The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on
Friday called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons in the
world for the sake of human survival.??
The 60th anniversary of the destruction of Japan's Hiroshima and
Nagasaki by nuclear bombs demonstrated the importance of
eliminating nuclear arms, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said at an
event in Vienna to mark the anniversaries of the bombings.
"The best protection against nuclear weapons, and the only way
to prevent future Hiroshimas and Nagasakis, is to bring about an
end to all nuclear weapons," said ElBaradei.
Saying that a world without nuclear weapons remains "a far-off
goal," he noted that there are about 30,000 nuclear warheads across
the world and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty has not
entered into force.
"We should remain humbled by what we have learned from the
destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We cannot allow sixty years
to soften our memories of how devastating such weapons are," said
ElBaradei.
ElBaradei called on the international community to renew the
promise to "spare no effort to work collectively to reduce and
eliminate nuclear weapons."
The US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6,1945,
killing about 140,000 people within a few months of the bombing.
Three days later, it dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki,
killing another 80,000.
Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, ending World War II.
(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2005)