nonviolent victory
NATO disclosure

Brussels -21 October:  Following years of campaigning by several peace organizations, today the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt stated in the parliament that he will soon disclose information around the suspected NATO nuclear weapon base of Kleine Brogel.

For the past years For Mother Earth and the Flemish branch of the War Resisters International have demanded such openness actively with regular citizens inspections. Since December 1995 more then 400 nonviolent peace campaigners have been arrested during the inspections of the NATO base. Amongst the arrested there were authors, actors, as well as MPs from several political parties. The openness of the "citizens inspections," which were based on international law, were successful in disarming the complete Belgian legal system.

To this date the Belgian government kept a "neither confirmed nor denied" NATO policy around the probable deployment of 10 tactical US nuclear bombs stored in Kleine Brogel-. Deployment is suspected to have started in 1962 or 1963. The controversial US nuclear bombs are also stored in the Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, UK and Turkey.

Today the organizers of the Citizens Inspections ask to start an open parliamentary debate as soon as possible. They wish to confront the courts with the historic 8 July 1996 Advisory Opinion-of the International Court of Justice around the illegality of nuclear weapons with the disclosed information concerning the US nuclear weapons deployed in Belgium.

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