Cairo said no to nukes, cables reveal

LONDON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak turned down an offer for nuclear material that appeared on the black market after the Soviet Union collapsed, cables reveal.

Cairo claims to be advocating a nuclear-free Middle East. Maged Abdelaziz, the Egyptian envoy to the United Nations, told U.S. nuclear arms negotiator Rose Gottemoeller that Cairo was offered the material needed to produce a nuclear weapon.

"(I)n an apparent attempt to portray Egypt as a responsible member of the international community, Abdelaziz claimed that Egypt had been offered nuclear scientists, materials and even weapons following the collapse of the Soviet Union but Egypt had refused all such offers," sensitive May 2009 U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and published by London's Guardian newspaper reveal.

Maria Rost Rublee, a researching examining the history of Egypt's nuclear ambitions, said Mubarak "refused" offers from "non-state actors" from a former Soviet republic to buy fissile material, the Guardian adds.

The cables from May 2009, Rublee said, is the first time Egyptian officials claimed they were offered weapons as opposed to technical assistance on a nuclear program.