Vienna - Abdul Samad Minty, South Africa's candidate to succeed Mohamed ElBaradei as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2009, said Thursday in Vienna he wanted the organization to focus on peaceful uses of nuclear energy. "The IAEA was set up to develop atoms for peace, and therefore it has to concentrate on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy," Minty said, referring to the speech of US President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953 in which he called for civilian nuclear technology to be spread by an international agency.
The 69-year-old diplomat has represented his country at the IAEA governing board since 1995 and chairs the South African Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Yukiya Amano, 61, Japan's ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna, is currently the only other candidate to succeed Director General ElBaradei after his third term expires in November 2009.
As the world was facing a nuclear renaissance, the Vienna-based IAEA would have to deal with a number of challenges, Minty said, while also stressing the importance of the organisation's nuclear technical aid for developing countries.
The diplomat did not make any direct reference to the the IAEA's role in Iran, North Korea or Syria in his remarks to reporters.
As a member of the anti-Apartheid movement in the 1960s and 70s, Minty started dealing with the IAEA, when he fought his government's attempts to develop nuclear arms and tried to get South Africa removed as an IAEA member.
South Africa abandoned its nuclear weapons from 1993.
Minty is known as a nuclear disarmament advocate, as well as for insisting on the rights of all countries to access nuclear technology.
His campaign was formally started Thursday, when South African Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica formally submitted his nomination in Vienna.
IAEA member states have until the end of the year to submit candidates. The agency's general conference will elect a new director general in September 2009.
