IAEA approves technical aid to Syria

[Associated Press, 26 November; Voice of America, 25 November] The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has approved a technical aid package to help Syria develop a civilian nuclear power programme, despite its own ongoing investigations into allegations that the country may have built a military nuclear reactor in secret. According to press reports, the decision to grant Syria aid through the IAEA's Technical Cooperation Programme was reached after three days of deadlock at a closed meeting in which countries including the USA, Canada, Australia, France and the UK initially opposed the move. IAEA director general Mohammed ElBaradei reportedly told the IAEA's Technical Assistance and Cooperation Committee that there was no legal basis for denying Syria a $350,000 assistance package. IAEA investigations into the Syrian site destroyed in an Israeli air strike earlier this year, alleged to have housed a clandestine nuclear reactor, have not yet been concluded, although the Agency has confirmed the discovery of man-made uranium particles at the site. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack described the IAEA's role in providing nuclear assistance to Syria under the circumstances as "contradictory, if not ironic."