Mohamed ElBaradei today stepped down as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported (see GSN, Nov. 5).
(Nov. 30) -
Mohamed ElBaradei, left, today stepped down from the International Atomic Energy Agency's top post. He was succeeded by Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, right (Joe Klamar/Getty Images).
In his 12-year tenure, ElBaradei sought to maximize the authority of this agency -- sometimes opening the organization up to criticism that it was overstepping its bounds in seeking to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear energy while deterring proliferation -- while maintaining its independence from international political agendas, observers said.
ElBaradei challenged assertions made by the Bush administration regarding prewar Iraq's atomic activities by telling the U.N. Security Council that IAEA inspections had not turned up any evidence that the Hussein regime had an active nuclear-weapon program.
"He demonstrated he was going to go on the evidence that the IAEA itself could build, and he was cautious about playing the Bush administration's political game," Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy head Rebecca Johnson said.
ElBaradei and the U.N. nuclear watchdog jointly received a Nobel Peace Prize. However, the Egyptian was also a controversial figure, accused of failing to press Iran over its disputed nuclear operations.
In Iran, IAEA inspectors had to deal with the limits of agency authority in the face of Iranian officials refusals to fully open up their program to international scrutiny.
"ElBaradei can only be as tough as the member states of the IAEA Board of Governors are," Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball said (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Earthtimes.org, Nov. 27).
ElBaradei made his final formal statement to the board last week.
"It is a feeling of gratitude to be leaving at a moment when the agency has reached such prominence in contributing to international security and development," ElBaradei said Friday, according to an IAEA report.
He advised agency workers to work for "100 percent commitment to preserving and expanding peace, freedom, justice, and human dignity" (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Nov. 27).
ElBaradei's replacement is Yukiya Amano, Japan's delegate to the governing board since 2005, reported Agence France-Presse.
"As a national coming from Japan, I'll do my utmost to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons," Amano said after being selected for a four-year term in July.
Amano takes over as the agency continues its contentious inspections in Iran. He must also oversee the agency's probe into whether Syria was pursuing a nuclear program of its own prior to Israel's 2007 air assault on a possible nuclear reactor (Agence France-Presse/Poten & Partners, Nov. 28).
A supporter of U.S. President Barack Obama's policy on Iran, Amano has said that he would continue to advocate for IAEA inspections as a means of preventing nuclear proliferation, Time magazine reported (Frances Romero, Time, Nov. 30).