(December 17, 1993) On 27 September, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) re-elected its old president, placing Hans Blix, formerly the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the head of the organization for another four years. Even though the IAEA decided in 1981 when Blix was first elected that his successor should come from a Third World country, he is now starting his fourth term in office.
(404.4001) WISE Amsterdam - Before becoming president of the IAEA, the lawyer Blix worked for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). At SIPRI he had a good reputation. He was known as an able diplomat with the talent to mediate between different groups of countries.
By the time of the Chernobyl disaster, however, he earned the reputation of being very ignorant of nuclear critics. Following his two weeks' visit to the Ukraine in 1986, he gave the public to understand that there was no cause to panic. Even in 1992, after learning about nearly sixty high-risk reactors in Eastern Europe, he said the RBMK reactors of the Chernobyl type are like old cars that have been well serviced.
In more recent times, all has become calm around Hans Blix. After the Gulf War, the control mechanisms of the IAEA have been intensified because of his efforts. New regulations will prevent civilian material from being siphoned off into military use. As a result, in the conflict over North Korea (see In brief, this issue) the IAEA president has had to suffer the reproach of being "partial."
Sources: die tageszeitung, 28 Sep. 1993