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Treaty Text
Opened for Signature: April 11, 1996
Has Not Yet Entered into Force.
Number of
States Parties: all 53 countries on the African continent
SAFARI-I Research Reactor building, South Africa. Source: National Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA) |
Like the South
Pacific Nuclear NWFZ, movement toward an African NWFZ began with opposition to
nuclear testing in the region. France conducted its first nuclear tests in the
Sahara desert of Algeria, then under French control, beginning in February 1960.
African states soon sought international support for prohibiting nuclear testing
in Africa. At the first summit of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU)
(now the African Union) in Cairo in July 1964, African Heads of State and
Government called for a treaty formally declaring Africa free of nuclear
weapons. The declaration by the OAU was submitted to and endorsed by the UN
General Assembly during its 1965 session, but no follow-up action took place,
and little significant progress towards this goal was achieved until the end of
the Cold War. Meanwhile, the apartheid government of South Africa began a
secret program to develop nuclear weapons in the late 1960s, and by 1989 South
Africa had assembled six nuclear bombs.
Former South African President FW de Klerk.
After he became president in 1989, Mr. De Klerk
unilaterally dismantled the limited nuclear capability that
South Africa had developed during the preceding decades. Source: FW De Klerk Foundation
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The political changes in
South Africa which led to the end of apartheid also led to a breakthrough in
denuclearization. In 1991, South Africa, the only state in the region that
possessed the technical capability to develop nuclear weapons, dismantled its
entire nuclear weapons program and subsequently acceded to the NPT. Efforts to
formalize the denuclearization of the African continent quickly gained momentum.
The text of an African NWFZ treaty was finished by June 1995, and the Treaty of Pelindaba was opened for signature in Cairo on April 11, 1996. The name of the
treaty refers to the site of South Africa's Atomic Energy Corporation
where the uranium enrichment process used in South Africa's nuclear
weapons was developed. (The name of this site comes from words in the Zulu
language meaning "the issue is settled.") As of April 2005, the
treaty had not yet entered into force, as it had not yet received the required 28
ratifications. 53 African countries have signed and 18 have ratified the
treaty.
The "integration building" at Advena Central Laboratories (foreground) would have made nuclear aerial bombs or warheads for ballistic missiles if the
South African program had continued. Source: Armscor. |
The text of
the Treaty of Pelindaba is far more
comprehensive than the treaties of Tlatelolco and Rarotonga. For instance, it
calls for "the highest standards of security and effective physical
protection of nuclear materials, facilities and equipment." The treaty
also prohibits "any action aimed at an armed attack by conventional or
other means against nuclear installations" in the zone. Moreover, because
South Africa secretly developed nuclear weapons before 1991, the treaty also
calls for the declaration and dismantlement of any clandestine nuclear weapons
programs that existed prior to the treaty's entry into force. Finally, it
specifically prohibits research on nuclear explosive devices of any kind.
Pelindaba Nuclear Facility (west view). Source: National Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA) |
Protocol I of the Pelindaba Treaty requires that all NWS refrain from the
use or threat of use of nuclear explosive devices against any party to the
treaty. China, France, and the United Kingdom have all signed and ratified the
protocol. The United States has signed, but thus far not ratified it.
The United States has made it clear that the treaty would in no way "limit
options available to the United States in response to an attack by a treaty
party using weapons of mass destruction." Part of the reason for this
stipulation was that before 2003, Libya conducted clandestine programs to
develop chemical weapons and possibly other weapons of mass destruction. Even
though Libya announced in December 2003 that it would dismantle its entire WMD
program, the United States has not changed its reservations regarding the
protocol.Protocol II to the treaty requires that nuclear weapon states refrain
from conducting nuclear testing within the NWFZ. China, France, and the United
Kingdom have ratified the Protocol; U.S. and Russian ratifications are still
pending. Protocol III calls on any state that has de jure or de
facto international responsibility for a territory situated within the NWFZ
to apply the treaty's provisions to that area. Since France and Spain
possess islands within the African NWFZ, Protocol III is open for signature by
these countries. France signed and ratified the Protocol in 1997, but Spain
(which is a non-nuclear weapons state party to the NPT) has not done so, arguing
that it was never consulted when this protocol was included. According to
Spain, three territories belonging to Spain, the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and
Melilla (coastal cities in North Africa), which are included in the scope of the
Pelindaba Treaty, are an integral part of the European Union. Therefore, Spain
insists that these three territories should not be included within the African
NWFZ. Russia has not ratified any of the protocols to the treaty and seeks assurances
that neither the United States nor the United Kingdom will base any nuclear weapons
on Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean that falls within the territory
of the zone. Diego Garcia is a British possession used by the United States as
a major military base.
As noted above, the Treaty of Pelindaba will enter
into force after 28 countries have completed the ratification process. At that
time, the African Commission on Nuclear Energy (AFCONE) envisaged by the treaty
will be established in South Africa to ensure compliance with the treaty. The
role of AFCONE will also include promoting peaceful uses of nuclear energy under
IAEA comprehensive safeguards, and making sure that radioactive wastes are not
dumped within the zone of application of the treaty.
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