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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30 The Cassinga raid highlights <strong>the</strong> difficulties involved in verifying CBW<br />
incidents. The TRC concluded that this alleged use was developed under<br />
auspices <strong>of</strong> Project B. A report on <strong>the</strong> Cassinga attack was prepared by a joint<br />
UNHCR/WHO mission on 30 May 1978 and reproduced as Annexure V in<br />
UN document 13473 <strong>of</strong> 27 July 1979. However, observers who arrived 30<br />
minutes after <strong>the</strong> attack found no evidence <strong>of</strong> chemical weapons use.<br />
(Interviews with former SADF special forces <strong>of</strong>ficers and defense analysts,<br />
July 2000).<br />
31 Interviews with former SADF Special Forces <strong>of</strong>ficers, July 2000<br />
32<br />
Interview with Dr. G. Scharf, former Director <strong>of</strong> Medical Hospital One<br />
Pretoria, 6 July 2000.<br />
33 Interview with Gen. (ret.) Georg Meiring, Pretoria, 3 July 2000.<br />
34<br />
Interview with former Defense Minister Magnus Malan, Pretoria, 23 June<br />
2000.<br />
35 Interview with Gen. (ret.) Bill Sass, Pretoria, 12 June 2000. This rationale<br />
for developing nuclear weapons is <strong>the</strong> one most frequently mentioned by<br />
former SADF generals and some former politicians. For a fur<strong>the</strong>r discussion <strong>of</strong><br />
o<strong>the</strong>r rationales that have been provided by South African <strong>of</strong>ficials during and<br />
after <strong>the</strong> apar<strong>the</strong>id era, see Badenhorst (unpublished manuscript), Hounam and<br />
McQuillen (1995), Reiss (1995), and Stumpf (1995/96).<br />
36 According to Brig. Gen. (ret.) Phillip Schalwyk, South African forces in<br />
Angola received an urgent cable from UNITA commanders during Operation<br />
Savannah asking for help because <strong>the</strong>y had been attacked by Cuban troops<br />
who wore “pig face masks.” Interview, 12 July 2000.<br />
37<br />
Annette Seegers, The Military in <strong>the</strong> Making <strong>of</strong> Modern South Africa. (New<br />
York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996).<br />
38 Interview with Magnus Malan, 23 June 2000.<br />
39 Interview with Dr. Vernon Joynt, Pretoria, 14 June 2000. Dr. Joynt claims<br />
that Surgeon-General Nieuwoudt sent Major Wouter Basson to him in 1978<br />
and <strong>of</strong>fered him <strong>the</strong> directorship <strong>of</strong> a chemical weapons <strong>program</strong>. While Joynt<br />
refused, many scientists and specialists accepted research projects by<br />
Nieuwoudt and Basson, and many did not tell <strong>the</strong>ir superiors.<br />
40 Seegers, The Military. See also S.A. Watt, “The Anglo-Boer War: The<br />
Medical Arrangements and implications <strong>the</strong>re<strong>of</strong> during <strong>the</strong> British occupation<br />
<strong>of</strong> Bloemfontein: March-August, 1900,” Military History Journal Vol. 9 No. 2<br />
(August). South African Military History Society /<br />
military.history@rapidttp.com. (Accessed 15 June 2000).<br />
96