3/28 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty May be Elusive

[the.greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org]

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Original-TO:      World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-Cc:      The Greenbase (Green2:Green2:Gnl:Main)
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                   GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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   NUCLEAR TEST BAN TREATY MAY BE ELUSIVE: GREENPEACE
 
GENEVA, March 28, 1996 -- A global ban on all nuclear weapons
testing could be in doubt unless the five official nuclear
weapons states commit to end all testing, Greenpeace said
today as the first round of the Geneva-based Conference on
Disarmament drew to a close today.  The second, crucial round
of Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) talks is to begin in
Geneva in May.
 
"If the treaty is to be signed this year, negotiations here
must be finished by the end of June.  That means there are
just seven negotiating weeks left," said Simon Carroll,
Greenpeace's disarmament campaigner in Geneva.
 

While Greenpeace welcomed the introduction today of the new
Chairman's paper on the test ban as a helpful development, the
organization is very concerned that there is still no formal
agreement on whether all nuclear testing will be prohibited by
the new treaty.  According to Carroll, this is due to the
continued failure of the five 'official' nuclear weapons
states to agree on a specific formulation of the scope of the
test ban in their closed-door discussions despite their
numerous public statements in support of the treaty.
 
"There is now a real window of opportunity to achieve a world
free of nuclear testing if the five nuclear powers take on the
respon-sibility for realizing this potential," said Carroll. 
"The oppor-tunity will be lost unless these five countries
stop jockeying for advantage and collectively commit to end
all nuclear tests forever."  
In order to allow rapid progress to be made when talks resume
in May, Greenpeace called for Russia and China's reluctance to
conclude a truly comprehensive ban on nuclear testing to be
addressed in April at the G7+1 "Nuclear Summit" in Moscow and
in bilateral meetings with high-ranking Chinese government
officials.
 
Other critical issues which need to be quickly resolved are a
commitment to nuclear disarmament in the treaty, and a regime
to be followed when a breach of the treaty is thought to have
occurred.    
The second part of this years' session of the Conference on
Disarmament begins on May 13 and lasts until the end of June,
by which time the Conference must have adopted the new treaty
in order for it to be signed at the United Nations during
1996.
 
Contacts:
Simon Carroll in Geneva can be reached by phoning Blair
Palese, Greenpeace Communications: +44171-833-0600
Josh Handler, Greenpeace International: +3120-523-6222.

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