ElBaradei, UN Nuclear Watchdog, Win Nobel Peace Prize

The International Atomic Energy
Agency and its director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, won this
year's Nobel Peace prize for their work to prevent the military
use of nuclear energy, the Oslo-based Nobel Committee said
today.
ElBaradei, a 63-year-old Egyptian, and the Vienna-based
IAEA, established in 1957 under the slogan ``Atoms for Peace,''
were honored for working to prevent the spread of weapons of
mass destruction and for seeking to promote the use of nuclear
science for peaceful purposes, the committee said.
``At a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again
increasing, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to underline
that this threat must be met through the broadest possible
international cooperation,'' Ole Danbolt Mjoes, director of the
Nobel Committee which picks the winner, said.
The prize was awarded 60 years after atomic bombs fell on
the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more
than 200,000 people. It may rejuvenate global efforts to
prevent the spread and development of nuclear arms in Iran and
North Korea, said researchers, including Espen Barth Eide, a
director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
The award should ``speed up efforts for the world to form
a more cohesive stance on disarmament and non-proliferation,''
Barth Eide said today in an interview. ``It addresses a number
of ongoing conflicts over nuclear issues in the world,
particularly in Iran.''

Inspections

One of the IAEA's main tasks is to ensure through
inspections that nations comply with international resolutions
to use nuclear material and facilities for peaceful purposes
and not to produce weapons. The group last month agreed to send
inspectors to North Korea when dictator Kim Jong Il honors a
promise to dismantle his nation's nuclear arms program and
rejoin global agreements to stop proliferation.
The agency is leading investigations into Iran's nuclear
program after the Islamic Republic in August removed IAEA seals
from a uranium conversion facility. Iran, with the world's
second-biggest oil reserves, says it wants enriched uranium to
generate electricity. The U.S. says Iran is trying to produce
material to build an atomic bomb.
A U.S.-backed resolution, submitted last month to the IAEA
by France, Germany and the U.K. and backed by 22 countries,
seeks to refer Iran's nuclear program to the UN Security
Council. The council has the power to impose economic
sanctions.
``The prize recognizes the number one danger that we face
today and that is the threat of nuclear weapons,'' ElBaradei
said at a press conference today in Vienna. ``The overwhelming
public support of the agency will help resolve the outstanding
issues of today including North Korea and Iran.''

Watched CNN

The director said he found out about winning the prize by
watching CNN television at home with his wife. The prize, worth
10 million kronor ($1.3 million), is split equally between the
ElBaradei and the IAEA.
A former New York University Law professor, ElBaradei was
an IAEA assistant director general for four years before taking
the helm in 1997. He was appointed to a third four-year term as
the agency's director in June.
Under his leadership, the IAEA sought to establish the
presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the 2003
invasion was ordered by President George W. Bush. Just days
before the attack, ElBaradei challenged U.S. claims that Iraq
sought to buy nuclear material from Niger.
U.S. Republican Senator Richard Lugar called the
committee's choice ``inspired and important.'' Lugar and former
Senator Sam Nunn were among favorites for the award this year
for their work to dismantle weapons of mass destruction from
the former Soviet Union and prevent these from falling into
terrorists hands.

New World Screwworm

The IAEA also works to develop nuclear technology that can
be used to aid efforts to reduce hunger and poverty and promote
healthcare. In 1988, the group joined forces with the UN Food
and Agricultural Organization and other agencies to eradicate
the New World Screwworm, which spreads a deadly livestock
disease. The radiation-based technology to kill the worm was
developed at the agency's Seibersdorf Laboratory.
``We need to work on development; we need to work on
security,'' ElBaradei said. ``You cannot have peace without
security and you cannot have security without development.''
Disarmament campaigners have won the prize before. The
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War won
the prize in 1985, on the 40th anniversary of the 1945 atomic
bombings. A decade later, Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash
Conferences on Science and World Affairs jointly won the prize
for working to reduce the role played by nuclear arms in
politics and to eliminate such weapons.
``This is the proudest moment of the IAEA,'' said Melissa
Fleming, a spokeswoman for the agency, today.
The peace prize, first awarded in 1901, was set up in the
will of Alfred Nobel, a Swede who invented dynamite. The five-
member Nobel committee, which keeps candidates' names secret,
received a record 199 nominations this year.

Nobel's Will

In his will, Nobel said the prize should go to whomever
has ``done the most or the best work for fraternity between the
nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and
for the holding and promotion of peace.''
Last year's award went to Kenya's Wangari Maathai for her
work to promote democracy and fight poverty by planting trees
in Africa.
The award is formally awarded at a ceremony in Oslo every
Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896. Nobel also
created prizes for achievements in physics, medicine, chemistry
and literature, which are handed out by the Stockholm-based
Nobel Foundation.
An economics award was established in memory of Nobel by
Sweden's central bank in 1969.