By Stefano Ambrogi LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A United Nations treaty designed to stop the carriage of weapons of mass destruction by sea has not been ratified by a single country, including the United States, despite its being formally agreed a year ago. The shortcoming emerged as world powers this week grappled with enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea that include the inspection of seaborne cargo and possible ship searches in international waters. Countries party to U.N. International Maritime Organisation (IMO) laws agreed to the new convention in London last October. The Suppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA) at sea convention makes it illegal for merchant ships to carry WMD and engage in acts of terrorism on the high seas. It also sets out procedures for the world's navies to stop and inspect ships flying the flag of another country. The world's oceans have been likened by many security experts to the Wild West amid scores of examples of smuggling of arms, drugs and people. At the time, Secretary-General Efthimious Mitropoulos urged countries to ratify quickly so that the global shipping industry was fully armed to counteract "the gravest menace it had ever faced". But the IMO said on Thursday that not a single country had ratified the law yet, not even the United States which had pushed so hard for the treaty in the first place. "It is a source of tremendous frustration for the organisation," an IMO spokesman said. When asked why ratification was taking so long, the spokesman said the convention was at the mercy of the legislative process in respective countries, which could be notoriously slow. So far only seven countries: Australia, Austria, France, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United States had signalled their intention to ratify, but none had done so. The treaty agreed to by 126 countries, representing 82 percent of the world's 50,000-strong fleet, requires twelve nations to ratify before it becomes law and then only for those who are party to it. Experts say the measure could have helped clamp down on the smuggling of nuclear arms components to countries like North Korea by writing into international law procedures to interdict on the high seas. They say the law could also stop other proliferators from transferring weapons technology to countries such as Iran or extremist groups such as al Qaeda. "It would add another string to the bow in terms of interdiction," said Chris Trelawny of IMO's security section. Far out to sea, ships are sovereign entities and any interdiction without the relevant protocols in place could spark a major diplomatic incident. "The Security Council resolution is different but it would have helped the Americans if they had ratified SUA and everyone else for that matter who had ratified," said Frank F. Wall, formerly chair of the IMO security arm and now a consultant. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to South Korea on Thursday and travels on to China on Friday to urge countries in the region to implement U.N. sanctions, particularly the inspection of cargo to intercept weapons parts. China, North Korea's biggest trading partner, has backed the Security Council resolution and has said it will carry out cargo inspections, but has ruled out searches at sea.
