DAY OF RECKONING FOR NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY :

"CTBT Now !" demands Greenpeace

GENEVA, July 29th, 1996:

As the United Nations (UN) Conference on Disarmament resumed today, a dozen Greenpeace activists placed a large 'atomic bomb' outside the UN in Geneva with a b er calling for the immediate conclusion of a ban on nuclear tests.

'This is literally the last chance for a nuclear test ban treaty', said Clement TOLUSSO, Greenpeace Campaigner in Geneva. "Unless a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is adopted now, this historic opportunity to end more than fifty years of nuclear testing could be lost forever".

Negotiations on the test ban treaty were suspended at the end of June with a handful of key issues unresolved - most importantly the question of how and when the treaty should enter into force. Count ries were split over whether or not countries like India, Pakistan and Israel should be required to join the treaty before it could become legally binding. Russia and the United Kingdom were insistin g on this, while other countries were deeply concerned that this could jeopardise the entire treaty.

"Greenpeace urges all countries, including India and Pakistan, to join the CTBT. But it's foolish in the extreme to make a ban on all nuclear tests completely dependant on whether these two countrie sign up", said Clement TOLUSSO.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

- Clement TOLUSSO, t. +41 792 134 106

- Simon CARROLL, t. +41 77 68 33 74

- Jon WALTER / Luisa COLASIMONE, Press Office, t. +31 20 5249 547 / 546