Tuesday, October 31, 1995


   UNITED NATIONS (Reuter) -- More than 25 nations fired the opening
shot Tuesday in their U.N. campaign against nuclear testing by
introducing a draft General Assembly resolution aimed at France and
China.
   The document, circulated in the assembly's disarmament and
international security committee, does not mention either country by
name but "strongly deplores" all current nuclear tests and "strongly
urges" that they stop immediately.
   Norway is the only European sponsor of the draft backed by states
from Asia, Latin America and Africa as well as Canada.
   Other sponsors include Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil, Chile,
Ecuador, Japan, Guatemala, Peru, South Africa, Uruguay, South Korea,
Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Bolivia, Fiji, the Marshall Islands,
Micronesia, Western Samoa, Solomon Islands, Nicaragua, Mongolia, Guinea,
and Indonesia.
   No date for adoption is given but the draft, if put to a vote, is
expected to be approved overwhelmingly, although not necessarily in its
current form.
   France Friday staged its third nuclear test in the South Pacific
since September, defiantly fulfilling President Jacques Chirac's vow to
conduct a final series of checks on French nuclear arms before ending
tests forever.
   Chirac says France will probably conduct three more blasts before it
signs an international treaty, expected next year, banning all tests.
   The European Union has not taken a common position on the French
tests, although some of its members are expected to vote for the
resolution but not necessarily sponsor it.  Norway is not a member of
the EU.
   China conducted two underground tests this year, the first on May 15,
days after the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was extended
indefinitely.
   The five acknowledged nuclear powers -- the United States, Russia,
France, Britain and China -- promised at the time to exercise the
"utmost restraint" in conducting further tests.
   While they did not pledge to ban testing before an anticipated 1996
treaty, many nations felt they would not have approved the indefinite
extension of the NPT had they known about French intentions at the time.
   The draft says the recent nuclear tests are not consistent with
undertakings at the NPT conference, a reference which may be challenged.
   Diplomats said another provision in the preamble of the draft was
worrying to the nuclear powers because it expressed concern about the
"potential negative effects of underground nuclear testing on health and
environment."
   This section, they said, could open nations like the United States to
law suits for past tests.