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'Need for nuclear disarmament'

Suman Guha Mozumder in New York

Jayantha Dhanapala, United Nations under-secretary general for disarmament affairs, has said that the terror attacks against the United States on 11 September underscore the need to cut the world's arsenal of nuclear weapons.

"We need to be aware of the fact that this situation could have been much worse than it has been. Consider for example if weapons of mass destruction were used by these terrorists," Dhanapala said in response to questions from journalists during a just recorded World Chronicle television program.

Produced by UN TV, the 30-minute roundtable show would be distributed to broadcasters next week.

"We need to eliminate weapons of mass destruction because they could fall into the hands of terrorists," Dhanapala said. "We don't want to give terrorists more tools than they have at the moment." He also stressed the importance of international anti-terrorism treaties.

Concerning a possible response to the devastating terror attacks, Dhanapala noted that the UN Charter did not rule out the use of force.

"We're not talking about an idealistic, utopian world where there are no weapons," he said of the Charter's vision, noting that Article 51 covered the right of countries to defend themselves while Chapter VII dealt with the right of defense in the collective interest of international peace and security. "Both of those obviously require weapons to be used."

"Clearly, this is a matter which the Security Council should look at," he said. "If you can identify the people responsible for this dastardly act of terrorism, then there will be opportunities for action to be taken," he said.

The Attack on America: The Complete Coverage

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