ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Albright offers adding 'conditions' to CTBT

The Bill Clinton administration, trying to keep alive the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, rejected by the Senate last month, has said it might be willing to add ''conditions and understandings'' to the treaty.

The administration will also set up a high-level task force to tackle the reservations of senators and to explain the treaty to the American public, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in a speech prepared for delivery in Chicago.

The Senate voted 48-51 against ratification of the CTBT on October 13 in an embarrassing defeat for the administration.

Albright, speaking to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, said yesterday that the administration bore some responsibility for the vote because it did not do enough to lay the groundwork for a successful debate in the Senate.

The White House and the state department say they will try again to get the treaty ratified and in the meantime will refrain from nuclear tests which the treaty bans.

Albright said, ''It is essential that the dialogue on the CTBT continue and bear fruit... In that spirit I am announcing today that we will establish a high-level administration task force to work closely with the Senate on addressing the issues raised during the test ban debate.''

Reuters

Tell us what you think of this report