South Africa`s Abdul Samad Minty Nominated for IAEA Director-General

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On 12 September 2008, South Africa’s Foreign Affairs Director-General Ayanda Ntsaluba announced the nomination of Ambassador Abdul Minty for the post of Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

 

The IAEA and its current Director-General, Mohamed El Baradei, were awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes was used in the safest possible way.

 

The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization under the United Nations (UN) in 1957. While it is probably best known for its inspection system that verifies that States comply with their commitments, under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the IAEA also develops nuclear safety standards and promotes the achievement and maintenance of high levels of safety in applications of nuclear energy, as well as the protection of human health and the environment against ionizing radiation.

 

More recently, the IAEA has had to contend with the threat of nuclear terrorism, North Korea’s withdrawal from the NPT and the as yet unsubstantiated allegation that Iran intends building a nuclear weapon.

 

The nomination had been endorsed by the African Union (AU) summit of Heads of State and Government held in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt in July 2008. The AU also endorsed the candidatures of Egypt and Burkina Faso for the two seats reserved for Africa for the period 2008-2010.

 

The formal announcement followed Egypt’s Dr Mohamed El Baradei’s indication on 5 September that he would not be available for a further term. Baradei completes his term at the end of November 2009.

 

Who is Abdul Samad Minty?

 

Mr. Minty was born in South Africa on 31 October 1939, and grew up in Johannesburg. He left for Britain in 1958 to further his studies. He holds a BSc (Econ) degree in International Relations (University College, London) and a MSc (Econ) in International Relations from the same institution.

 

Mr Minty is currently Deputy Director-General: Ambassador and Special Representative: Disarmament in South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Minty is also the chair of the South African Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors as well as a member of the Board of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA). He is also the Personal Representative of the President to the New Partnership for Africa`s Development (NEPAD) Steering Committee and the representative of the Department of Foreign Affairs on the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC).

 

Ambassador Minty has a long history of activism in the area of disarmament. Between 1962 and 1995, he was Honorary Secretary of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), and from 1979 to 1994, Director of the World Campaign against Military and Nuclear Collaboration with South Africa (The World Campaign was established in Oslo, Norway under the patronage of fomer Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere and other Frontline Heads of State. The sponsors included former Swedish Prime Minister Mr Olof Palme, British politician Mr David Steel of the United Kingdom and Coretta Scott King, wife of the late Martin Luther King.) In these roles he participated in many UN seminars and hearings on apartheid South Africa’s military and nuclear capability.

 

His lobbying at the International Olympic Committee in 1963 was instrumental in securing the suspension of the South African Olympic Committee from the Olympic movement.

 

As apartheid South Africa rapidly built up its military strength he undertook research on its defence establishment and the support it received from external sources. His study of South Africa`s Defence Strategy, published in 1969, attracted wide attention and helped develop the campaign by the Anti-Apartheid Movement for the abrogation of the Simonstown Agreement between Britain and South Africa and the ending of all military links with South Africa.

 

During this time, Ambassador Minty worked closely with the African Group, the Non-Aligned Movement and other members of the IAEA over South Africa`s nuclear programme and lobbied for sanctions against the regime. He was thus instrumental in the removal of South Africa from the designated seat for Africa on the IAEA Board of Governors. He was thus also an important voice within the ANC and its allies against South Africa’s nuclear weapons program and eventually in ensuring that Africa as a whole became a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the 1990s.

 

After South Africa’s transition to democracy, Minty was a key advisor to South Africa’s delegation at the 1995 Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and then led South Africa’s delegation at the subsequent Review Conferences in 2000 and 2005. He has played a pioneering role in the development of South Africa’s principled position on advancing the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and on the need for nuclear weapon states to immediately disarm in a transparent and verifiable manner. In 2006, Minty was elected president of the IAEA’s General Conference, which marked the beginning of activities commemorating the IAEA’s 50th anniversary. In 1995, when South Africa resumed its seat on the Board of Governors of the IAEA, Ambassador Minty was appointed as the Governor for South Africa, a position he still holds. Ambassador Minty has also served as the Chairperson of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) from April 2007 to May 2008 and currently serves as a member of the Troika of the Group until May 2009.

 

He also oversaw South Africa`s new membership of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Commonwealth and other bodies and has acted as Director-General on numerous occasions, including for an extended period of over a year.

 

Clearly, Minty is a seasoned diplomat with decades of experience and dedication to preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and of their elimination. According to Ntsaluba, “Ambassador Minty`s knowledge and expertise in dealing with issues related to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation for most of his career, make him in our view and in the view of many people across the globe best qualified to guide the IAEA towards finding creative solutions to deal with new questions and challenges arising from the dynamic environment in which the Agency is operating”. “… he would create an environment in the Agency and among the member states that would allow for a more co-operative spirit and therefore assist in dealing with complex issues the global environment currently faces”.

 

The nomination of Ambassador Minty for the position is the first of its kind since the new democratic dispensation in South Africa. The South African Government believes that Ambassador Minty will serve the IAEA well given his longstanding commitment and involvement in this area. “The IAEA will no doubt benefit from his experience and international exposure both as a seasoned diplomat and an expert on nuclear related issues”. The South African government believes the candidature of Mr Minty is very important for a number of reasons, including because South Africa is the only country that voluntarily destroyed its own nuclear capacity and because the country has since 1994 been playing a major role within the IAEA.  “Mr Minty has represented us on the Board of Governors for the last few years and [he] will be the best candidate to ensure that the IAEA becomes an instrument that is effective in preventing proliferation while working towards the destruction of weapons of mass destruction…. he is the best qualified to guide the agency especially during this time…”.

 

In his 10 October 2008 statement to the United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, in support of Minty’s nomination, South Africa’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna, Leslie Gumbi, said: “South Africa believes that the Agency will need to address the challenges of ensuring the safe and secure use of nuclear energy, enhance its crucial contribution to the improvement of living standards and the combating of poverty, which will strengthen international peace and security. The Agency`s central role in our common endeavours to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons through preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons, a mutually reinforcing role in the nuclear disarmament process, would also need to be strengthened”.

 

Noel Stott, Senior Research Fellow: Arms Management Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria)

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