WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 Kyodo - Former world leaders, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, issued an appeal Thursday against nuclear weapons on the 53rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The appeal, prepared by the Fourth Freedom Forum, a private foundation dealing with global security issues, said the recent nuclear tests in India and Pakistan ''have demonstrated unmistakably the peril of nuclear proliferation and the weakness of international measures of control.''

The tests also ''cast harsh new light on the persistence of the arsenals of the United States, Russia, China, Great Britain and France, who jointly possess some 35,000 nuclear weapons,'' it said.

The former world leaders urged the five nuclear powers to negotiate to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons in line with commitments made in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

David Cortright, president of the foundation, told reporters that 70 percent of the American people believe the U.S. government should adopt a policy to reduce or eliminate nuclear weapons.

''The problem today is not with people's attitude about nuclear policy, but rather our leaders' stagnant position on nuclear weapons,'' he said.

Signers of the appeal include Nobel Peace Prize winners Oscar Arias and Joseph Rotblat, and former U.S. Senators Alan Cranston and Mark Hatfield.

Earlier in the day, Hiroshima commemorated the anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city by the U.S. B-29 bomber Enola Gay on Aug. 6, 1945.