Middle East Arm Reductions Treaty

On April 11, 1996, representatives from 43 African nations signed the African nuclear-weapons-free zone treaty. This historic event set the stage for the African continent to become the fifth geographic region to be declared a zone free of nuclear weapons. However, the road to the signing of the treaty was not an easy one, stretching over a period of more than 35 years of work by African countries.

Among the original signatories was Egypt, which is a key player in efforts to create a similar zone in the Middle East, and Libya, one of the countries of greatest proliferation concern. In delivering the keynote address at the signing ceremony, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak hailed the treaty and called for an effort to conclude a similar agreement banning nuclear, biological and chemical weapons from the Middle East.

On the same day, the Department of Defense (DOD) released its first annual report on the global dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and its efforts to combat the threat through its Defense Counterproliferation Initiative. The publication, titled Proliferation: Threat and Response, discussed the major threats to United States security from WMDs and outlined the range of the Pentagon's response to those threats.

Significantly, the study identified the Middle East and North Africa as the regions of highest proliferation concern because of the range of WM

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The Washington Quarterly, Autumn 1995, 29-51; Medeiros, Evan. "Pentagon Releases Annual Report on Global Proliferation Threats." Arms Control Today, April 1996, 24; and "Clinton Approves Release of Arms to Pakistan." Arms Control Today, April 1996, 26. Other such periodicals that should be referenced for a complete overview of arms control issues in general include Survival, Defense News, Contemporary Security Policy, and The Military Balance, as well as current newspapers. More in-depth research into the region should include a reading of periodicals such as The Middle East Journal and The Middle East Review. For a clear understanding of the history of arms control negotiations in general, the following books were referenced: Feldman, Shai, & Levite, Ariel (eds.). Arms Control & the New Middle East Security Environment. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994; Larsen, Jeffrey, & Rattray, Gregory (eds.). Arms Control Toward the 21st Century. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1996; van Leeuwen, Marianne (ed.). The Future of the International Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime. The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 1995; and Watman, Kenneth, Agmon, Marcy, & Wolf, Jr., Charles. Controlling Conventional Arms Transfers: A New Approach with Appl
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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)