Algeria is setting up a National Agency for the rehabilitation of former French nuclear test and explosion sites in southern Algeria. The decree, signed by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad, was published in the Official Journal.
This new agency is placed under the supervision of the Algerian Minister of Energy. According to the decree, its objective is to implement rehabilitation programs for former French nuclear test and explosion sites in southern Algeria until the complete completion of this work and the handing over of these former sites to communities. local areas concerned.
The spokesperson for Ican France, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, sees its creation as recognition and an important step. Jean-Marie Collin explains that “this is the first time that an Algerian authority of this type has been called upon to work on the rehabilitation of the sites”.
In recent months, exchanges have taken place between Paris and Algiers on the subject of nuclear tests carried out by France in Algeria. France carried out seventeen nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara, between 1960 and 1966. These tests, as well as their consequences in the areas concerned, still constitute today an unresolved crucial point in the memorial file between France and Algeria.
In April, for example, the subject was discussed during a meeting between the chiefs of staff of the two countries. General Saïd Chanegriha then said he was waiting for support to take charge of the rehabilitation operations and to locate the waste burial areas.
According to article 6 of the Algerian decree, this new agency can have recourse to national or international technical assistance, to carry out its activities.
