Algeria calls on France to confront its nuclear past “Come clean up the sites that you have contaminated”

Algeria's repeated requests for France to take responsibility and clean up sites contaminated by nuclear explosions in the country's south during the 1960s are "completely legitimate," according to Patrice Bouveret, co-founder and director of the Armaments Observatory.

Bouveret emphasized the importance of Algeria's call, saying: "The request from Algerian authorities to clean up the sites is obviously important and completely legitimate," Caliber.Az reports via Algerian media.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune raised the issue again in December, urging France to address the environmental damage caused by its nuclear tests. "Don’t give us money, but come clean up the sites that you have contaminated," Tebboune said in a speech to Parliament.

In January, Algeria's Minister of Environment and Quality of Life, Nadjiba Djilali, reiterated the demand, stressing that colonial France must "fully assume its historical, moral and legal responsibilities" in managing the radioactive waste left behind.

Bouveret expressed frustration at the lack of response from French authorities. "The main obstacle is the lack of political will from French authorities to concretely assume the consequences of their nuclear policy," he said, underscoring the continued tensions surrounding this unresolved issue.

Notably, between 1960 and 1966, the French colonial regime conducted 17 nuclear tests in Algeria’s Sahara Desert, including four atmospheric detonations near Reggane and 13 underground tests near In Ekker. 

The first test, Gerboise Bleue, had an estimated yield of 70 kilotons, making it four times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb. These tests led to widespread environmental destruction, affecting human, animal, and plant life.

The radioactive fallout contaminated vast areas of the Sahara and spread across Africa and the Mediterranean. Declassified military documents have confirmed the extensive impact of these tests on both the land and its inhabitants.

By Aghakazim Guliyev