While the two heads of government are due to meet in Algiers on October 9 and 10, Jean-Marie Collin of ICAN France, Patrice Bouveret of the Observatory of Armaments and the former Commissioner for Atomic Energy Merzak Remki underline the urgency to recognize and compensate the victims of French nuclear tests in Algeria.
Here is their platform. “Presidents Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Emmanuel Macron relaunched, on August 27, the partnership between France and Algeria to “apprehend the future in appeasement and mutual respect”. This desire should translate into new announcements with the holding of the High-Level Intergovernmental Committee, in Algiers on October 9 and 10, which will bring together the governments of the two States. Not having been discussed during the meeting between the two Presidents, this new meeting should mark a decisive turning point in resolving the question of the consequences of the nuclear tests that France carried out in Algeria and which have had an impact until today. the local people again.
France carried out between 1960 and 1966, in southern Algeria, on the sites of Reggane and In Ekker, a total of 17 atmospheric and underground nuclear tests. Among the 13 underground nuclear tests carried out at In-Ekker, two important incidents (Beryl and Amethyst) caused a very large release of lava outside the mountain, which remains locally highly contaminated. In addition to the nuclear tests, around forty explosions were also carried out at Reggane (Adrar) and at Tan Ataram (Tamanrasset), using small quantities of plutonium, but not causing the release of nuclear energy.
It is clear that to this day, the health and environmental situation in these regions of the Sahara remains just as worrying.
Following a major mobilization, France recognized, with the law of January 5, 2010, relating to the recognition and compensation of victims of nuclear tests, that they had not been “clean” , both those carried out in Algeria than in Polynesia. It was thus admitted that people (civilian populations, workers, soldiers, scientists, etc.), present during these tests in southern Algeria, had been affected by radiation-induced diseases.
French law requires the applicant for compensation to meet very difficult criteria to have their victim status recognized. In particular, he must demonstrate his presence in a geographical area of fallout from the trials, during a period during which they took place and suffer from one of the 23 diseases listed by decree.
Unfortunately, since 2010, only one Algerian national has been compensated out of the 723 people recognized as victims by the Compensation Committee for Victims of Nuclear Tests (CIVEN). This situation demonstrates a serious problem. Moreover, this law has still not been transcribed into Arabic (although it has been available since 2018 in the Polynesian language), also restricting its access to a large population.
Since 2010, only one Algerian national has been compensated out of the 723 people
Moreover, we know that current generations — and future generations if no rehabilitation measures are implemented — continue to be impacted by the consequences of these tests. Indeed, following numerous testimonies and research (see in particular the study by ICAN France and the Armaments Observatory “Under the sand, radioactivity! Waste from French nuclear tests in Algeria: analysis with regard to the treaty on ‘prohibition of nuclear weapons, published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2020), it is acknowledged that France voluntarily buried various radioactively contaminated waste at the test sites. To this waste must be added radioactive materials (vitrified sands, contaminated rocks) from atmospheric nuclear explosions present on the “Gerboise” firing sites and on a large part of a side of the Taourirt Tan Afella mountain in In Ekker.
Algeria, for its part, has taken another step in the process of taking charge of this issue at the national level, by creating on May 31, 2021, the National Agency for the Rehabilitation of Former Testing and French nuclear explosions in southern Algeria.
But if the two States have been well aware of the existence of this “radioactive heritage” for many years, we, unfortunately, observe a lack of tangible progress in the advancement of this important file.
The time has come to act quickly, in full cooperation and without taboos, as Presidents Tebboune and Macron have underlined.
Will the fifth session of the High-Level Intergovernmental Committee (CIHN), which will meet on October 9 and 10, be the occasion for concrete announcements? Indeed, this committee, launched in 2013, has from the beginning included a section related to nuclear tests, but the slowness is once again to be underlined. The first meeting on February 3, 2016 of the joint working group on the compensation of Algerian victims of French nuclear tests, displayed the only prospect of “creating a specific dialogue as soon as possible”.
An action plan must therefore be drawn up during this CIHN, made public, including, in particular, for France, easier access for Algerians to the Morin law and the handing over to the Algerian authorities of all the archives on the consequences of the tests. and waste buried on site. Algeria can materialize its desire for action via its Ministry of Health by establishing a cancer registry for the inhabitants of southern Algeria and via its Rehabilitation Agency by officially launching studies to clean up radioactive areas.
The time has come to act quickly
It remains for Algeria, which was among the first countries to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in 2017, to begin its process of ratifying the Treaty. This will allow it to have international cooperation for the rehabilitation of the environment of contaminated areas.
The parliamentarians of the two countries also have a role to play by establishing a joint working group to monitor the timetable and the work carried out as closely as possible to the field and the populations. NGOs, academics, journalists and local actors must also be associated with this global action plan, to enable its implementation for the benefit of the affected populations.”
