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FAS Project on Intelligence Reform

Algeria

Newspaper reports in 1991 (1) alleged that China was helping Algeria acquire a nuclear weapons capability at its Oussera reactor site and also advising on how to design a nuclear warhead for a Scud B delivery system. Further reports in 1992 (2) cited "Whitehall sources" in alleging that "Saddam help Algeria make Islamic nuclear bomb," which Algeria denied. (3) Unattributed reports that Algeria acquired either Scud B missiles from the former Soviet Union or plutonium separation capability are counter to Algeria's documented actions and creditable sources. Moreover, in February 1992, Algeria signed an agreement to place the Oussera nuclear reactor under IAEA safeguards and, by 1996, the only missile attributed to Algeria is the artillery rocket, the Frog-7 (range 70 km). (4)

1. London Sunday Times, 28 Apr 91, p. 1.

2. London Sunday Times, 5 Jan 92, p. 1.

3. The New York Times International, 8 Jan 92, p. 1.

4. "Nuclear Status of States", Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1966.


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Updated Thursday, September 12, 1996 - 9:48:47 PM