STATEMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS

REGARDING THE TRANSSHIPMENT OF NUCLEAR WASTE THROUGH THE CARIBBEAN AND PANAMA CANAL AS OF 23RD JANUARY, 1998

The Bahamas Government has been most alarmed to learn recently, that another shipment, this time of particularly dangerous high level nuclear waste is destined to pass through the Caribbean, including just south of Inagua, and through the Panama Canal, enroute from France to Japan.

The Bahamas categorically and unconditionally opposes and condemns this imminent act which threatens the safety of her citizens, the fragility of her coralline ecosystem and the economy of her country. The Bahamas, therefore, calls on the friendly countries concerned to desist forthwith from this planned transshipment through the Caribbean.

The Bahamas, consequently, adds her voice to the very strong protests which have been reiterated by her sister Caribbean Community Nations at the highest political levels in respect of this practice, since 1992.

Since 1992, the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community emphatically stated their position on this issue to be:

1. "That shipment of plutonium and other radioactive or hazardous materials should not traverse the Caribbean Sea;

2. That the Caribbean should not be used for the testing of nuclear devices; and

3. that the Caribbean should be designated a nuclear free zone for the purposes of shipment, storing or dumping of any radioactive or hazardous substances or toxic waste."

The Bahamas also decries the insensitivity and lack of moral conscience which subjagates the welfare and survival of the peoples of an entire sub-region to the nuclear programmes of a few countries for whom short-term technological and economic gains are more important than an enlightened, preventive hazardous waste management ethic and practice.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Nassau, Bahamas
23 January, 1998

Contact: Mr. Chris Symmonett, Bahamas Information Service
tel. 1-242-328-1345, fax 1-242-328-1346