SW1 has finally caught up with Guido’s exclusive reporting from last January on the little-regarded Africa Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, also known as the Pelindaba Treaty, to which Mauritius is a signatory. Here we go…
Mauritius would have to be compliant. The deal:
“Prohibits the research, development, manufacture, stockpiling, acquisition, testing, possession, control or stationing of nuclear weapons, as well as the dumping of radioactive wastes. The Treaty also prohibits any attack against nuclear installations in the zone by Treaty parties and requires them to maintain the highest standards of physical protection of nuclear material, facilities and equipment, which are to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.”
Reports say that Diego Garcia is a crucial base for all manner of US military nuclear applications. The Telegraph reports that the Mauritian Deputy PM told a meeting as follows: “The Pelindaba Treaty… it has been in place for years. It does not, unfortunately, ban the presence of nuclear (weapons), it prevents the storage. There is a difference between storage & transit.” The United States will not tolerate any inhibition on its ability to freely operate nuclear weapons on the base…
Speaking to Matt Chorley on BBC 5 Live, Shabana Mahmood was asked what the naughtiest thing she has ever done is:
“I think I took a drag on a cigarette when I was a teenager, when I shouldn’t have done, but it did trigger an asthma attack. And so I figured that was God telling me, don’t smoke.”