The continued fallout from the nuclear tests carried out by France in the desert of its former colony, Algeria, continues to pollute relations between the two countries more than 60 years later, as Maher Mezahi reports from Algiers.
On the morning of 13 February 1960, just 45 minutes after the French army detonated an atomic bomb as a test in the Algerian Sahara, President Charles de Gaulle sent a message to his army minister.
"Hoorah for France," read the note. "This morning she is stronger and prouder. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you and those who have achieved this magnificent success."
The detonation of the plutonium-filled bomb - known as Blue Jerboa - and the subsequent 16 explosions of nuclear weapons in Algeria were seen as a display of French strength and development.nAt the time, Algeria was a French colony.
Yet the atmosphere on the ground, where 6,500 French engineers, soldiers and researchers worked on the project alongside 3,500 Algerian manual labourers, was less celebratory. The bomb had been placed on top of a 100m-tall tower before the explosion.Witnesses recount feeling the ground shake and, when permitted to face the blast, seeing a gigantic mushroom cloud. ...
"In 1960 when the bomb detonated, there were more than 6,000 inhabitants. Reggane was not in the middle of nowhere," the 57 year-old told the BBC. "From what we are told by researchers, long-term effects started around 20 years after the first bomb was detonated and they will continue to last for decades. Many of those who were contaminated have already passed away due to unknown medical causes. They were told they had rare illnesses but they didn't really know the specific nature of their illness," Mr Toumi explained.
Immediately after the Blue Jerboa blast, there were protests across the region as nuclear fallout from the bomb would be detected as far as Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Sudan. ...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56799670