14 DAY TRIAL // After an extremely narrow vote, 62-year-old Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano has been appointed as the new Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), succeeding Mohamed ElBaradei as the leader of one of the most important agencies in the world. More than two thirds of the Council voted for Amano, and a single vote awarded him the leadership on Thursday. His nomination remains to be confirmed in September, as the 146 members of the IAEA General conference convene.
Amano has been a Japanese diplomat for quite some time now, and also an international public servant for the United Nations, and various of its agencies. Before being named as the Director of the IAEA, he was the resident representative of Japan at the agency. As to his views on stopping the spread of nuclear proliferation, he is quoted as once saying that he is "resolute in opposing the spread of nuclear arms because I am from a country that experienced Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Nature News informs.
His counter-candidate for the top position at the agency was South African representative Abdul Samad Mintyrival, who lost to Amano in the sixth round of voting. On Friday, July 3, all 145 IAEA member states formally appointed the Japanese diplomat "by acclamation," which means that the procedure to take place at the agency's General Conference, in September, is just a matter of formality. Once Amano passes the vote with a simple majority, he will take effective control of the IAEA on November 30.
The new Director General has some big shoes to fill, as his predecessor, 4th IAEA Director General Dr. Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei, was in charge of the institution for 12 years. For his entire efforts, he and the IAEA were awarded with the 2005 Noble Peace Prize. While he was criticized to some extent by representatives of the United States, including Condoleezza Rice, the review of ElBaradei's work is positive for the largest part, and several heads of states said that the way he directed the UN agency for the whole duration of his three terms had prevented many nuclear weapons from reaching the hands of terrorists or rogue states.