A group of Algerians has launched a petition seeking reparations from former colonial ruler France for victims of nuclear tests carried out in the Sahara.

Algerian state news agency APS says the petition asks France "to recognize this situation and take its responsibilities" by creating a fund to pay for health problems related to the tests and to manage the waste they produced.

APS says the petition was started Saturday by a group of researchers, lawyers and journalists.

It asks France to declassify archives about the 17 tests carried out in Algeria in the 1960s.

France passed a law last year allowing for compensation to those who suffered from nuclear tests in the Sahara and the South Pacific, on a case-by-case basis.

