Africa claims right to nuclear energy

A coalition of 45 African states has signed a declaration pledging to "promote the safe and accountable use of nuclear energy", reports SciDev.Net. The statement came at a two-day conference on nuclear energy in Algeria on 9-10 January."Africa is entitled to reap the benefits of atomic energy without any constraints or obstacles being put in its way," said Ramtane Lamamra, secretary-general of the Algerian foreign affairs ministry, prior to the meeting.Industrialised nations have been pushing developing countries to do a better job than they did at controlling greenhouse gas emissions early in their economic development. This rules out conventional fossil fuel sources, and puts the emphasis on cleaner sources of energy, ways of capturing emissions from fossil fuel burning - or nuclear energy.As you can imagine, the world's nuclear powers aren't so keen on a new wave of developing countries joining the atomic club. Some recent events go some way to explain this reticence: in 2004, Brazil, a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, was accused of barring access to IAEA inspectors, fuelling speculation that they might be producing something more than energy. And then of course, there's the concern over Iran's pursuit of a nuclear agenda.But should industrialised nations expect countries with a smaller pot of money for research to develop new sources of "clean" energy? The US has repeatedly said it would help with this, but the offer has been criticised as an excuse to increase US trade. What's more, over the past year, Africa has underlined its desire to drive its own development.I'm looking forward to reading your views on this.Catherine Brahic, Online environment reporter