Mali ratifies Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

Mali deposited its instrument of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 4 August 1999. Mali is the forty-second State signatory to have ratified the Treaty. Mali is contributing an auxiliary seismic station at Kowa to the global verification regime that the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom) is establishing to monitor and verify compliance with the Treaty.

The station has been assessed by its parent network operator, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, and found to be capable of meeting the stringent requirements of the International Monitoring System. The station will require only a satellite connection to the International Data Centre (IDC) at CTBTO PrepCom in Vienna, and authentication, before it can be certified. Under the CTBT, an International Monitoring System (IMS) of 321 stations, using four complementary technologies, is being established to record data necessary to verify compliance with the Treaty. The stations will be capable of registering vibrations from a nuclear explosion underground, in the seas and in the air, as well as detecting radioactive debris released into the atmosphere. The monitoring stations will transmit, via satellite, the data to the IDC, where the data will be used to detect, locate and characterize events. These data and other IDC products will be made available to the signatory States for final analysis.

The 41 other States that have ratified the Treaty are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Luxembourg, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Qatar, Senegal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Uzbekistan. To date, 152 States have signed the Treaty. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty bans any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion anywhere in the world. Drafted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the General Assembly on 10 September 1996, the Treaty was opened for signature on 24 September 1996 at the United Nations in New York.

For further information on the CTBTO, please see www.ctbto.org or contact: 
Annika Thunborg
Chief, Public Information   
T    +43 1 26030-6375  
E    press@ctbto.org
M    +43 699 1459 6375