Jan 7-18 1991 [N] The Amendment Conference of
the States Parties to the Treaty
Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water
meets in New York.
Jan 17-Feb 28 1991 [O] Persian Gulf War begins
with Operation Desert Storm: Iraqi forces, which invaded Kuwait in August 1990,
are driven out by an American-led international coalition that includes British,
Egyptian, French, Kuwaiti, Saudi, and Syrian forces.
Jan 29 1991 [M] The United States announces a
revision of the SDI
program from defense against a large-scale ballistic
missile attack to protection from limited ballistic missile strikes. The
new program would include some 1,000 space-based "Brilliant Pebbles" interceptors,
750 to 1,000 long-range ground-based interceptors at six sites, space-based
and mobile sensors, and transportable theater ballistic missile defenses.
Mar 1991 [M] According to U.S. Defense Department
reports, China has delivered M-11 missiles to Pakistan, together with inert
(dummy) warheads for missile handling and launch training.
Apr 3 1991 [O, N, C, B] The UN Security Council
passes Resolution 687 requiring the destruction of Iraq's nuclear capability,
its chemical and biological weapons, and ITS missiles with a range over 150
kilometers. The council establishes a Special
Commission (UNSCOM) to monitor the elimination of WMD in Iraq.
May 13 1991 [C] The Bush Administration announces that U.S. stockpiles of both binary and unitary
chemical weapons (CW)
will be destroyed when the CWC is implemented.
May 21-23 1991 [C] The Australia
Group expands its list of controlled chemicals to 50 and further requires
member country chemical manufacturers to obtain a license for the sale of any
controlled chemicals to non-member nations.
May 27 1991 [M] In response to Chinese M-11 missile
sales to Pakistan, the Bush Administration imposes missile-related economic
sanctions on China. The United States blocks the sale of 20 high-speed computers
that can be used in missile flight analysis to Chinese arms export-related firms.
U.S. firms will not participate in seven Chinese satellite launches. U.S. companies
are not allowed to sell missile technology to those Chinese firms involved in
the M-11 sale.
May 28 1991 [N, C, B, M] U.S. President Bush announces
an arms control plan for the Middle East that includes a ban on WMD and a freeze
on the acquisition, production, and testing of surface-to-surface missiles.
June 1 1991 [M] INF
Treaty is fully implemented.
June 3 1991 [N] France announces its intention
to accede to the NPT as a nuclear
weapon state.
June 13 1991 [M] The Soviet Union issues a formal
statement linking the effectiveness and viability of START
to compliance with the ABM Treaty. The
United States replies, in a formal unilateral statement, that "changes in the
ABM Treaty agreed to by the parties would not be a basis for questioning the
effectiveness or viability" of START.
July 10 1991 [N] South Africa accedes to the NPT
as a non-nuclear weapon
state after terminating its nuclear weapons program. The South African government
claims to have made six nuclear weapons and to have dismantled them all.
July 15 1991 [N] France conducts its final nuclear
test before entering into a unilateral moratorium that lasts until September
1995.
July 18 1991 [N] Argentina and Brazil establish
the Brazilian-Argentine
Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC).
July 31 1991 [N] The United States and Soviet
Union sign the Strategic Arms Reduction
Treaty (START I), by which they undertake to reduce their nuclear weapons
from then current levels of between 10,000 and 11,000 each to between 8,000
and 9,000 weapons each.
Aug 10 1991 [N] China announces that it will accede
to the NPT as a nuclear
weapons state.
Aug 29 1991 [N] Semipalatinsk, the primary Soviet
nuclear test site, is permanently shut down.
Sept-Oct 1991 [N] The United State and Soviet
Union make unilateral announcements of further reductions and other measures
for their respective nuclear arsenals.
Sept 3 1991 [N] Russian President Boris Yeltsin
calls for an international moratorium on nuclear testing.
