Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will initiate at the next meeting of the Council of European Foreign Ministers a task force of experts to investigate recent evidence that weapons grade nuclear materials from facilities under safeguards in the European Community have been illicitly sold on the black market in the Sudan; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what information he has about alleged illegal attempts by the Governments of (i) Israel, (ii) Libya, (iii) Iran, (iv) Iraq, (v) India, (vi) Argentina, (vii) South Africa, and (viii) Pakistan to obtain unsafeguarded plutonium and enriched uranium on the black market, particularly in Khartoum, which have been diverted from facilities in the European Community; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MellorWe have no evidence to support allegations that weapons grade nuclear material has been on sale in the Sudan or indeed elsewhere. We also have full confidence in the stringent security precautions and accounting systems that exist at United Kingdom and other Community nuclear installations.