VIENNA: A former senior UN nuclear official has voiced doubt about allegations that Myanmar was trying to develop atom bombs, saying available evidence did not support the claim.
“It doesn’t look like … this is a kind of nuclear weapons programme which is steaming ahead,” said Olli Heinonen, who stepped down in August as head of the UN nuclear watchdog’s inspections worldwide.
“There is no evidence but it would be good to clarify whatever is taking place,” Heinonen, now a senior fellow at Harvard University, told Reuters. A Norwegian-based exile group said in June that Myanmar had a secret programme dedicated to acquiring nuclear weapons capability, following up on similar allegations by defectors from the reclusive state.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Heinonen’s former employer, said at the time it was looking into the report. Myanmar is a member of both the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Vienna-based UN agency. Myanmar told the IAEA in September that the allegations were unfounded and that its nuclear activities had solely peaceful ends.
The isolated, impoverished country has been under Western sanctions for two decades and analysts say a nuclearised Myanmar could trigger an arms race in the region. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last year she was concerned about the possible transfer of nuclear technology to Myanmar from North Korea, which has left the NPT and tested two nuclear devices.
