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African Leader Urges Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone
Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji yesterday urged African Union nations to endorse a continent-wide zone free of nuclear weapons, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 25, 2002). “The African Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone Treaty which was adopted in 1996, has not received the required number of ratification by member states to come into force,” Adeniji said. “It is embarrassing that African states who should have been at the forefront to enforce the treaty have failed to ratify it.” Officials said only 20 of the region’s 53 member states have submitted their instrument of ratification. Eight more states must ratify the pact for it to come into force, according to Reuters. The treaty prohibits research into nuclear explosive devices and bars dumping of radioactive materials anywhere in Africa (Reuters, May 31). Africa is the only region in the world to have adopted a nuclear weapons ban that has not been implemented, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council announced in a statement. The union’s predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, adopted the Pelindaba Treaty in 1995, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. Latin America, the South Pacific and Southeast Asia have similar treaties in force, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse, May 31).
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