International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) & Director General awarded 2005 Nobel Peace Prize by UN News / LA Times / The Guardian / AP 9:12am 8th Oct, 2005   Oslo, 7 October 2005    THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR 2005 (The Norwegian Nobel Committee)    The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.    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. This principle finds its clearest expression today in the work of the IAEA and its Director General. In the nuclear non-proliferation regime, it is the IAEA which controls that nuclear energy is not misused for military purposes, and the Director General has stood out as an unafraid advocate of new measures to strengthen that regime. At a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, IAEA"s work is of incalculable importance.    In his will, Alfred Nobel wrote that the Peace Prize should, among other criteria, be awarded to whoever had done most for the "abolition or reduction of standing armies". In its application of this criterion in recent decades, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has concentrated on the struggle to diminish the significance of nuclear arms in international politics, with a view to their abolition. That the world has achieved little in this respect makes active opposition to nuclear arms all the more important today.    7 October 2005    Annan praises UN nuclear watchdog agency on winning Nobel Peace prize. (UN News)    Hailing their “vital mission” in stemming the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today lauded the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, on winning the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, the latest in a long series of UN laureates.    “The Prize is a welcome reminder of the acute need to make progress on the issue of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament at a time when weapons of mass destruction continue to pose a grave danger to us all,” Mr. Annan said in a statement issued by his spokesman.    “Since 1957, the IAEA has worked tirelessly and expertly to stem the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to promote the safe and peaceful uses of nuclear technology. Dr. ElBaradei has guided this vital mission with great skill since 1997,” the statement added.    Mr. Annan noted with pleasure that the IAEA thus joined the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UN Peacekeeping, former UN Undersecretary-General Ralph Bunche, former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld and the UN itself as Nobel Peace Prize laureates.    October 7, 2005    "U.N. Nuclear Agency and Its Chief Win Nobel Peace Prize", by Maggie Farley. (Los Angeles Times))    UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N."s nuclear watchdog agency and its chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, won the Nobel Peace Prize today for efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.    As the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, ElBaradei has "stood out as an unafraid advocate" of new ways to ensure that nuclear energy is not misused for military purposes, the Nobel Committee said in its award of the $1.3 million prize. It called the IAEA"s work "of incalculable importance" at a time when the nuclear arms are spreading to countries and terrorist groups, and a treaty on disarmament is stalled.    ElBaradei said the award gives the agency a badly needed "shot in the arm" after clashes with Washington over its preference for diplomacy over confrontation with Iran and North Korea, and its refusal to confirm that Iraq had a nuclear program in 2003.    ElBaradei, 63, has been a critic of the war in Iraq, and called the launch of the U.S.-led invasion "the saddest day of my life." He had argued that weapons inspectors needed more time to search for weapons of mass destruction.    "The award sends a very strong message," ElBaradei said at a news conference in Vienna. "Keep doing what you are doing — be impartial, act with integrity", and that is what we intend to do.    "The advantage of having this recognition today," he added, "is that it will strengthen my resolve. The fact that there is overwhelming public support for our work definitely will help to resolve some of the major outstanding issues we are facing today, including North Korea, including Iran and nuclear disarmament."    The Nobel committee chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjoes told reporters in Oslo that the award was not meant as a criticism of Washington or President Bush, but as support for multilateralism.    "This is not a kick in the legs to any country," he said. A former Nobel committee chairman described the 2002 prize to former President Jimmy Carter as "a kick in the legs" to President Bush.    The Nobel Committee seemed to affirm ElBaradei"s strategy of defusing a dispute with Iran over its nuclear program through incentives instead of threats, which he fears would cause the nation to pull out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and out of reach of international pressure.    The United States and others would like to bring Iran"s case immediately to the Security Council, where it could face sanctions. The board passed a watered-down resolution last month putting Iran on notice that it faces referral to the council unless it answers outstanding questions about its program — but there was no deadline.    U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said it should be "a wake-up call" to the perils of nuclear war at a time when a treaty on non-proliferation is stalled and Iran and North Korea hover on the brink of confrontation over their nuclear programs. He noted that it is the eighth time the U.N. or partner institutions have won the Peace Prize. Annan and the U.N. shared the 2001 award.    ElBaradei, an Egyptian lawyer who is beginning his third term as the agency"s chief, is also the first Muslim to win the award, and is regarded with pride in the Arab world.    He said that he was sure that someone else had won the award because he had not received the traditional advance phone call from the committee. But as he was watching the live announcement on television at home with his wife, he heard his name in Norwegian.    "This came as an absolute surprise to me," he told reporters. "I was just on my feet with my wife, hugging and kissing and full of joy and full of pride."    There were 199 nominees, and other leading contenders included Irish rock star and anti-poverty activist Bono, Nagasaki bombing survivor Senji Yamaguchi, and Finnish peace mediator Martti Ahtissari.    The U.S. State Department, which sought to have him replaced last year, expressed muted congratulations. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice phoned ElBaradei today to wish him well and issued a statement saying that he "deserved" the award.    Though ElBaradei has sought to resolve conflicts through diplomacy, he has faced withering criticism typically from Washington. In the months leading up to the Iraq War, for instance, he clashed with the Bush administration over its claim that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was stockpiling nuclear weapons.    He also declined to endorse Washington"s claims that Iran should face possible sanctions from the world body over U.S. contentions that Iran violated an international treaty. Instead, the U.N. atomic agency found Iran in noncompliance with the agreement last month, and will report them to the Security Council at a later date.    It was a far softer punishment than the U.S. sought. While ElBaradei expressed disappointment with the move, he found himself once again in conflict with the Bush administration.    The U.S. tried earlier this year to enforce a two-term limit on the agency post and to convince other candidates to stand for the job, but did not muster enough support to oust ElBaradei. The Washington Post reported that the U.S. tapped his telephone in an attempt to gather incriminating information to help topple him from his post.    U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, who led the effort to unseat ElBaradei, was formally gracious on today, saying that he joined Rice in sending congratulations.    But the U.S. dispute with ElBaradei will likely simmer on as its board considers how to deal with Iran"s half-hearted cooperation with the IAEA. The U.S. insists that Iran is building nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian energy program, and that the IAEA"s preference for negotiation is only giving the country more time to complete its work. The U.S. fears that Iran will build a weapon, then pull out of the Non-proliferation Treaty, as North Korea did. Iran built parts of its nuclear energy program in secret for twenty years.    That is one of the core weaknesses of the treaty, and of the IAEA"s ability to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, ElBaradei has said. Last year, he proposed that Iran be allowed to develop technology for nuclear energy, but that other countries supply the enriched fuel that could also be used for weapons. Iran has refused, saying that the treaty guarantees its right to develop peaceful nuclear technology.    Accolades poured in from around the world today, even from Pakistan"s prime minister Pervez Musharraf. The IAEA has faced off with Musharraf over how the country"s top scientists, A.Q. Khan, secretly provided nuclear weapons know-how to Iran and other countries.    The German magazine Der Spiegel noted with irony that El-Baradei"s Nobel Prize was awarded the day after President Bush"s speech to rally support for Iraq and against terrorism. The most effective response to Bush"s speech, wrote Der Spiegel on its website, "was a quiet gesture from an unsuspecting corner of Scandinavia. . .The announcement"s coincidence with Bush"s diatribe was accidental, but the resonance is undeniable."    (Times staff writer Jeffrey Fleishman in Berlin and Daryl Strickland in Los Angeles contributed to this report).    October 8, 2005    "In praise of Mohamed ElBaredei". (The Guardian)    Experience teaches that the United States may have known that Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency were to win the Nobel peace prize before the nuclear watchdogs heard yesterday"s news themselves. Such is the importance of the IAEA that the CIA has reportedly tapped the telephone of its Egyptian director-general to find out what he is planning. Its Vienna headquarters have handled post-Chernobyl nuclear safety as well as mounting concern about weapons proliferation 60 years after Hiroshima. Despite advances such as the test ban treaty, the problem has worsened with the cold war"s end. India and Pakistan have joined Israel as "unofficial" nuclear powers. Libya disarmed peacefully but North Korea has not. And there are dangers too from a nuclear black market and terrorists. Worries about Iran, suspected of trying to develop nuclear weapons but insisting on its right to peaceful technology, have put the agency at centre stage internationally.    Dr ElBaradei has steered a steady course through dangerous waters. The US was angered at his insistence that Saddam Hussein had no nukes. He is diplomatic but calm and even-handed, arguing that Tehran is no more entitled to make a bomb than the five official nuclear powers are to ignore their legally binding disarmament obligations. The Nobel prize was founded by the man who invented dynamite. If this year"s choice helps advance the cause of non-proliferation, it will be a fine one. As the laureate said: the goal is to pass to our children a world free of nuclear weapons. Amen to that. Atoms are for peace, not war.    June 7, 2005    "UN nuclear watchdog wins Nobel peace prize", by James Sturcke.    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, were named the winners of the 2005 Nobel peace prize today.    The award was made in recognition of their efforts "to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes" and to ensure the safety of nuclear energy, judges said.    The 63-year-old Egyptian lawyer said the announcement was an "absolute surprise" and that it sent a very strong message to the Vienna-based IAEA to "keep doing what we are doing".    