8 November 2011

The Peoples Forum in Niono, Mali, from 31 October to 3 November 2011 was attended by 1200 people from all over Africa and the world. ICAN Africa was represented by Dr Ruku Bilehni (DRC) and Samir Abi (Togo). Dr Ruku Bilehni gave two lectures explaining the dangers of nuclear weapons and uranium mining. The participants issued the Niono Appeal against nuclear power in Africa and for the abolition of nuclear weapons globally.

Call from Niono, Mali

Against Nuclear Power and for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

3 November 2011

The recent explosion of the plant in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011 brings back on the agenda the issue of nuclear power and uranium mining in Africa.

Africa cannot be indifferent to this issue given the fact that it is actively involved in the nuclear industry because of the many uranium resources that nature has provided to the continent.

For the African people participating in the 10th Forum of the Peoples in Niono, whose goal is to urge the G20 to make more sustainable choices, Fukushima is a sad reminder of the horrific consequences of the exploitation of uranium at the expense of the African people.

To fuel nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons programs worldwide, the people of Niger, Mali, Guinea, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and so on are sacrificed in a perpetual quest for profit.

The African people see the land of their ancestors kidnapped, their homes and forests destroyed by European, US and Chinese industries, as a consequence of the agreements signed by their governments despite the ratification of the Pelindaba Treaty.

Radiation and polluted spaces are never included in the operational costs of uranium mining in Africa. Adverse and long-term radioactive effects on the workers’ health and most widely on the population are endured by the African states, which however receive back only very limited financial resources from the exploitation of the mines.

This is the result of neo-colonial agreements, which bind them to some countries, in particular France and China.

The energy crisis faced by many African countries, which is the consequence of the collapse of Word Bank-funded dam projects, is the pretext used by multinationals to promote nuclear power plants in Africa, singling out green energy projects.

The African peoples meeting in Niono strongly condemns these outrageously expensive projects and supports those endeavors fostering renewable energy and social sustainability.

In addition, the arms race fuelled by the countries possessing nuclear weapons and their allies is an obstacle to the fair distribution of resources needed to address the urgent necessities of the people.

The African peoples gathered at the Forum of Peoples in Niono (Mali):

• Reaffirm their opposition to the development of any nuclear project in Africa for whichever purpose whether civil or military;
• Support the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons;
• Call on the African states to take concrete measures to put an end to the production of all weapons of mass destruction in order to protect the peoples and the nature;
• Demand the establishment of an independent commission of the African Union with the task of surveying the environmental consequences of uranium mining in Africa;
• Demand the end of all neo-colonial agreements on uranium mining in the African continent, which go against the interests of the peoples of Africa;
• Demand the establishment of a Global Fund for the development of renewable and sustainable energy in Africa, avoiding the spread of nuclear energy and request of new loans to the World Bank;
• Call on those African countries who possess uranium resources to provide concrete plans to free their economy from the dependence on uranium mining, in order to put an end to the environmental and health harm that these activities causes;
• Call on the African states to legislate within the African Union against the exploitation of uranium in Africa;
• Demand compensation from multinationals for the environmental damage caused by 50 years of uranium mining in the continent, which constitutes an ecological debt vis-à-vis the peoples of the South;
• Demand compensations for all the workers and irradiated victims from those activities not in compliance with regulatory standards operating in the uranium mines;
• Call for the immediate closure of arms factories and their conversion to more socially useful production;
• Call on those African countries that have not yet done so to promptly sign and ratify the Pelindaba Treaty, establishing the African nuclear-weapon-free zone;
• In the Pelindaba Treaty spirit, call all African governments to demonstrate actively their commitment towards a treaty to abolish nuclear weapons.