the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program

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and offensive nature of Project Coast. According to General (ret.) Meiring, the CBW program was still needed after 1990, due to problems of crowd control and the possibility that the ANC/MK had CBW. 123 At the same time, once de Klerk decided to roll back Project Coast, the process was time-consuming due to the sophistication of the program. Scientists and researchers had to be laid off over a period of time. Also, South Africa did not want to attract attention. According to Pierre Steyn, former Secretary of Defense, another major impediment to dismantlement was the bloated military that had developed throughout the 1980s. This meant that by the early 1990s the government faced a "situation of insubordination in the military by 1992.” 124 In response to de Klerk’s order, intelligence procedures were restructured and personnel changes were made but police investigations were never able to flush out all the details of what was happening. Throughout the military, there was stonewalling. Proliferation and Counterproliferation At the beginning of 1990, the U.S., backed by Britain and Israel, issued a strongly worded “hostile nation warning” on rolling back the South African nuclear weapons program. 125 With the prospect of the ANC taking power, the U.S., the UK and Israel did not want to see the program’s assets or secrets being sold to adversaries in the Middle East or elsewhere. De Klerk was persuaded by the ultimatum, especially as he saw no future need for nuclear weapons. In addition, South African officials were being forced by the U.S. to take a stand on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), in time for the June 1990 NPT review conference. According to Prof. Andre Buys, 126 in early 1990, de Klerk decided to end the nuclear program. It took three years (1990-93) to dismantle. Documentation, diskettes and hard drives were destroyed. De Klerk appointed Prof. Mouton as the auditor to supervise the disarmament process. From 1990-93, “Operation Masada” was carried out by the government and involved shredding of document and destroying of hard drives relating to the 46
nuclear weapons program and Project Coast. 127 In contrast to the nuclear weapons program, no pressure was exerted in 1989 or 1990 over the CBW program, even though the CIA released a report in 1989 which placed South Africa on a list of countries that had developed and stockpiled chemical weapons. However, the main focus of concern for the United States and her allies was nuclear proliferation. For a brief time, between 1987 and August 1990, when South Africa sold the G-6 155mm gun and chemical warfare agents, including NGT (CR) gas, to Iraq, the United States became concerned about the proliferation of a conventional weapon that had the capability to throw “exotic” shells. 128 However, there was little or no interest among U.S. policy and intelligence communities about possible proliferation threats associated with South Africa’s biological warfare program. The information that the CIA and MI-6 possessed was widely circulated or available within the Bush administration or the Thatcher/Major governments. This lack of interest changed in 1993, as the U.S. learned more about South Africa’s CBW and missile programs. Wouter Basson’s trips, particularly to Libya, and access to an informant, who provided the U.S. and allies with key details of Project Coast, increased the interest and concern of the United States, Great Britain and other allies. The new information led the U.S. and Britain to issue a demarche in April 1994. Israeli officials probably knew more about the program but did not want the U.S. and Britain to know that they were involved with it. According to Gen. (ret.) Chris Thirion, 129 as the head of SADF intelligence, he was asked for access to Project Coast secrets by good friends overseas. These included professional contacts in Germany, the U.S., Switzerland, and Austria. Also, top South African authorities, Generals Liebenberg and Meiring asked him if he could put Basson in touch with the right people. He refused to ask his U.S. counterparts, because he customarily met with them collectively and thought it would be awkward to ask. In the 47
Page 1:
THE ROLLBACK OF SOUTH AFRICA’S BI
Page 5 and 6: TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword vii Exec
Page 7 and 8: FOREWORD We are pleased to publish
Page 9 and 10: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The profile of So
Page 11 and 12: The Rollback of the South African B
Page 13 and 14: During WWII, South African Prime Mi
Page 15 and 16: dollars) estimate to build a CBW pr
Page 17 and 18: learn first-hand how the Portuguese
Page 19 and 20: use of chemical and biological agen
Page 21 and 22: incidents underscored the variable
Page 23 and 24: Convention (BWC). According to form
Page 25 and 26: Project Coast, which would countera
Page 27 and 28: internal suppression of political d
Page 29 and 30: Malan, and the Minister of Finance,
Page 31 and 32: The chain of command demonstrates t
Page 33 and 34: omb could be used to wipe out or in
Page 35 and 36: tear gas and to incapacitate withou
Page 37 and 38: In the aftermath of Cuito Cuanavale
Page 39 and 40: confirmed, there is evidence that s
Page 41 and 42: the SSC. At this time, the security
Page 43 and 44: Given the breadth and depth of coop
Page 45 and 46: instruct scientists working with a
Page 47 and 48: the South African President’s off
Page 49 and 50: Mandrax and Ecstasy that were produ
Page 51 and 52: overseas business deals. 114 In Aug
Page 53 and 54: South Africa negotiated the withdra
Page 55: political party or organization. Pr
Page 59 and 60: TRC, the men who tried to kill Chik
Page 61 and 62: In 1991, Basson began to build Mert
Page 63 and 64: Military personnel from several cou
Page 65 and 66: Meyer, the Acting Defense Secretary
Page 67 and 68: leave the SADF at the end of March
Page 69 and 70: Knobel’s testimony to the TRC, SA
Page 71 and 72: objected to the South African CBM a
Page 73 and 74: Basson and his trips to Libya were
Page 75 and 76: experiences for the military leader
Page 77 and 78: was submitted in 1994). This time U
Page 79 and 80: as the U.S., Great Britain, and oth
Page 81 and 82: investigation phase ended. Initiall
Page 83 and 84: June 1998. However, several weeks b
Page 85 and 86: penalties did finally force him to
Page 87 and 88: public. The State was operating on
Page 89 and 90: The limited news coverage of the Ba
Page 91 and 92: South African court for crimes comm
Page 93 and 94: ulings excluding evidence, his timi
Page 95 and 96: had asked him to set up a facility
Page 97 and 98: cover illegal personal gains from t
Page 99 and 100: who had detailed knowledge of many
Page 101 and 102: 9. What specifically and when did t
Page 103 and 104: e delivered through food and water,
Page 105 and 106: Reconciliation Commission of South
Page 107 and 108:
41 Interview with Dr. G. Scharf, fo
Page 109 and 110:
56 Mangold, Plague Wars, 243. 57 In
Page 111 and 112:
weaponization took place. Donald Ma
Page 113 and 114:
home of Jerry Nilsson, who was ques
Page 115 and 116:
he still need to raise cash in Sout
Page 117 and 118:
military bases and was familiar to
Page 119 and 120:
162 According to Dr. Ian Phillips,
Page 121 and 122:
Basson’s arrest was the result of
Page 123 and 124:
200 By the seventh week of the tria
Page 125:
115
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