Former Egyptian diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei on Monday won his third-term as Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nation's nuclear watchdog.

He was re-elected on the first day of a week-long meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors at its Vienna headquarters after the United States, the only delegation which has openly opposed to his re-election, last week reversed its objection and said it was ready to accept a third term from him.

After winning the appointment, ElBaradei, 62, got another four years as head of the UN watchdog. The appointment will be submitted for approval at the IAEA General Conference, which opens 26 September 2005 in Vienna.

In the last few months, ElBaradei's re-appointment has been held up by the US, which has accused the IAEA of tolerating both Iraq's and Iran's nuclear programs and repeatedly said that no one should serve more than two terms as the IAEA leader.

US President George W. Bush and his administration clashed several times with ElBaradei before the March 2003 Iraq invasion over allegations regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

ElBaradei, who joined the IAEA in 1984 and held a series of high-level policy positions in the organization before taking over the current post in 1997, angered Washington by questioning US intelligence about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction under former president Saddam Hussein and by insisting that Iraq did not have nuclear weapons or a nuclear program.

Washington also showed its impatience when ElBaradei refused to report to the UN Security Council on Iran's nuclear program, as the US requested, and insisted that the watchdog had no clear proof of Iran's nuclear program and that the "jury is still out" on whether Tehran was secretly developing nuclear weapons.

As the US has been so strongly against ElBaradei, it had long been anticipated that although the experienced diplomat is widely thought of as the only acceptable candidate for the IAEA leadership and can easily win consensus in the board meeting, he would not be able to win his third-term.

But following a meeting between ElBaradei and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last Thursday in Washington, the US said that it would join the consensus in supporting ElBaradei.

Diplomats here said the reason for the US retreat was Washington has failed to win support on the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors against ElBaradei as the other countries feel he is doing a good job.

As ElBaradei is heavily engaged in leading the inspections of Iran's controversial nuclear energy program and with the Iranian case still unresolved, many countries argued that this was not the right time to appoint a different head.

Another reason behind ElBaradei's re-election was that there was no serious alternative candidate. European diplomats have been impressed with ElBaradei's record since he took over in 1997 and the US would have been in a minority had it tried to veto his candidacy.

"The US probably decided it wasn't worth the candle to put up a robust resistance," a European diplomat said.

Washington had already angered many non-nuclear states with its refusal to discuss disarmament options for the nuclear powers during last month's conference in New York reviewing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

"The non-aligned states signaled they would react very strongly if the US wouldn't support ElBaradei," said another European diplomat.

After winning the re-appointment ElBaradei said he was humbled by the unanimous support and confidence he had received by all members of the Agency and would continue to hold high impartiality and independence, which are core principals and values of international civil service.

"In the next four years, we face tremendous challenges. We have major issues facing global security; we have major issues facing development. These two issues cut across all our activities," said ElBaradei.

"My colleagues and I are committed to doing our very best to protect ourselves against the dissemination of nuclear weapons, and against poverty. We will continue to work with the members of the international community to see a world free from nuclear weapons," he added.

Source: Xinhua