Geneva hosts germ warfare talks

Biological weapons are banned under the 1972 treaty

By Emma Jane Kirby BBC correspondent in Geneva

Negotiations on protecting the world against germ warfare resume on Monday in Geneva, almost a year after the United States walked out of the last round of talks.

The member countries of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention are trying to agree on methods to strengthen the effectiveness of the treaty - which bans all biological weapons.

Washington remains reluctant to continue the debate and says it would rather see the talks postponed.

But with arms experts warning of possible terrorist strikes using biological agents, negotiators insist they must continue.

Watered-down proposals

The miserable weather in Geneva can be doing nothing to lift the already glum mood of the biological weapons experts.

The US has accused Iraq and others of developing germ weapons

As they sit down for the first day of a fortnight of talks, delegates already know the odds of breaking the deadlock are stacked high against them.

Last December, after several years of discussing ways of enforcing the germ warfare treaty, the US shocked other member countries by suddenly walking out of the debate.

It claimed the proposed system of inspections would be ineffective in detecting violations, and could compromise US national security.

No longer pushing for an international inspection scheme, negotiators are now hoping signatory states will simply agree to annual, non-binding discussions to keep the world at least thinking about the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

But as Washington hopes to see this conference wrapped up quickly and talks postponed until 2006, it is unclear if even this watered-down proposal will win its backing.

Last year the US publicly accused Iraq, Iran, North Korea and Libya of developing germ weapons - a fact it said which proved that the UN talks were dead in the ditch and had simply wasted everyone's time.