Mozambican President Unveils 'Hiroshima Stone of Peace' in Parliament

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, April 11, 2003

Mozambican President Unveils 'Hiroshima Stone of Peace' in Parliament

Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano on Thursday unveiled a "Hiroshima stone of peace," installed in the premises of the parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.

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Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano on Thursday unveiled a "Hiroshima stone of peace," installed in the premises of the parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.

The stone is part of the ruins of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, leveled by a US nuclear weapon at the end of World War II.

"The peace stone is a prize for our culture of peace, and for the positions we take in our approach to international peace, security, disarmament and development," said Chissano.

The stone, he added, "is a symbol around which converge all people who love peace and progress. It should inspire future generations to love life, and to opt for the path of dialogue to solve conflicts."

"Every time we look at this stone of peace, we shall remember that dark cloud that fell upon Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, causing the immediate deaths of 140,000 people, and leaving the city entirely in ruins," said Chissano.

The Mozambican people, Chissano continued, "has always rejectedthe manufacture and use of weapon of mass destruction. The production of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons is a threatto all of humanity."

Mozambique had made its position towards such weapons clear, headded, by signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the treaty to make the Indian Ocean a non-nuclear zone.

Hiroshima survivors set up the "Hiroshima peace stone association," which awards fragments of the ruins to people believed to have played a role in the preservation of peace.

The Mozambican president said that 90 other heads of state had received peace stones. He was the 91st, and he had decided to offer the peace stone to the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique.

The assembly, "in its quality as the house of representatives of all Mozambicans, is also our school where we learn to live peacefully in the midst of diversity," said Chissano.

"The best world for ourselves and for our children is a world free of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons," he concluded.

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