African states participated in a number of nuclear security-related events in the Netherlands during March this year. The most important of these was the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit, which took place in The Hague from March 24-25. The summit was the third in a series of meetings that focused on how to secure nuclear material and prevent such material from being used in acts of 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 Crime Division, 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 Summit included how stockpiles of hazardous nuclear material can be reduced, how nuclear material, facilities and radioactive sources can be secured and how international cooperation can be enhanced. As with previous summits, the 2014 Summit produced a communiqué, which sets out measures that states should implement in order to strengthen global nuclear security.

Importantly, the 2014 Summit provided participating countries with the opportunity to share national progress on implementation of legal and regulatory nuclear security measures. Despite the many socio-economic and developmental challenges that African states face, they have significantly improved their nuclear safety and security measures since the start of the Nuclear Security Summit process. Of the six African countries, five submitted national progress reports – Algeria, Gabon, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. It is presumed that Egypt did not submit a national progress report given its current domestic issues.

In its report to the 2014 Summit, Algeria listed a number of activities the country has already undertaken and is planning to undertake, including amending its penal code in December 2013 to criminalize malicious use of radioactive materials, including general acts of terrorism. The country is also putting in place strong regulatory provisions to strengthen nuclear security, specifically in the area of physical protection of nuclear materials, as well as facilities and security of radioactive sources.

Gabon is currently enacting a new bill for a Regulatory Framework of Nuclear and Radiation Safety, Security and Safeguards and is establishing the Gabonese Agency of Nuclear Safety and Security that will set the rule of physical protection of nuclear material and radioactive sources. Morocco is in the process of ratifying the 2005 Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and regularly updates its report to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 Committee. Nuclear security has also become a greater priority for Nigeria. The country recently established a Nuclear Security Support Center within the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority and is cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.S. and China, to undertake core conversion of Nigeria’s research reactor from highly enriched uranium to lower enriched uranium.

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

African participation at the 2014 Summit was not limited to the submission of national reports. Through the pre-summit consultative “Sherpa” process, African states made key inputs into the 2014 Summit communiqué. African states also participated in two statements presented at the 2014 Summit. The first statement was on strengthening nuclear security implementation and included support from Algeria and Morocco. The second statement included support from Algeria, Egypt and South Africa and outlined a comprehensive approach to nuclear security. Of particular relevance, especially for African and other developing states, was the statement’s inclusion of the principle that as long as nuclear disarmament remains an unrealized goal, “measures aimed at comprehensively securing nuclear materials and facilities will be tinged with an undeniable degree of precariousness.”

Although the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit once again shone a spotlight on the importance of building an appropriate international nuclear security framework, the Summit process is only one of many nuclear security-related initiatives currently in existence and should be viewed within this broader architecture. In addition, given its limited participation, the Summit can only make recommendations on the implementation of nuclear security measures. It is therefore necessary for participating countries to take their experience from the 2014 Summit and share this information within their regions and sub-regions. For Africa, this information could be useful in the development of a continental nuclear security framework, one that would ensure the maintenance of the highest levels of nuclear safety and security without inhibiting states’ rights to use nuclear energy and technology for peaceful purposes.