Much of the Uranium Used in the Atomic Bombs Dropped on Japan Was Mined in the Congo

As of September 2024, 98 countries and regions have signed or ratified (or acceded to) the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, but do you know that African countries or regions account for one-third of them? While many countries in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia are not participating, 33 out of 55 African countries have signed or ratified the treaty.

Of course, one contributing factor, from a realpolitik perspective, is that African nations are non-nuclear-armed states. However, delving into modern history reveals Africa has been at the forefront of the global trend for nuclear abolition along with independence from colonial rule.

For Africa, nuclear weapons and colonialism imposed by major powers are two sides of the same coin. For example, much of the uranium used to fuel the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by U.S. forces in 1945 was mined in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in central Africa.

While the Congo was under colonial rule by Belgium, uranium was discovered at the Shinkolobwe mine in the southern province of Katanga in 1915. Initially, the discovery drew little attention, but the situation changed in the late 1930s, when nuclear fission was discovered and World War II broke out. European powers started a fierce battle for uranium.

At the time, uranium was mainly sourced from Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) and the Congo. Because Czech mines were under German control, the United States, with the support of its ally, Britain, negotiated with a Belgian mining company to secure most of the uranium in the Shinkolobwe mine.

After the Manhattan Project began full-scale development of the atomic bomb in 1942, American military engineers made their way to the Shinkolobwe mine, excavated the abandoned site, and secretly exported 3,700 tons of uranium to the United States. Shinkolobwe was erased from maps to conceal atomic bomb development, and even spies were reportedly deployed to spread false information, ensuring that local residents remained unaware of the mining site.

On the other hand, those recruited for uranium mining in the Congo were forced to endure harsh and inhumane conditions. Working day and night in three shifts, they were not even told what they were mining, nor were they provided with protective clothing. As a result, many people were exposed to radiation levels exceeding the tolerable limits.

In addition, contaminated soil and drinking water caused serious health damage to residents living near the mine. These harmful effects were concealed within the colonial system, and the voices of the victims were silenced long after the Congo’s independence.

Moreover, the connection between Africa and atomic bombs is not only the source of raw materials. Nuclear weapons were also used on the African continent.

Ghana’s Leadership in Nuclear Disarmament During the Decolonization Period

African countries gained independence successively during the period from the late 1950s to the 1960s. At the same time, the nuclear arms race became intense due to the growing tension of the Cold War. When France announced plans to conduct atomic bomb tests in the Sahara Desert, nuclear weapons became a tangible threat for Africa, sparking protests across the continent.

Among those protests, Kwame Nkrumah, the Prime Minister of Ghana (formerly the British Gold Coast), led the movement to abolish nuclear weapons in Africa. In Ghana, newly-independent in 1957 as the first sub-Saharan nation to gain independence, he hosted an international conference advocating for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

This anti-nuclear sentiment was not limited to African leaders; it was shared widely by the general public. Contemporary newspapers reveal that many Ghanaians feared radioactive fallout could contaminate the country’s major export, cocoa, and large demonstrations against nuclear testing were reported.

Nevertheless, on February 13, 1960, France forcibly carried out an atomic bomb test in Algeria, which was then under its colonial rule. More than half a century after France’s first atomic bomb test, the region still suffers severe consequences such as increased cancer rates and birth defects.

Naturally, to the African people who continued to protest, this forcible test, called “Gerboise Bleue (blue jerboa),” symbolized colonialism and racism by the “white nations.” Centered in Africa, the global anti-nuclear and peace movement began in earnest.

Nkrumah hosted the Positive Action Conference for Peace and Security in Africa in 1960 and the Accra Assembly for the World without the Bomb in 1962 in Ghana, seeking to create an international movement to protest against nuclear bomb tests conducted by Western countries and to abolish nuclear weapons.

