the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program

of poisons, for example, to impregnate toxins into blue jeans slated for
guerrillas of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and
Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas. The Scouts also
experimented with poisoned pens to assassinate guerrilla leaders, and with
bacteriological cultures that they introduced into the Ruya River near the
Mozambique border in 1976. Former top Rhodesian intelligence operative,
Henrik Ellert, claims that a Selous Scout operation poisoned the water supply
of a town in Tete province, Mozambique in an attempt to kill ZANLA
guerrillas who were reported to be operating in the area. Other accounts allege
that Rhodesian military forces experimented with cholera to contaminate rivers
and with the seeding of anthrax spores in farming areas used by ZANU and
ZAPU in an effort to poison guerrilla food supplies. 19 Finally, Rhodesian
forces poisoned wells and were suspected of using chemical and biological
agents, especially in the Rhodesia’s Eastern Highlands and across the border in
Mozambique. 20
As the 1970s developed, the Rhodesian government became increasingly
dependent on South Africa for financial support and military hardware. By the
end of the 1970s, SADF military intelligence was a principal source of funding
for the Rhodesian counter-insurgency program, including the Selous Scouts.
The Rhodesian defense budget was very small, and the regime had one
rudimentary chemical and biological warfare plant that received outside aid
from South Africa. In assisting Rhodesia, South African researchers continued
to work on CBW and land mine projects. 21
After 1980 and the independence of Zimbabwe, South African
involvement in the Rhodesian guerrilla war provided useful training
opportunities and personnel connections. Many Selous Scouts left Rhodesia
and were quickly integrated into special units of the SADF and SAP. SADF
Special Forces and SAP officers stationed in Rhodesia had studied the
organizational structures and tactics used by the Selous Scouts, including the
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