An Algerian minister said Thursday, on the 60th anniversary of the first French nuclear explosion in the Sahara in Algeria, that this " pending " file should be settled to establish " normal " relations between the two countries. Tayeb Zitouni, Minister of the Mujahideen - veterans of the War of Independence against France, 1954-1962 - added that it was " an official sine qua non demand " of the state and the people Algerian, according to the APS news agency.
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The minister who visited the region of Reggane (southern Algeria), in the wilaya (prefecture) of Adrar, where the French nuclear tests took place, underlined that Algeria commemorated Thursday " a crime of destruction of humanity, perpetrated against innocent people ”. Adding that " this drama fits into the criminal register of colonial France, rich in crimes and massacres committed to subjugate the Algerian people ".
" The file of the French nuclear explosions in the region of Reggane and the after-effects of the radiations which still make victims, is part of four files retained in the plan of the government in its component linked to the national memory, opened between Algeria and the France, "said Zitouni again. The government's " action plan ", a general policy program following the December 12 presidential election, was adopted Thursday evening by Algerian deputies.
On February 13, 1960, France launched Reggane, in the Algerian desert, " Gerboise bleue ", the name of its first attempt. A plutonium bomb with a power of 70 kilotons - three to four times that of Hiroshima - whose radioactive fallout extends to all of West Africa and to the south of Europe. Mr. Zitouni believes that " the French nuclear explosions are tangible proof of the heinous crimes committed against human rights, the Saharan environment, on which radioactivity still weighs ".
On the ground, the French authorities will assure three days after the explosion that the radioactivity is everywhere far below the accepted safety standards. However, documents declassified in 2013 will however reveal much greater radioactive fallout than those admitted at the time, extending to all of West Africa and to the south of Europe.
