Facility Agreement with Senegal enters into force

A Facility Agreement signed by Senegal and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) entered into force on 24 March 2006. The agreement was signed on 22 May 2001 by Ambassador General Mohamadou Keita, Permanent Representative of Senegal, and by Mr Wolfgang Hoffmann, Executive Secretary of the CTBTO Preparatory Commission. The date of entry into force is in accordance with Article 22 of the Agreement which states that the Facility Agreement will enter into force on the day on which the CTBTO Preparatory Commission receives notification of Senegal that national requirements for the entry into force have been fulfilled. The Facility Agreement regulates the conduct of activities in respect of auxiliary seismic station in Mbour (AS097). Senegal, which signed the CTBT on 24 September 1996 and ratified it on 9 June 1999, hosts this station as part of the International Monitoring System (IMS) to verify compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. The Facility Agreement grants the CTBTO Preparatory Commission the necessary legal authority to carry out work on this IMS facility on Senegal's territory. To date, the CTBTO Preparatory Commission has concluded 33 Facility Agreements, out of which 28 have entered into force and one is being provisionally applied.