the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program

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1980s, Thirion built a good relationship with his U.S. counterparts and cooperated with them in investigating the Soviet-built SA8 surface-to-air missile, after the SADF had captured it. He provided information about the G- 5 gun to American counterparts, even though ARMSCOR was on bad terms with the U.S. government. Thirion did not want to jeopardize his relationship with the U.S. by mentioning Basson. However, he did ask a Swiss agent oneon-one if he would be interested in meeting Basson. The agent replied that the Swiss government was indeed interested. Thirion was interested in defensive measures and encouraged the Swiss to put together a team of doctors and send them to Angola. In 1991, U.S. embassy officials, including the defense attaché, discovered that South Africa was running a CBW program at an arms show, including gas masks and protective suits. 130 The Americans asked the South Africans about the CBW but elicited little response. Later, an American delegation was invited to visit Protechnik. By September 1991, the U.S. government (and not just the CIA) became aware of Basson and Project Coast and began to look for signs of proliferation, especially to ANC allies, such as Libya. Continued “Third Force” Activities and CBW Use In 1989 and the early 1990s, violence escalated inside South Africa, in spite of the unbanning of the ANC and the release of Mandela. The ANC/MK reserved the right to resume their urban guerrilla warfare campaign, and violence between ANC and Inkatha supporters escalated in Kwazulu-Natal. In this atmosphere of violence, the Civilian Cooperation Bureau (CCB) and other “third force” agents intensified their murderous activities. In April 1989, the CCB attempted to assassinate the Reverend Frank Chikane with poison during a trip to Namibia. 131 Another attempt was made during a trip to the U.S., where one doctor finally diagnosed his malady as organophosphate poisoning. According to the testimony of RRL scientist, Schalk Van Rensburg, to the 48
TRC, the men who tried to kill Chikane with Parathion had poor intelligence. He stated, “They were counting on little (sic) forensic capability in Namibia. And too little was smeared over his underwear to kill him when he went to the U.S.” 132 Chikane’s attempted assassination and several other incidents of CCB use illustrate the difficulties involved in using biological agents as methods of assassination. 133 CCB operative Petrus Jacobus Botes (who claimed to have also directed operations by the CCB in Mozambique and Swaziland) asserted that he was ordered, in May 1989, to contaminate the water supply at Dobra, a refugee camp located in Namibia, with cholera and yellow fever organisms. A South African army doctor provided them to him. In late August 1989, he led an attempt to contaminate the water supply. However, the attempt failed to have any effect because of the high chlorine content in the treated water at the camp. 134 In May 1990, a South African newspaper, Vrye Weekblad, reported that a South African government covert operations unit, the CCB, employed biological agents against SWAPO. CCB had nearly 300 people working for it, and reportedly consumed about 0.28 per cent of the entire South African defense budget. The group had authority to operate inside South Africa and in neighboring countries. The CCB was disbanded at the end of 1990. 135 In 1990, violence in KwaZulu-Natal and other parts of South Africa escalated, with assistance provided to Inkatha militants from the CCB and other “third force” agents. That same year, the Harms Commission investigated “third force” agencies, which led to the closing down of the CCB and Vlakplaas. As the CCB was being closed down, CCB operatives absconded with more than R12 million that was due to Mechem for teaching the CCB advanced demolition techniques. 136 According to David Steward, these activities came as a surprise to F.W. de Klerk. In spite of the evidence, the 1991 Harms Commission was unable to uncover many of the secret 49
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 and 56: political party or organization. Pr
Page 57: nuclear weapons program and Project
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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