S.Africa Envoy Rejoins Race for IAEA Chief

Abdul Samad Minty, Pretoria`s longtime ambassador to the IAEA said his government had resubmitted his candidature to the U.N.

A senior South African diplomat said on Wednesday he had re-entered the contest to head the U.N.'s nuclear agency after finishing second in an inconclusive election last month.

Abdul Samad Minty, Pretoria's longtime ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told Reuters his government had resubmitted his candidature to the U.N. watchdog's board of governors, joining his previous rival from Japan as well as new contenders from Slovenia and Spain in an expanded field.

The IAEA helm is a critical international appointment because the agency is charged with preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to unstable states and promoting peaceful applications of atomic energy in the developing world.

IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei retires in November after three terms in office spanning 12 years. Governors want a successor chosen by June to enable a smooth transition.

Minty, a veteran nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation mediator hailing from the only country that voluntarily scrapped a nuclear arsenal, lost to his Japanese opponent in all three rounds of voting by board members on March 26-27.

But Japanese Ambassador Yukiya Amano, another veteran of nuclear posts and negotiations, fell just short of the 2/3 majority needed for victory.

Industrialized, mainly Western nations overwhelmingly backed Amano while developing states generally swung behind Minty.

The contest was thrown open to new nominees in hopes of attracting someone able to command enough of a consensus transcending rich and poor to efficiently run the agency.

OBAMA RAISES HOPES

The IAEA is keen to mend North-South rifts as U.S. President Barack Obama tries to revive diplomacy to defuse a nuclear standoff with Iran, pursue global nuclear disarmament and improve civil atomic cooperation with developing nations.

An IAEA investigation into alleged covert atomic bomb work in Iran has stalled. Tehran says it seeks only civilian nuclear energy but has blocked wide-ranging U.N. inspections. Western states want the IAEA to get tougher on suspected proliferators.

Developing nations including Iran see the non-proliferation maxim as a pretext for rich nations to monopolise the means to make nuclear energy, cementing inequality. They want the IAEA to do more to make nuclear technology available to all.

The new declared candidates are Luis Echavarri, head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's nuclear energy arm, and Ernest Petric, a former Slovenian ambassador to the IAEA who chaired the agency's board in 2006-07.

Others have been mooted, including a Malaysian and three Latin Americans. The nominations deadline is Monday. Campaigning will follow, with another election expected in late May.

Minty said on Wednesday his pedigree as a consensus builder, who authored a 1995 deal to extend the Non-Proliferation Treaty, should be recognised as qualifying him for IAEA leadership.

He dismissed suggestions he is too close to a developing nation bloc.

"People have known me and my consensual approach for a long time. I'm not just making promises."

But some diplomats said no one officially in the running so far stood out as an ideal compromise candidate.