Today, one month before NPT Review Conference, Vredesactie is organising a Bombspotting 

action on the military base at Kleine Brogel, protesting the nuclear weapons that are stored there. 

This action is part of a European day of protest against nuclear weapons, during which 

demonstrations are staged at all the nuclear weapons bases in Europe. 

2010 offers unique opportunities for nuclear disarmament. As of 3 May 2010, the 187 countries that 

signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the treaty that is supposed to stop the spread of nuclear 

weapons, are reuniting. In 2010, NATO is reviewing its strategy and this time it can choose to do 

so without nuclear weapons. 

Throughout Europe the political will to get rid of the NATO nuclear weapons is growing. Belgian top 

politicians are pleading for a nuclear-free Europe, but so far our government has not dared to take 

a stand. The Bombspotters demand that the Belgian government assume its responsability: the 

nuclear weapons have to go and as a member of NATO Belgium has to plead for the unconditional 

rejection of the illegal nuclear strategy. 

Government, assume your responsability: disarm 

One year ago president Obama put nuclear disarmament back on the international political 

agenda, but so far not much has been achieved. The START treaty finally has a successor, but 

large steps towards nuclear disarmament have not been made. 

Despite all the rhetoric about a nuclear weapons-free world the nuclear states are not making any 

serious commitments to put that theory into practice, and are modernising their nuclear weapons. 

In May of 2010, the NPT Review Conference starts. All countries that have signed the Non- 

Proliferation Treaty will be making new agreements about the further application of this treaty and 

therefore also about the requirement to disarm, contained within this treaty. In 2010 NATO will 

review its Strategic Concept. In november a new version of this Strategic Concept will be approved 

and in doing so the nuclear strategy of NATO will be determined for the coming decade. 

Belgium is quite capable of playing a roll in further steps towards nuclear disarmament. The 

Bombspotters demand that the Belgian government assume its responsability: the nuclear 

weapons have to go and as a member of NATO Belgium has to plead for the unconditional 

rejection of the illegal nuclear strategy. 

Belgium is one of the five countries that have put nuclear weapons on the agenda of the next 

informal NATO meeting with ministers of foreign affairs in Talinn on 22-23 April. But no one can say 

what this initiative really means. We therefore ask that the Belgian government make a clear case 

for the removal of the nuclear weapons. 

Dozens of non-violent actions 

“We are not part of the negotiations. We can not form new treaties, but we can prevent the illegal 

agreements concerning nuclear weapons from being executed in silence, far away from any public scrutiny. That is why as of december 2009 Vredesactie is staging non stop non-violent actions at 

the military base at Kleine Brogel”, says Inez Louwagie of Vredesactie. 

Hundreds of people and organisations have responded to the appeal. Dozens of actions have 

been executed in the meantime. In december Saint Nicolas jumped the fence at Kleine Brogel. In 

January a team of non-violent action trainers made the world news. They walked through an open 

gate and almost reached the plane hangars where the nuclear bombs are stored. The day after the 

appeal for nuclear disarmament by our four top politicians and the rather unambitious response of 

our prime minister, again forty Bombspotters were present at Kleine Brogel. Singing choirs sang 

war songs, some people from Ghent dug a tunnel to the nuclear weapons, ... 

Today, 3 April, is the main event of this series that will continue until the start of the NPT- 

conference in May 2010. Hundreds of Bombspotters will perform non-violent actions on and 

around the military domain. They will have pic-nics on the landing strip, make their protests heard 

with fanfares, keep a silent vigil with Pax Christi, ... 

European day of action 

Today’s action is also part of a European day of action against nuclear weapons. Anywhere in 

Europe where nuclear weapons are deployed, non-violent actions are being organised. In Great- 

Britain, Trident Ploughshares organises a blockade at the base of Faslane, where the British 

nuclear submarines are stationed. In France, non-violent actions are being organised at the base 

of Mont-Marsan (a nuclear weapons warehouse), in Brest at the FOST-headquarters (Force 

Océanique STratégique, the French nuclear submarines) and on 2 April at the ministry of defence 

in Paris. In Germany there will be a demonstration at the base of Büchel on 4 April, and the 

removal of the NATO nuclear weapons is one of the central demands of the Easter marches that 

take place all over Germany. In holland, Ontwapen organises a cleanup-action near and on the 

base of Volkel. In Turkey, actions take place in Ankara and Istanbul. Finally in Italy a demonstration 

was organised on 21 March at the base of Aviano. 

The Bombspotting campaign 

Just like the previous years the Bombspotting action is preceded by threatening words from the 

government, the installing of miles of barbed wire and the deployment of more than a thousand 

soldiers and police personnel. And yet the Bombspotting campaign is nothing but a non-violent 

attempt to make sure international law is applied. 

Nuclear weapons can not be used without violating international humanitarian law. Their 

deployment and the training of Belgian pilots for their use, constitutes the preparation of crimes of 

war. The decision of the International Court of 8 July 1996 concerning nuclear weapons was 

therefore the incentive to start a campaign in order to incite our government to respect international 

humanitarian law and put an end to the deployment of nuclear weapons. Since 1997, a large group 

of people have participated in non-violent civilian inspections, during which in, analogy with the 

UN-inspectors in Iraq, they try to end the deployment of illegal weapons of mass destruction. The 

Belgian justice system has never dared to have a thorough judicial discussion in court. The only 

reaction from the government that remains, is to convert the base into a fort to protect its illegal 

policies from its civilians. The actions have succeeded in putting nuclear weapons on the political 

agenda, and an ever growing group of politicians have spoken out against further deployment of 

nuclear weapons. In 2005 Belgian parliament for the first time drafted a resolution asking for their 

removal. This year, Jean-Luc Dehaene, Willy Claes, Guy Verhofstadt and Louis Michel echoed the 

same point of view, as did dozens of members of parliament from all parties in a letter to president 

Obama. Will this growing political conscience finally be put into practice by the Belgian government 

in 2010? 

The ministry of defence states that it is tired of the Bombspotting actions. Vredesactie will gladly 

put a stop to the Bombspotting campaign, when the Belgian government aligns itself with 

international humanitarian law and removes the nuclear weapons from Kleine Brogel. 

Updates and pictures will be made available through www.bomspotting.be.