Nobel Laureate ElBaradei says preserve nuclear weapons as relics in museums

Nobel Laureate ElBaradei says preserve nuclear weapons as relics in museums
OSLO, Norway - "If we hope to escape self-destruction, then nuclear weapons should have no place in our collective conscience, and no role in our security," said Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency on the occasion of accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today.

Yukiya Amano, the chairman of the Board of Governors of the world's premier Atomic agency also received a gold medal and a Nobel diploma at a ceremony held in the City Hall. A financial bounty of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.25 million) will also be shared between the two. ElBaradei has already indicated that his share of the money will be donated to orphanages in his home country of Egypt.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chairman of the Nobel Committee Ole Mjoes lauded the work done by the agency, "At a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to underline that this threat must be met through the broadest possible international cooperation," he said. "This principle finds its clearest expression today in the work of the IAEA and its director general."

Accepting the award, ElBaradei stressed that the world should outlaw nuclear weapons as it had outlawed slavery and genocide.

Saying that the nuclear threat was "without borders", he warned that these weapons could turn out to be a disaster in the wrong hands. "In four years, we have completed perhaps 50 percent of the work. But this is not fast enough," he said adding that the world was in a race against time.

ElBaradei has stood firm in the face of threats from Washington over his position on the Iraq and Iran issues. The Bus Administration tried unsuccessfully to prevent him from continuing in his office. His stand that there were no weapons of mass destruction was vindicated when the US and its allies did not find any such weapons even after two years in Iraq.

"Today, eight or nine countries continue to possess nuclear weapons. We still have 27,000 warheads in existence. To me, this is 27,000 too many," he said. "Imagine that the only nuclear weapons remaining are the relics in our museums. Imagine the legacy we could leave."

Even in the current Iranian crisis, ElBaradei has maintained that Iran is not about to go nuclear, but his hands have been tied by the inflammatory statements being issued by the Iranian President Ahmedinijad.