Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano was chosen as the next leader of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today, but his election in Vienna was marred by the fact that a significant number of developing countries withheld their support, dpa reported. Japan's current ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna is set to become Director General when Mohamed ElBaradei retires after 12 years in office at the end of November. After a narrow two-thirds of the 35 countries on the IAEA's governing board showed their support for Amano, 62, he still needs to be confirmed by the board Friday and by the IAEA's general conference in September. "If I have the privilege of being elected as the new director general of the IAEA," Amano said, "I will do my utmost to enhance the welfare of human beings, (and) ensure sustainable development through the peaceful use of nuclear energy." After six rounds of voting, Amano finally got the necessary two-thirds majority, with 23 supporters and one abstention, thus beating the only remaining candidate, Abdul Minty. Minty, 69, serves as his country's envoy to the IAEA. He was backed by a significant minority of developing countries that managed to block Amano's election for several months. Amano seemed to acknowledge the polarization among IAEA members when he said after briefly presenting his vision: "In order to do that, solidarity of all the member states, countries from North, from South, from East and West is absolutely necessary." The diplomat also made a reference to Japan's history as the only country ever to be bombed by nuclear arms: "Also, as a national coming from Japan, I'll do my utmost to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons." Amano is known as a dry diplomat with a long career as a senior foreign ministry official dealing with nuclear non-proliferation. He has made it clear he would focus on the technical, rather than on the political side of his new job as chief nuclear watchdog, thereby differentiating himself from ElBaradei, who is known for talking on various issues including world peace and the global hunger problem. Western diplomats have said that this was the reason their governments backed Amano rather than Minty, who is also known for voicing political views. But Amano is now faced with the task of bridging the gap between developing and industrialized member countries of the IAEA. In the past years, a number of developing countries have voiced their indignation about referring the Iran nuclear issue from the IAEA to the United Nations Security Council, as well as Israel's bombing of an alleged nuclear site in Syria. In addition, the Non-Aligned Movement, which represents many of these countries, in June voiced its opposition to Western plans that entice developing countries to forgo nuclear energy technologies with potential military applications. However, a Western diplomat told the German Press Agency dpa that he expected Amano would be able to bridge the divide, as countries were not opposed to him personally. "I think he will be nimble enough to be a clearly independent and neutral director general," the diplomat said. Referring to concerns voiced among Vienna diplomats and IAEA officials that Amano is a bureaucrat rather than a leadership personality, a European diplomat said: "When ElBaradei was chosen, he was also a small bureaucrat." ElBaradei was a senior IAEA official largely unknown to the public before being elected Director General, and has since won the Nobel Peace Prize.
