{"id":22651,"date":"2021-07-07T12:47:34","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T12:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/?p=22651"},"modified":"2021-07-07T12:47:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T12:47:34","slug":"france-algeria-relations-the-lingering-fallout-from-nuclear-tests-in-the-sahara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/en\/france-algeria-relations-the-lingering-fallout-from-nuclear-tests-in-the-sahara\/","title":{"rendered":"France-Algeria relations: The lingering fallout from nuclear tests in the Sahara"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Hoorah for France,” read the note.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“This morning she is stronger and prouder. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you and those who have achieved this magnificent success.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At the time, Algeria was a French colony.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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The bomb had been placed on top of a 100m-tall tower before the explosion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Witnesses recount feeling the ground shake and, when permitted to face the blast, seeing a gigantic mushroom cloud.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Photo<\/span>IMAGE COPYRIGHT<\/span>AFP<\/span><\/div>
image caption<\/span>France carried out four nuclear weapons tests in the desert near Reggane between 1960 and 1961<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The extreme temperatures near the blast transformed the sand into black shards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Blue Jerboa was three times more powerful than the bomb dropped by the US on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, which destroyed everything within 1.6km (one mile) of the explosion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The detonation of such a powerful weapon in south-western Algeria was justified by General Charles Ailleret, who was in charge of the operation and said “the total absence of all signs of life” was “essential in choosing the site”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Yet dozens of kilometres away, the inhabitants of the town of Reggane begged to differ.<\/p>\n

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\"Abderrahmane<\/p>\n

Abderrahmane Toumi<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In 1960 when the bomb detonated, there were more than 6,000 inhabitants. Reggane was not in the middle of nowhere”<\/div>\n