It is not widely known fact that some Japanese participated in anti-nuclear movements in Africa. In 1960, Tomi Kora, a former member of the House of Councillors and peace movement activist, was invited to attend the Positive Action Conference. At the 1962 Accra Assembly, she was joined by Shinzo Hamai, the mayor of Hiroshima, and Ichiro Moritaki, the secretary-general of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, who met with peace activists and researchers from around the world in Ghana to discuss nuclear abolition.

The Accra Assembly was followed in 1963 by the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which continued the anti-nuclear movement in Africa. In 1964, the OAU adopted the Declaration on the Denuclearization of Africa (Cairo Declaration), which was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1965.

This trend continued with South Africa abandoning its nuclear weapons in the early 1990s, the OAU adopting the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Pelindaba) in 1996, Libya dismantling its nuclear arsenal in 2003, and finally, the Treaty of Pelindaba coming into force in 2009.

Thus, Africa has a long tradition of spearheading the global nuclear disarmament movement after World War II. The fact that so many African nations have joined the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons can be seen as a natural extension of this legacy.

Source: Compiled by the author, based on The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons(ICAN)website (As of September, 2024)

Africa links U.S. President to Hiroshima

Historically, from the start of the Atlantic slave trade in the Age of Discovery to colonialization by European powers in the modern era—complete with arbitrarily drawn borders and travel restrictions—Africa has been at the mercy of powerful nations’ imperialism and exploitation.

In the opening speech at the Positive Action Conference in 1960, mentioned above, Nkrumah of the host country, Ghana, outlined steps Africa could take to stop the French government, which refused to listen to the opposition of African nations:

“Future positive direct action against French nuclear tests might, for instance, take the form of a mass non-violent attempt to proceed towards the testing area. It would not matter if not a single person ever reached the site, for the effect of hundreds of people from every corner of Africa and from outside it crossing the artificial barriers that divide Africa to risk imprisonment and arrest, would be a protest that the people of France, with the exception of the de Gaulle Government, and the world could not ignore. Let us remember that the poisonous fall-out did not, and never will respect the arbitrary and artificial divisions forged by colonialism across our beloved continent.”

For Africa, which had achieved independence from colonial rule and embraced self-determination, the concept of rule by force as symbolized by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction was entirely incompatible with its values. With strong determination not to repeat the mistakes of the colonial era, Africa’s peace movement for nuclear disarmament was pursued in tandem with independence movements, anti-colonial efforts, and campaigns against racial discrimination.

It is also noteworthy that multiple African Americans took part in the 1962 Accra Assembly, contributing significantly to its success. For many African Americans, peace activism—nuclear disarmament included—was closely intertwined with the civil rights struggle they were waging in the United States. Intellectuals in the Black civil rights movement had been linking the atomic bombings of Japan to racism since the end of World War II.

In 2016, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, where he laid wreaths at the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims and delivered a speech reaffirming the pursuit of a world free of nuclear weapons. Although Obama’s father was Kenyan rather than descended from enslaved people, I believe this link between his African heritage and his historic visit to Hiroshima should be understood within the broader context of Africa’s long-standing anti-nuclear movement.

Regrettably, the field of African history remains somewhat marginalized, and the connection between nuclear weapons and Africa is barely recognized in Japan. However, as a scholar of African studies, I would like to see greater attention paid to this topic.

Africa was also drawn into the Second World War and the arms race during the Cold War as an involved party, but its history is rarely considered in a Western-centered view. Japan is in a similar situation, as textbooks or high school history classes in Japan currently provide only minimal coverage of African history.

Of course, this lack of coverage does not imply that this area has no history. With a population of over 1.4 billion at the moment, African people have also demonstrated remarkable influence in the world of sports, music and fashion. Africa is geographically far from Japan, but paying closer attention to its history and movements could help Japanese people better understand the current global social situation.

* The information contained herein is current as of June 2024.
* The contents of articles on Meiji.net are based on the personal ideas and opinions of the author and do not indicate the official opinion of Meiji University.
* I work to achieve SDGs related to the educational and research themes that I am currently engaged in.

Information noted in the articles and videos, such as positions and affiliations, are current at the time of production.