the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program
the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program
the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program
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Reconciliation Commission <strong>of</strong> South Africa Report (Cape Town: The Truth and<br />
Reconciliation Commission, 1998).<br />
24 Ellert, The Rhodesian Front War, 111-113.<br />
25 Mangold, Plague Wars, 214-23. See also Meryl Nass, “Anthrax Epizootic in<br />
Zimbabwe, 1978-1980: Due to Deliberate Spread? The PSR Quarterly vol. 2<br />
no. 4 December 1992.<br />
26 “Basson anthrax link to Zimbabwe,”<br />
http://www.saep.org/forDB/WARanthrax ZANNOW990331.htm.<br />
27 Many <strong>biological</strong> <strong>warfare</strong> experts discount <strong>the</strong> claims made in Plague Wars<br />
that Rhodesian and/or South African forces planted anthrax spores black<br />
farming areas in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. In black farming areas under rebel<br />
control, <strong>the</strong>re was no wildlife control or regular cattle dipping. During this<br />
period, <strong>the</strong>re was a noticeable rise <strong>of</strong> rinderpest and o<strong>the</strong>r cattle diseases.<br />
According to Richard Cornwall, a senior defense analyst and expert on<br />
Zimbabwean politics at ISS-South Africa, “everything just broke down”<br />
(Interview, 4 July 2000). Under <strong>the</strong>se conditions, it would have been extremely<br />
difficult to limit <strong>the</strong> effects <strong>of</strong> anthrax to only certain areas.<br />
Mangold cites a DIA report to support allegations that anthrax was<br />
planted in cattle feed in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. However, Dr. Bill Thom,<br />
Director <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> African division <strong>of</strong> DIA, conducted a search <strong>of</strong> DIA files at <strong>the</strong><br />
request <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> authors and found that <strong>the</strong> DIA document number cited in<br />
Plague Wars was a citation for a regulation manual that had nothing to do with<br />
Africa or <strong>biological</strong> weapons (Interview, Bill Thom, 13 September 2000).<br />
Apparently, Mangold erred when citing a DIA report, or <strong>the</strong> document never<br />
existed.<br />
However, Mangold is confident that such experiments occurred, and it is<br />
possible that this strategy was one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> many BW experiments carried out by<br />
units <strong>of</strong> Selous Scouts in <strong>the</strong>ir quest to find new counter-insurgency tools.<br />
Regardless <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> veracity <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> allegations, <strong>the</strong> case is useful for illustrating<br />
how difficult it is to prove or disprove allegations <strong>of</strong> anthrax attacks. For a<br />
fur<strong>the</strong>r discussion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> available evidence in this and o<strong>the</strong>r recent incidents <strong>of</strong><br />
alleged use <strong>of</strong> anthrax as a weapon see Seth W. Carus, Working Paper on<br />
Bioterrorism and Biocrimes: The Illicit Use <strong>of</strong> Biological agents in <strong>the</strong> 20 th<br />
Century, 3 rd Revision (Washington, DC: Center for Counter-proliferation<br />
Research, National Defense University, 1998).<br />
28 The Mugabe government has become most unpopular in Zimbabwe. In <strong>the</strong><br />
June 2000 parliamentary elections, Mugabe’s party, ZANU (PF), lost control<br />
<strong>of</strong> all urban seats and all parliamentary seats in Matabeland.<br />
29 Mangold, Plague Wars, 220.<br />
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