Global Security Newswire

Russian lawmakers are set to consider for ratification two protocols to a treaty that outlaws nuclear weapons in Africa, United Press International reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 13, 2009).

The protocols President Dmitry Medvedev sent to the Russian Duma would prohibit nuclear strikes on African nations and nuclear testing on the continent, ITAR-Tass reported.

The African Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone Treaty was signed in 1996 and officially became law in 2009. It bans the development, acquisition, production, or possession of any nuclear explosive device on the African continent or its surrounding islands.

Twenty-four African states have inked the pact but have yet to complete the ratification process.

Nuclear powers China, France and the United Kingdom have already approved the protocols.

South Africa is the only African country to have developed nuclear arms, which it voluntarily destroyed in the 1990s (United Press International, Aug. 24).