Sept 5 1991 [C, B] The Joint Declaration on the
Complete Prohibition of Chemical and Biological Weapons, or the Mendoza Accord,
is signed in Argentina by Argentina, Brazil, Chile. It is later signed by Bolivia,
Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Sept 9-27 1991 [B] The third BWC
review conference reaffirms the four confidence-building
measures (CBMs) developed at the second review conference and strengthens
the convention by adding three more CBMs to provide information on: (1) national
legislation related to the BWC; (2) past BW
research and development programs; and (3) human vaccine production facilities.
The conference also creates an Ad
Hoc Group of Governmental Experts (VEREX) to "identify measures which would
determine whether a State Party is developing, producing, stockpiling, acquiring,
or retaining" BW.
Sept 12 1991 [N] Accord between Brazil and Argentina
for the Exclusive Pacific Use of Nuclear Energy is issued. Under the accord,
Brazil and Argentina agree to refrain from "testing, use, manufacture, production
or acquisition, by any means, of any nuclear weapons; and the receipt, storage,
installation, placement or any form of possession of any nuclear weapon."
Sept 27 1991 [M] U.S. President George Bush announces
unilateral cuts in U.S. tactical
nuclear weapons and calls upon the Soviet leadership "to join us in taking
immediate concrete steps to permit the limited deployment of non-nuclear defenses
to protect against limited ballistic
missile strikes."
Sept 27 1991 [N] President Bush announces the
cancellation of the MX rail-garrison ICBM
and short-range attack
missile (SCRAM II) programs and the withdrawal of all remaining army ground-based
tactical nuclear weapons
worldwide. (Air force and marine tactical nuclear weapons are not affected.)
Bush also ends the 24-hour alert status of B-IB and B-52 bombers.
Oct 5 1991 [M] President Gorbachev announces that
the Soviet Union will immediately stand down (or, de-alert)
all strategic bombers
currently on day-to-day alert status and store their weapons; stand down 503
ICBMs; stop the buildup
of launching facilities for rail-based ICBMs; and discontinue development of
short-range attack
missiles for heavy bombers. Gorbachev also announces a one-year, unilateral
moratorium on testing and calls for an end to all nuclear tests.
Nov 1991 [O, N, C, B] In response to deteriorating
conditions in the former Soviet Union the U.S. Congress initiates the Cooperative
Threat Reduction (CTR) program, which authorizes the Department of Defense
to assist particular states of the former Soviet Union to: dismantle and destroy
WMD; strengthen the security of nuclear weapons and fissile
materials in connection with dismantlement; prevent proliferation; and help
demilitarize the industrial and scientific infrastructure.
Nov 17 1991 [M] U.S. Secretary of State James Baker's
visit to Beijing results in limited eleventh-hour Chinese concessions on missile
sales. Baker met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, President Yang Shangkun,
Prime Minister Li Peng, and party chief Jiang Zemin and obtained a verbal commitment
from the Chinese not to export M-9s to Syria, and M-11s to Pakistan and other
countries. The Chinese also told him they intend to "observe the guidelines
and parameters" of the MTCR.
Nov 26 1991 [N] Great Britain conducts its last
nuclear test at the U.S. Nevada test site before the U.S. nuclear testing moratorium
takes effect.
Dec 4 1991 [O, N, C, B] Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru, and Venezuela adopt a Declaration on the Renunciation of Weapons of Mass
Destruction at Cartagena, Colombia.
Dec 13 1991 [N] The accord between Brazil and
Argentina for the Exclusive Pacific Use of Nuclear Energy is ratified.
Dec 25 1991 [O] Following the Belovezhsky Agreement
on the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president
of the Soviet Union and the U.S.SR ceases to exist.
Dec 25 1991 [N] Soviet President Gorbachev signs
a decree making Russian President Boris Yeltsin commander of the Soviet arsenal
of 27,000 nuclear warheads.
Dec 29 1991 [O] The former Soviet republics (with
the exception of George, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) sign the Almaty Agreement.
The signatories agree to observe all international treaties signed by the Soviet
Union until separate treaties can be concluded for the newly independent states
(NIS).
Late 1991-Early 1992 [N] Russia agrees to eliminate its ground-launched
tactical nuclear weapons.
 back to top
|
