Nuclear weapons and Africa

Article by Bjørn Møller and Gavin Cawthra in book on Security Governance

Africa has recently been officially transformed into a nuclear-weapons-free zone with the entry into force of the Pelindaba Treaty – but even before that all African states had reached the conclusion that they were better off without than with nuclear weapons. South Africa had dismantled its minuscule nuclear arsenal and countries such as Egypt and Libya had abandoned their ambitions to join the nuclear club.

Jointly with Gavin Cawthra of the Wits University in South Africa, DIIS senior researcher Bjørn Møller (Defence and Security unit) has published an article on "Nuclear Weapons: Implications for Africa" in an anthology on African Security Governance: Emergent Issues (Johannesburg: Wits University Press and Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2010). It traces the nuclear weapons plans of various African states, and maps the potentials for 'going nuclear.

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