ElBaradei will leave office of IAEA’s head in 2009 – NEWSPAPER

RIA Novosti
Viktor Lebedev

The Nobel prize winner who has been head to this intergovernmental organization since 1997 told an Al-Hayat reporter in Vienna that he considered his 12-year stint in IAEA as a "sufficient period".

"I am entitled to a new term and many suggest that I should continue my work but I would like to go for less stressful occupation and discover other spheres of life," ElBaradei said.

According to the Egyptian diplomat and scientist famous for his humanistic views since he started his work at IAEA "the world has become less safe and fair" especially after the war in Iraq that killed millions of people and made another 8 million people outcasts and also the terror problem that has aggravated since 2001, reports the newspaper.

 Naming struggle for nuclear non-proliferation as a "major priority" of the mankind Mohamed ElBaradei stressed that "the most fatal of all the weapons of mass destruction is poverty that has striked one third of the human race." In his view the current global financial crisis exacerbates the problem that has become "a matter of life and death for poor people."

"When a man is not able to satisfy his basic needs he resorts to violence and wars. In conflict regions this ends in attempts to get access to mass destruction weapons," quoted Al-Hayat the diplomat.

IAEA Director General said he would like to engage in social activities preferably in the Arabic region in order "to do something for it", noted the newspaper.