DISARMAMENT: Brazil Rejects India’s Nuclear Tests

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 19 1998 (IPS) - India’s nuclear tests dealt a blow to the hopes entertained by Brazil and other countries of the developing south of becoming permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, analysts said Tuesday.

Observers suggest that was one of the reasons behind the Brazilian government’s decision to suspend a nuclear cooperation agreement with India, another candidate to a seat on a broadened Security Council.

Announcing the suspension of the accord Monday, Brazil’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sebastiao do Rego Barros expressed his fear that negotiations for the expansion of the UN body would be postponed as a result of India’s nuclear tests.

Barros himself admitted that Brazil’s move was purely political, “with no practical effects,” because the cooperation agreed on two years ago had not yet begun “due to budget problems” faced by both governments.

The Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation for the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy was signed by Brazilian and Indian authorities on Jan. 27, 1996, during a visit to New Delhi by Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

The use of nuclear energy in the fields of health and agriculture and research and development in security and radiation were among the areas in which cooperation was to take place.

Cardoso said the suspension of the agreement was also an expression of Brazil’s condemnation of India’s five nuclear explosions.

“Scientific development” cannot be confused “with possible war-time uses of nuclear power,” said the president on his way from Madrid to Geneva Monday.

A communique released by Brazil’s Foreign Ministry says India’s nuclear tests endangered “the regime of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons,” disarmament and international peace.

Brazil, however, has refused to sign the International Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, considering it a discriminatory document that stems developing countries’ access to state-of-the-art technology.

The armed forces, which governed Brazil from 1964 to 1985, implemented secret nuclear programmes. In 1987, the government announced that the Navy had successfully produced enriched uranium through the ultracentrifugation process.

With the restoration of democracy in Brazil, the country suspended research and development in nuclear arms, formalising its new stance through accords with neighbouring Argentina which provide for cooperation for peaceful ends and mutual inspection of installations. Brazil also accepted International Atomic Energy Agency oversight.

The Brazilian government began to push for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, of which it is currently a temporary member. Observers say the Cardoso administration’s response to India has strengthened Brazil’s new militant position against nuclear arms, while demonstrating the country’s aims to consolidate its role as a guarantor of peace.

Brazil stepped up its participation in international peace- keeping missions, especially in Africa, and in peace-brokering initiatives, such as the border conflict between Ecuador and Peru.

But nuclear physicist Luiz Pinguelli, a member of the group ‘Pugwah’, which bands together scientists against nuclear weapons from several countries, maintained that the suspension of the cooperation accord was not necessary to exercise pressure against India.

The scientist added that he feared that India’s tests, carried out in the midst of the financial crisis sweeping Asia, created a dangerous situation in that region, one which could even lead to nuclear conflicts.