Nuclear Security：Africa Makes Progress

　　African states participated in a number of nuclear security-related events in the Netherlands during March this year. The most importantof these was the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit， which took place in The Hague from March 24-25. The summit was thethird in a series of meetings that focused on how to secure nuclear material and prevent such material from being used in actsof terrorism. Of the 53 heads of state and government invited to attend the 2014 Summit， six were from Africa – Algeria， Egypt，Gabon， Morocco， Nigeria and South Africa. Amelia Broodryk， Senior Researcher， Transnational Threats and International CrimeDivision， Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria， South Africa， looks at how the outcomes of the Summit impact Africa.

　　Key issues that were discussed at the Summitincluded how stockpiles of hazardous nuclear material canbe reduced， how nuclear material， facilities and radioactivesources can be secured and how international cooperationcan be enhanced. As with previous summits， the 2014Summit produced a communiqué， which sets out measuresthat states should implement in order to strengthenglobal nuclear security.

　　Importantly， the 2014 Summit provided participatingcountries with the opportunity to share national progresson implementation of legal and regulatory nuclear securitymeasures. Despite the many socio-economic and developmentalchallenges that African states face， they havesignificantly improved their nuclear safety and securitymeasures since the start of the Nuclear Security Summitprocess. Of the six African countries， five submitted nationalprogress reports – Algeria， Gabon， Morocco， Nigeriaand South Africa. It is presumed that Egypt did not submit anational progress report given its current domestic issues.In its report to the 2014 Summit， Algeria listed a numberof activities the country has already undertaken and isplanning to undertake， including amending its penal codein December 2013 to criminalize malicious use of radioactivematerials， including general acts of terrorism. Thecountry is also putting in place strong regulatory provisionsto strengthen nuclear security， specifically in the area ofphysical protection of nuclear materials， as well as facilitiesand security of radioactive sources.

　　Gabon is currently enacting a new bill for a RegulatoryFramework of Nuclear and Radiation Safety， Security andSafeguards and is establishing the Gabonese Agency ofNuclear Safety and Security that will set the rule of physicalprotection of nuclear material and radioactive sources. Moroccois in the process of ratifying the 2005 Amendment tothe Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materialand regularly updates its report to the United NationsSecurity Council Resolution 1540 Committee. Nuclearsecurity has also become a greater priority for Nigeria. Thecountry recently established a Nuclear Security SupportCenter within the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authorityand is cooperating with the International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA)， the U.S. and China， to undertake core conversionof Nigeria’s research reactor from highly enricheduranium to lower enriched uranium.

　　South Africa’s national report included reference tothe IAEA’s Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR)mission that was concluded in February 2013， to assess thecountry’s readiness for the expansion of its nuclear energyprogram. South Africa is in fact the first country with an operatingnuclear power reactor to conduct an INIR mission，as well as in the process of finalizing the establishment ofthe country’s nuclear forensics capability.

　　African participation at the 2014 Summit was notlimited to the submission of national reports. Through thepre-summit consultative “Sherpa” process， African statesmade key inputs into the 2014 Summit communiqué. Africanstates also participated in two statements presented atthe 2014 Summit. The first statement was on strengtheningnuclear security implementation and included supportfrom Algeria and Morocco. The second statement includedsupport from Algeria， Egypt and South Africa and outlineda comprehensive approach to nuclear security. Of particularrelevance， especially for African and other developingstates， was the statement’s inclusion of the principle that aslong as nuclear disarmament remains an unrealized goal，“measures aimed at comprehensively securing nuclearmaterials and facilities will be tinged with an undeniabledegree of precariousness.”

　　Although the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit onceagain shone a spotlight on the importance of building anappropriate international nuclear security framework， theSummit process is only one of many nuclear security-relatedinitiatives currently in existence and should be viewedwithin this broader architecture. In addition， given its limitedparticipation， the Summit can only make recommendationson the implementation of nuclear security measures.

　　It is therefore necessary for participating countries to taketheir experience from the 2014 Summit and share thisinformation within their regions and sub-regions. For Africa，this information could be useful in the development of acontinental nuclear security framework， one that wouldensure the maintenance of the highest levels of nuclearsafety and security without inhibiting states’ rights to usenuclear energy and technology for peaceful purposes.