Geneva -- The Conference on Disarmament (CD) has decided by consensus to establish a committee to negotiate a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) that would ban the future production of fissile material used to make nuclear bombs.

At an August 11 plenary session, CD President Ambassador Mykola Maimeskul of the Ukraine announced the decision to establish an ad hoc committee (AHC) to negotiate the treaty, thereby ending three years of stalemate within the 61-nation disarmament body.

Ambassador Robert T. Grey, the U.S. representative to the CD, said the burst of applause that followed was "in a sense, an expression of relief" that the international community had finally reached this point.

"The United States welcomes the decision to establish an AHC to negotiate...a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices," he told the plenary.

Along with a ban on the export and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, the United States has repeatedly stated that it considers the negotiation of a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty its top priority at the CD.

"Now that we have decided to move forward on FMCT, I hope that we can also reach a decision to negotiate a transfer ban on anti-personnel landmines," Grey said.

In March 1995 the CD agreed by consensus that an Ad Hoc Committee with a mandate to negotiate a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty should be established. However efforts to link FMCT negotiations to other nuclear disarmament issues blocked progress for over three years.

"We are very pleased," Grey told journalists after the plenary. "Hopefully this will be the beginning of a process that will lead to a successful treaty. But it is going to be a hard, long slug."

"It is an enormously complex issue. The verification aspects are quite expensive, and the more verification you have, the more expensive it gets."

Asked whether the negotiations can address not only future production of fissile material but also existing stockpiles, Ambassador Grey responded, "At this stage of the game, the first thing to negotiate is the cut-off on future production. And then we address the other issue, but we are perfectly prepared to discuss, and to listen to what others have to say about it."

Before negotiations and the consideration of substantive issues can get under way, the conference must agree on a chairman to direct the new ad hoc committee's work.

CD President Maimeskul said he intended to immediately hold intensive consultations with regional groups about potential candidates. He promised to inform the CD of the results of those discussions at its next plenary August 13.

Nearly a third of the CD's 61 member states addressed the plenary to welcome the establishment of an ad hoc committee to negotiate an FMCT.

Canada's Ambassador Mark Moher said the CD is on the verge of a new endeavor "which will test in a comprehensive way the political will, negotiating capacity and technical capabilities of the Conference on Disarmament."

But a number of delegations stated that they believed the treaty would only be effective if applied to stockpiles as well as future production. Pakistan, in particular, expressed concern that if stockpiles were not addressed, the treaty would preserve an imbalance in South East Asia.

Non-aligned nations continued to press for the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee on nuclear disarmament. In a statement, the group of non-aligned nations said it is seeking the establishment of an ad hoc committee within the CD "to commence negotiations on a phased programme of nuclear disarmament for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons within a specified framework of time, including a nuclear weapons convention."

Ambassador Grey said the United States "is prepared to try to accommodate, over time, the non-aligned on some format in which we can discuss nuclear disarmament in the CD, but at this stage we are not prepared to accept an Ad Hoc Committee on nuclear disarmament."

The two paragraph August 11 decision by the Conference on Disarmament states:

(begin text)

The Conference on Disarmament decides to establish under item 1 of its agenda entitled "Cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament," an ad hoc committee which shall negotiate, on the basis of the report of the Special Coordinator (CD/1299) and the mandate contained therein, a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

The Ad Hoc Committee shall present a report to the Conference on Disarmament on the progress of its work before the conclusion of the 1998 session."

(end text)