UNITED NATIONS (Islamweb & News Agencies) - The United States will stay away from a U.N. conference opening on Sunday to promote a global ban on nuclear weapons tests, a senior State Department official said on Friday.
``We will not attend the conference,'' said the official, who asked not to be named. He did not elaborate on the reasons.
The aim of the conference is to review progress toward ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which would ban all nuclear blasts, whether in the atmosphere, in space or underground.
The Pentagon, hoping to hasten the treaty's death, has been pressing the administration for months to sit out the meeting, which initially was scheduled for late September but postponed after the Sept. 11 suicide airliner attacks on New York and Washington.
The CTBT has not yet entered into force because it has not garnered the necessary ratifications. It expands on a 1963 treaty barring tests in the atmosphere and a 1974 treaty setting limits on underground explosions.
The George W. Bush administration worries that without testing, it cannot ensure the safety and reliability of U.S. nuclear arms. Critics say simulated testing conducted via computers and other technology is sufficient.
U.S. officials insist Bush remains deeply concerned about nuclear proliferation and expects to continue abiding by a testing moratorium put in place by his father in 1992.
But critics say a boycott of the U.N. conference will be a powerful message to allies strongly backing the CTBT that Washington wanted to go it alone on nuclear arms control.