Test Ban Pact Wins Near-Unanimous OK in U.N.

The landmark Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty won overwhelming approval Tuesday in the United Nations, marking a major step in global disarmament efforts and opening the way to an end to 51 years of nuclear testing by the United States and other major powers.

The final vote in the U.N. General Assembly listed 158 countries in favor of the worldwide pact and three against it, with five nations abstaining. Most conspicuous among those opposed was India, whose continued refusal to sign could eventually scuttle the accord.

President Clinton, in Kansas City, Mo., on a campaign swing, hailed the U.N. action as historic, saying that “with this treaty, we are on the verge of realizing a decades-old dream that no nuclear weapons will be detonated anywhere on the face of the Earth.”

Aides said Clinton plans to formally sign the document Sept. 24, when he is scheduled to visit the United Nations along with other heads of government and foreign ministers attending the annual fall meeting of the General Assembly.

U.S. officials conceded that India’s continuing opposition could prove a serious obstacle to carrying out the new accord, because Pakistan--which supported the pact--has warned that it will not comply with it unless India does.

India has threatened to block ratification on grounds that the treaty does not go far enough in establishing a timetable for global nuclear disarmament and would prevent New Delhi from responding to threats from China, which has nuclear weapons, and Pakistan, which is suspected of developing nuclear arms.

But government and private strategists said they expect India to come under heavy international pressure to sign between now and the time the treaty would take effect in late 1998.

“I believe we can find a way for the Indians to have their security concerns met,” Clinton said.

Tuesday’s vote capped a major campaign by the United States and its allies to revive the test ban, which as late as three weeks ago was facing possible defeat. The treaty was rescued by an eleventh-hour push by Australia to approve the pact over India’s opposition.

U.N. approval of the treaty--after almost three years of complex negotiations--was regarded as a boost for companion efforts to push through a global Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, whose negotiations have become bogged down in recent months.

The earlier refusal of the major powers to agree to end their nuclear testing had become a symbol to many developing countries, which refused to go along with efforts to curb further proliferation until the nuclear countries agreed to halt testing.

The accord approved Tuesday would prohibit testing of any nuclear weapons--a step that proponents say would prevent the development of new, more sophisticated weapons by both established nuclear powers and those countries on the threshold of becoming nuclear powers.

It also would put into effect an elaborate worldwide verification system that would take advantage of spy satellite technology to ensure that all countries were complying with the ban.

Under the terms of the accord, the ban cannot take effect until the treaty is ratified by 44 leading countries listed in the document, including India, a process that is expected to take a minimum of two years.

The world’s first nuclear test was conducted by the United States in July 1945, near the end of World War II. In the 51 years since, the nuclear powers have conducted 2,046 tests.

Besides India, only two other countries--Libya and Bhutan--opposed the treaty. Cuba, Lebanon, Syria, Mauritius and Tanzania abstained. North Korea and Iraq, both of which have had nuclear aspirations, did not vote.

Also absent or not voting were Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Comoros, the Dominican Republic, Guinea, Eritrea, Gambia, Lesotho, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, the Seychelles, Somalia, Yugoslavia and Zambia.

It was not immediately clear whether the U.S. Senate will ratify the accord. Although most Democrats favor prompt ratification, Senate Republicans appear to be split, and the Republican Party’s 1996 campaign platform opposes the pact as not in U.S. interests.