By Miya Tanaka

HIROSHIMA, Aug. 6 Kyodo, The city of Hiroshima held a memorial service on Sunday to mark the 61st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing in World War II, with Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba calling on all nations to "faithfully" engage in nuclear disarmament negotiations.

In a Peace Declaration read at the memorial service, Akiba expressed concern over stalled moves toward nuclear elimination and said he expects Japan, the only country to experience the devastation of nuclear warfare, to play a forceful role in such a global campaign.

"The number of nations enamored of evil and enslaved by nuclear weapons is increasing," he said. "The human family stands at a crossroads. Will all nations be enslaved? Or will all nations be liberated?"

Some 45,000 people -- including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.N. Undersecretary General Nobuaki Tanaka -- gathered at the Peace Memorial Park in the western Japanese city.

Koizumi vowed to maintain the Constitution's peace clause and Japan's three avowed principles of not producing, possessing, or allowing nuclear weapons on its soil.

"(We) will continue to stand at the forefront to realize the abolition of nuclear weapons and permanent peace," he said.

A moment of silence was observed at 8:15 a.m., the time the atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima, killing an estimated 140,000 people by the end of 1945. A thousand doves were released into the sky.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a message read by Tanaka, encouraged efforts to strengthen the non-proliferation regime, even though the world is far from getting rid of nuclear arsenals.

"A world without nuclear weapons may be distant, but it is not a dream. The end of the cold war made possible a measurable reduction in nuclear arsenals. The progress must now be accelerated and solidified," Annan said.

Akiba criticized the world's political leaders for failing to accept a historic advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice 10 years ago.

It said the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law and advised that all nations are under an obligation to pursue negotiations in "good faith" and conclude measures leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects.

"If the nuclear-weapon states had taken the lead and sought in good faith to fulfill this obligation, nuclear weapons would have been abolished already," Akiba said.

Akiba said Hiroshima, with the 1,402 member cities of the "Mayors for Peace" organization, which he heads, has launched a campaign to promote the world court's advisory and a project to demand that nuclear-weapon states rule out cities as targets of a nuclear attack.

Mayors for Peace hopes to realize a nuclear-free world by 2020.

The Hiroshima anniversary comes amid lingering international concern over North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Iran's nuclear enrichment activity, and the Middle East crisis, which has claimed the lives of a growing number of people.

Akiba said he expects the Japanese government to "forcefully insist" that nuclear-weapon states engage in good-faith disarmament negotiations.

"To that end, I demand that the government respect the peace Constitution of which we should be proud," he added, apparently hoping to prevent moves to amend Japan's pacifist Constitution.

Akiba also called for the government to provide support for aging atomic bomb victims in accordance with their actual conditions.

Many atomic bomb survivors attended the ceremony, including the plaintiffs who won a lawsuit against the state over being certified as suffering from illness caused by atomic bomb radiation.

Some people waved fans bearing the slogan "Don't appeal" as part of a campaign to prevent the state from appealing against the Hiroshima District Court ruling handed down Friday, which questioned the government-set criteria over such atomic-bomb illness certification.

Koizumi stressed in his speech that the government will continue to promote measures to support the atomic bomb survivors but some supporters later criticized it, saying it sounded hollow.

A total of 259,556 atomic bomb survivors were alive as of March 31, with an average age 73.9. This year, the names of 5,350 more people recognized as atomic-bomb victims by Hiroshima since Aug. 6 last year were added to the cenotaph at the Peace Memorial Park, bringing the total number of the city's victims to 247,787.

For the first time this year, the city added the words "Many Unknown" to the ledger of the victims' names placed in a container at the cenotaph.

The city of Hiroshima invited government representatives from 140 countries, of which 35 countries sent delegates. But among seven declared nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, Russia and the United States -- as well as North Korea and Iran, only Russia and Iran sent delegates.

Tibor Toth, executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, also attended.

Among members of the general public participating was Jennifer Borio, 34, an American living in Tokyo who is taking a peace studies course at Hiroshima City University.

"World leaders should come to Hiroshima to see for themselves the devastation (caused by the A-bomb). Hiroshima inspires people to make the world a better place, though it's ironical," she said.

A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, and Japan surrendered six days later, bringing an end to World War II.

2006-08-06 20:07:15JST