France must take responsibility for Nuclear Waste in Sahara

"Sixty years after its nuclear tests, France still refuses to reveal the location of its nuclear waste and compensate the victims of disease caused by radiation."

The French colonial authorities conducted a series of nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara between 1960 and 1966. Seventeen tests were carried out altogether. Algeria's state institutions and civil society organisations have been demanding that France should reveal the location of its nuclear waste in the Sahara.

Algeria's senior military official, Bouzid Boufrioua pointed out that the tide has turned on such issues. "On 7 July 2017, 122 member states of the UN General Assembly ratified a new treaty to ban the use of nuclear weapons." He explained that the treaty "clearly and explicitly recognises the 'polluter pays' principle; this is the first time that the international community has called on the nuclear-armed states to rectify the errors of the past."