Mr El Baradei has steered the UN agency through a series of crises in Iraq, North Korea and now Iran. Under his leadership, it has developed from a little-known bureaucracy monitoring nuclear sites to a pivotal institution at the centre of efforts to disarm potentially nuclear regimes.    "Everyone who has contributed to the IAEA has a part in this important prize," the Nobel committee chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, said as he announced the award. Speaking in Vienna, Dr ElBaradei, said he was "humbled and honoured". He said the IAEA was not just a watchdog but also like a "caring mother" trying to spread the benefits of nuclear power while keeping it safe from atomic weapons and the "world free from nuclear terrorism". He said he was proud of several of the agency"s achievements, including eliminating the Iraqi nuclear weapons program between 1991 and 1997 and dealing with the threat of nuclear terrorism that has increased since the September 11 2001 attacks. "I am here to further peace and development, and that I will continue to do," he said.    The Nobel citation states: "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. This principle finds its clearest expression today in the work of the IAEA and its director general."    The committee said that the IAEA"s work was of "incalculable importance" at a time when "disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role".    IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said: "I never thought we"d see this day. This is the proudest day for the IAEA. For an organisation like us there is no prouder award."    Dr ElBaradei and the IAEA had been among the favourites from the 199 nominations for the award this year, the 60th anniversary of the US atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.    The prize, named after Swedish philanthropist Alfred Nobel, is worth $1.3m (£735,000) and is due to be presented in Oslo in December.    The judging panel noted that in his will, Alfred Nobel wrote that the world"s most prestigious prize should, among other criteria, be awarded to whoever had done most for the "abolition or reduction of standing armies".    The IAEA was set up in 1957 within the United Nations. The agency works with member states and partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies.    Dr ElBaradei, an austere and methodical diplomat, took a strident line as he guided the IAEA through the most serious troubles it faced since the end of the cold war.    He accused North Korea of "nuclear brinkmanship" in December 2002 after it expelled two inspectors who were monitoring a mothballed nuclear complex.    Much of its recent work was associated with attempts to assess weapons capabilities in Iraq before the US-led invasion of the country in 2003.    The former British ambassador to the United Nations, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, said: "Dr ElBaradei worked extremely hard on Iraq and a whole host of other issues. The institution remains extremely important in Iran."    Tony Blair, who is in Paris for talks with the French president, Jacques Chirac, welcomed the announcement. "It is well deserved and very important and shows the significance that is attached to the work that that agency does," he said. "Dr ElBaradei and the IAEA have for a long time, and namely during the current difficult period, brought a decisive contribution to the search for peace and security in the world of today," he said.    Former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said: "I see it as an endorsement of the professional and independent role of the IAEA and of international verification in the field of nuclear power and non-proliferation."    Dr ElBaradei qualified as a lawyer in his native Egypt before undertaking post-degree studies in New York. He began his career in the Egyptian diplomatic service in 1964, rising through the ranks to be in charge of political, legal and arms control issues. He joined the IAEA in 1984 and was appointed director general in December 1997. He was reappointed for a second term in September 2001.    He is married to Aida Elkachef, a teacher. They have a daughter, Laila, a lawyer, and a son, Mostafa, a sound engineer, both of whom live and work in London.    Oct 7, 2005 (Associated Press)    OSLO, Norway Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency that he heads won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.    ElBaradei, an Egyptian lawyer, has headed the U.N. nuclear agency as it grappled with the crises in Iraq and the ongoing efforts to prevent North Korea and Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.    "Everyone who has contributed to the IAEA has a part in this important prize," Nobel committee chairman Geir Lundestad said as he announced the prize.    The Nobel Committee was recognizing "their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way."    ElBaradei and the agency had been among the favorites to win the prize in the days leading up to the announcement, as speculation mounted that the Nobel committee would seek to honor the victims of nuclear weapons and those who try to contain their use.    ElBaradei and the IAEA will share the award when they receive it on Dec. 10 in the Norwegian capital.    In Vienna, where the agency is based, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said: "This is the most proud moment of my career at the IAEA. I never thought we"d see this day. This is the proudest day for the IAEA. We are proud, astonished, elated. For an organization like us there is no prouder award."    The Nobel Committee said ElBaradei and the agency should be recognized for addressing one of the greatest dangers facing the world.    "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. This principle finds its clearest expression today in the work of the IAEA and its director general."    "In the nuclear non-proliferation regime, it is the IAEA which controls that nuclear energy is not misused for military purposes, and the director general has stood out as an unafraid advocate of new measures to strengthen that regime.    "At a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, IAEA"s work is of incalculable importance."    Former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix told The Associated Press in Stockholm that as a friend and colleague of ElBaradei, he was "very happy on his behalf."    "It is very encouraging and fortunate," Blix said. "I see it as an endorsement of the professional and independent role of the IAEA and of international verification in the field of nuclear power and non-proliferation."    Blix said the IAEA is best equipped to deal with nuclear situations such as those in Iran and North Korea. "It is trying to look at this calmly and find diplomatic solutions," he said. "But it must be based on factual and professional observation and verification, and that"s what the IAEA has been able to do. So I congratulate them."    He declined to comment on whether the award should be seen as a message that the United States should have listened more to the IAEA before invading Iraq. "I leave that to the Norwegian committee to explain," he said.    Blix said the award will help strengthen the IAEA"s role in the international community and its attempt to strengthen non-proliferation efforts.    "It will stress the professionalism," Blix said. "You cannot have a good therapy unless you have the correct diagnosis. And the organization is best placed to give a correct diagnosis."    ElBaradei has led the International Atomic Energy Agency as it rose in prominence from a nondescript bureaucracy monitoring nuclear sites worldwide to a pivotal institution at the vortex of efforts to disarm the two regimes.    The austere and methodical diplomat took a strident line as he guided the IAEA through the most serious troubles it faced since the end of the Cold War.    He accused North Korea, for example, of "nuclear brinkmanship" in December 2002 after it expelled two inspectors monitoring a mothballed nuclear complex. Pyongyang said the plant needed to go back on line because of an electricity shortage.    Norway"s outgoing Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said it was "gratifying" that IAEA and ElBaradei won the peace prize.    "This is a homage to their crucial efforts to stop nuclear proliferation, in order to prevent the use of such weapons in conflicts between states or in terrorist attacks," he said. "Mohammad El Baradei is an outstanding leader with great integrity. He has always sought to achieve results by negotiations.    We saw this clearly during the period before the Iraq war, when he all the way to the end requested that the international weapons inspectors continued their work." Ultimately, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq and no weapons of mass destruction were found. An international force remains in the country.    7/10/2005    Nobel winner leads non-proliferation efforts. (AP)    Chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei, the winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, has grown over the years into a dogged campaigner for non-proliferation.    The Egyptian diplomat has led the International Atomic Energy Agency during its transition from a nondescript bureaucracy monitoring nuclear sites worldwide to a pivotal institution at the forefront of disarmament efforts.    Austere and methodical, he has taken a sometimes strident line while guiding the Vienna-based agency through the most serious troubles it has faced since the end of the Cold War.    He accused North Korea of "nuclear brinkmanship" in December 2002 after it expelled two inspectors who were monitoring a mothballed nuclear complex.    "I"m calling a spade a spade," he told The Associated Press at the time. "I see a very serious crisis — a country that"s completely defying the world."    He also directed the agency as it launched inspections in Iraq alongside the hunt for biological and chemical agents conducted by the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission.    Most recently, it is his focus on Iran — and IAEA efforts to establish whether that country has a secret nuclear weapons program — that has kept him in the international non-proliferation limelight.    Iran, concerns about a nuclear black market and efforts to end North Korea"s nuclear arms program, pose "an unprecedented array of challenges to the non-proliferation and arms control regime," he said last month, as he outlined agency priorities.    ElBaradei has had to contend with U.S. opposition to his tenure, but that formally ended last month when IAEA member nations approved his reappointment for a third term. Much of the opposition stemmed from Washington"s perception that he was being too soft on Iran for not declaring it in violation of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. That stance blocked a U.S. bid to haul Tehran before the U.N. Security Council for more than two years.    He also refused to endorse Washington"s contention that Iran was working to make nuclear weapons and disputed U.S. assertions that Saddam Hussein"s regime in Iraq had an active atomic weapons program — both claims that remain unproven, despite growing suspicions about Tehran"s nuclear agenda.    Born in Egypt in 1942, ElBaradei earned a bachelor"s degree in law in 1962 at the University of Cairo. After a stint in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he received a doctorate in International Law at the New York University School of Law in 1974, and later became an adjunct professor there.    He married Aida Elkachef, a kindergarten teacher, and had two children: Laila, a lawyer, and Mostafa, a biotechnologist. Tall, dapper and shy, ElBaradei joined the IAEA in 1984 and rose from within the ranks of the 139-nation agency.    As pressure mounted to act in Iraq, ElBaradei blossomed in the hothouse of media scrutiny. The man who once stumbled before television cameras started to speak in soundbites, growing ever bolder in his statements.    But he held fast to the nuclear agency"s guiding principle that science and research needed to be respected — even as the swirling pressure to act closed in.    As the agency"s critics argued the IAEA was moving too slowly to counter the new nuclear threats, ElBaradei appealed for patience, arguing that scientific examination was critical to the agency"s work. "Bear with us," he said. "What we do is the cornerstone of all arms control activities."
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