States took a more active and high-level role in the conference, which takes place every five years.

In 2000, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright delivered the opening address. In 1995, Vice President Al Gore headed the US delegation that worked to renew the treaty, which was to expire that year.

''The Bush administration cares about the NPT, but it doesn't care that much," said Thomas Graham Jr., special representative for arms control under President Clinton. ''From 1968 to 2001, the NPT was absolutely at the center of US foreign policy. Now it is not at the center."