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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Role of Africa in Arms Control and Disarmament |
Author: | Quashigah, Kofi |
Year: | 1999 |
Periodical: | African Journal of International and Comparative Law |
Volume: | 11 |
Issue: | 1 |
Period: | March |
Pages: | 67-85 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Africa |
Subjects: | disarmament Inter-African Relations international relations Law, Human Rights and Violence Military, Defense and Arms |
External link: | https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/afjincol11&id=81&collection=journals&index=journals/afjincol |
Abstract: | From the early years of independence in the early 1960s, African States have perceived nuclear weapons as one of the major security threats to the region. After outlining the meaning of disarmament and arms control, and the historical background to the disarmament and arms control issue, the author discusses the UN commitment to disarmament and the failure of UN efforts as a result of superpower rivalry and the Cold War climate, the influence of the Third World in bringing about changes in the UN machinery on disarmament in the 1970s, the link between disarmament and development, and the linkage between national, regional and global security issues and disarmament. The significance of Africa's contribution to disarmament concerns stems from the fact that Africa was the first continent to launch the notion of a denuclearized zone. It also spearheaded the crusade against nuclear waste dumping. A new epoch in Africa's fight against nuclear armaments began following the demise of apartheid in South Africa with the final drafting of the African Nuclear-Weapon Free Zone Treaty (Pelindaba Treaty), in South Africa, in 1995. South Africa has also brought the focus back to over-armament in the area of conventional arms, voicing official concern at the buildup of conventional weapons and formulating a policy for their control. Notes, ref. |