Iceland Storms Out of Whaling Summit

Iceland stormed out of the International Whaling Commission yesterday, claiming it had been the victim of dirty tricks in its failed bid to regain full membership.

On the second day of the plenary session, Stefan Asmundsson, the Icelandic commissioner, interrupted proceedings to accuse the anti-whaling nations of illegally rejecting his country's bid to rejoin the IWC the previous day.

"We are the victim of a dirty tricks campaign and have decided not to take any further part in this charade because we are compelled to sit on the sidelines while the proceedings are hijacked by a narrow majority that is determined to advance its own domestic cultural prejudices at the expense of its obligations under international law," he said.

He then led his delegation out of the conference, to the applause of delegates from Japan, Norway and other countries in the pro-whaling camp.

For the second year running, Iceland had applied to rejoin the organisation on the condition that it did not recognise the 17-year old moratorium on whaling.

The British delegate, fisheries minister Eliot Morley, a member of the anti-whaling camp, said no application could be accepted with strings attached. "I have no sympathy at all for Iceland. The situation is of its own making. Iceland is free to join, but it cannot decide in advance which parts to accept. The moratorium is the cornerstone of the IWC."

The drama highlighted the passions that have inflamed this year's meeting of the international body, which has been deadlocked between the pro- and anti-whaling camps.

Following a pattern set on the first day, all proposals to change the way the commission is run were voted down by one camp or another.

The ill-natured debate will continue today, when delegates discuss the conditions under which hunting may be resumed if the moratorium is lifted. The"revised management system" covers killing methods, monitoring procedures and other technicalities.

Anti-whaling nations are against the adoption of such a system on the grounds that existing safeguards against the poaching of protected species and the illegal trade of whale meat have repeatedly been circumvented.