Chad Ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

Chad Ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

Vienna, 11 February 2013 - The Republic of Chad has ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), becoming the 159th State to do so.

Tibor Tóth, the Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), welcomed the ratification as a step that ”consolidates Africa’s firm commitment to end nuclear testing and ultimately to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.”

Chad signed the CTBT on 8 October 1996, only days after the Treaty opened for signature. It has now been signed by a total of 183 States, constituting 90% of the world’s countries. In Africa, only three countries have yet to sign the CTBT Mauritius, Somalia and South Sudanwhereas ten countries have yet to ratify: Angola, Comoros, Congo (Republic of), Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Among the remaining African States, only Egypt’s ratification is mandatory for the Treaty to enter into force. Ratification by seven other nuclear technology holder countries from outside Africa is also required, namely: China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States, see interactive map.

African States have already banned nuclear weapons for themselves though the Pelindaba Treaty, which established a nuclear-weapon-free zone on the continent. Chad is a State Signatory to the Pelindaba Treaty, which entered into force in 2009. See also the CTBTO’s brochure Africa’s Contribution to Putting an End to Nuclear Explosions (English / French).

The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions everywhere, by everyone. The CTBTO is building an International Monitoring System (IMS) to make sure that no nuclear explosion goes undetected. Currently, over 85% of this network has been established, including 31 facilities in 22 African countries. CTBTO monitoring data can also be used for disaster mitigation such as earthquake monitoring, tsunami warning, and the tracking of radioactivity from nuclear accidents and its dispersal worldwide.

For further information on the CTBTO, please see www.ctbto.org – your resource for ending nuclear testing.

ENDS

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