World Leaders
Strategise To Stop Nuclear Spread
President
Barack Obama and presidents, prime ministers and other top
officials from forty-seven countries have started work on a
battle plan to keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.
Confronting what he calls the ’’single biggest threat to U.S.
security,’’ Obama is seeking a global help in his goal to
ensure that all nuclear materials worldwide are secured from
theft or diversion within four years.
Speaking on the eve of what would be the largest assembly of
world leaders hosted by an American president since 1945, the
International Nuclear Summit, Obama said nuclear materials in
the hands of al-Qaida or another terrorist group could change
the security landscape around the world for years to come.
Obama expressed satisfaction over the degree of commitment and
sense of urgency shown by the world leaders so far on the issue,
which has become a part and parcel of the broader focus over the
last several weeks
.
The Sunday meeting had in attendance, the leaders of Kazakhstan,
South Africa, India and Pakistan.
The United States is the only country to use the weapons, two
bombs dropped on Japan to force its surrender in World War II.
Nuclear policy
The high-flown ambition, which the president admits will
probably not be reality in his lifetime, began a year ago in
Prague when he laid out plans for significant nuclear reductions
and a nuclear-weapons-free world.
Obama, last week, approved a new nuclear policy for the United
States, promising last week to reduce America's nuclear arsenal,
refrain from nuclear tests and not use nuclear weapons against
countries that do not have them.
However, North Korea and Iran were not included in that pledge,
as they have not accepted to cooperate with other countries on
non-proliferation standards.
Iran will be a subtext in the two-day gathering, as Obama works
to gain support for a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against
Tehran for its refusal to shut down what the United States and
many key allies assert is a nuclear weapons program.
AP/Williams/Yinka
