On the occasion of the 64th anniversary of the first French nuclear test in Algeria, 15 international non-governmental organizations condemned the silence of the French authorities regarding waste dumping sites in the Algerian desert.
Last June, the Algerian authorities asked Russia's aid to help clean up nuclear sites contaminated with nuclear radiation after despairing of Paris's cooperation.
The organizations issued a joint list, published Tuesday on the website of Algerian human rights organization Shoaa, demanding that the French government lift the secrecy surrounding the files related to the tests.
They asked the authorities to disclose accurate maps revealing nuclear waste locations and precisely identifying the burial sites of this waste.
The statement said that despite more than 64 years having passed since these tests, France continues to deal with these issues with great secrecy under the pretext of national defense and security.
They identified themselves as organizations that defend communities affected by the tests and represent advocates for the prohibition of nuclear weapons, calling for the protection of the environment and human rights and the promotion of peace.
The statement condemned the harmful effects of the tests that were conducted in Algeria from 1960 to 1966.
The organizations called for urgent action to address the ongoing disaster resulting from them and facilitate and expedite the process of compensating Algerian victims.
The organizations include: the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Peru for Disarmament, and Nuclear Disarmament Initiatives (France).
The activists urged France to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to demonstrate its good faith in addressing the disaster resulting from its nuclear tests in Algeria.
They also urged the Algerian government to use all available legal and diplomatic means to assist the victims of nuclear testing in regaining their moral and material rights.
They also asked for regular reports on the activities of the National Agency for the Rehabilitation of French Nuclear Test Sites and Explosions in Southern Algeria, which was established in 2021.
On February 13, 1960, French colonial authorities detonated a plutonium bomb in the desert town of Reggane. Its power reached 70 kilotons, which is equivalent to 3 to 4 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb (1945), according to expert estimates.
Documents declassified in 2013 revealed that the radioactive effects of the bombing reached West Africa and southern Europe.
At total of 57 detonations were carried out between 1960 and 1966, according to historical documents and testimonies, which also indicated that France experimented with them on 150 Algerian prisoners.
However, to date, no accurate data is available on the extent of the damage to humans and the environment in those areas.
In 2020, President Emmanuel Macron received a landmark report from historian Benjamin Stora recommending continued joint work that looks into "the locations of nuclear tests in Algeria and their consequences."
The request includes financial compensation for the losses caused to humans and the land by the radiation emanating from these experiments.
France also faces similar issues in other regions under its administration, including Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. It conducted nuclear tests there in 1996.
