Hiroshima Mayor Seeks Nuclear Elimination in 10 Years

New York, April 29 (Jiji Press)--Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba called here Thursday for the total elimination of nuclear weapons from the world in 10 years.

At a civil forum at U.N. headquarters, the mayor of the
atomic-bombed Japanese city said countries should adopt a roadmap to that
goal at a conference to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
"It would be great if this review conference adopts the plan to
abolish all nuclear weapons by 2020," Akiba said, referring to the meeting
set to start here Monday.
"We have already prepared a document that outlines this path in the
name of Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol, and I hope the governments that attend
the review conference will take this offer seriously," he said.
"I can assure you it can be done, if we work together. Together, we
can do it."
"I believe this is the least we can do for our hibakusha," Akiba
said, noting the average age of the atomic bomb disease sufferers is now 75
and that many of them, if alive, will be over 80 in 2020.