HIROSHIMA, Aug. 2 Kyodo - Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba on Monday issued the gist of this year's Peace Declaration ahead of the 59th anniversary on Friday of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, calling on the Japanese government to stick to the war-renouncing Constitution.

''We would like to serve as a mouthpiece for A-bomb victims who have since been hoping not to make anyone go through the same experience as they did,'' Akiba told a press conference.

The declaration will say that with the 60th anniversary of the nuclear attack to be marked next year, it is now time to retrace the A-bomb tragedy, an unprecedented event in human history, and move on into the future, according to the gist.

The declaration will also urge the central government not to tolerate war and nuclear weapons.

It will designate the year from Aug. 6, 2004 to Aug. 9, 2005 as a year to make efforts to create a nuclear weapons-free world, and rally global support for a campaign by the Conference of Mayors for Peace, composed of 611 cities worldwide and chaired by Akiba, to work toward abolition of nuclear weapons by 2020.

Nagasaki was bombed three days after Hiroshima.

The declaration will criticize the United States' resumption of research into making nuclear weapons smaller and also express concern over the spate of terror attacks in many parts of the world and North Korea's venture into nuclear weapons development, according to the gist.

It will also urge the Japanese government to provide more relief aid that meets the needs of aging A-bomb survivors, including those living abroad and those exposed in black rain areas at the time of the bombing.

Article 9 of the Constitution stipulates that the Japanese people ''forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.'' ==Kyodo

August 2, 2004