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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was submitted in 1994). This time U.S. and UK objections were addressed<br />
satisfactorily. Even so, <strong>the</strong> Americans and British continued to share concerns<br />
about proliferation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> secrets on <strong>the</strong> CD-ROMs by Basson and o<strong>the</strong>rs.<br />
In May 1995, Defense Minister Modise and Secretary <strong>of</strong> Defense Pierre<br />
Steyn rehired Basson as a regular SANDF surgeon (he had been on reserve<br />
status). In early 1995, Generals Meiring and Knobel sat down and discussed<br />
Basson, after receiving information from NIA, CIA, and MI-6. Basson had<br />
been asked by government and SANDF <strong>of</strong>ficials to curb his behavior, but <strong>the</strong>re<br />
was no way to do so, except to rehire him. Meiring and Knobel went to Deputy<br />
Minister <strong>of</strong> Defense Ronnie Kasrils and urged that Basson be rehired. 172<br />
Kasrils went to Modise and Steyn and recommended <strong>the</strong> same. Later, Kasrils<br />
defended <strong>the</strong> government’s action in rehiring Basson, by saying it was to stop<br />
him from giving valuable and potentially dangerous secrets about <strong>the</strong> chemical<br />
and <strong>biological</strong> <strong>warfare</strong> <strong>program</strong>s to o<strong>the</strong>r countries. 173 Dr. Ian Phillips, ANC<br />
defense expert, said that Basson was rehired in order to bring him under<br />
parliamentary scrutiny at a time when no legislation was in place that could<br />
stop his activities. 174 Evidently, great concern existed within <strong>the</strong> government,<br />
<strong>the</strong> SANDF, and among foreign governments about <strong>the</strong> possibility that Basson<br />
was selling Project Coast secrets. Even after being rehired by SANDF, Basson<br />
made ano<strong>the</strong>r, albeit his final, trip to Libya in October 1995. 175<br />
A U.S. government lawsuit in Philadelphia against ARMSCOR created<br />
tense relations with <strong>the</strong> U.S. This hampered U.S. investigators in exploring<br />
possible ARMSCOR involvement in chemical and <strong>biological</strong> weaponization.<br />
However, overall U.S. relations with <strong>the</strong> Mandela government remained<br />
reasonably sound, and <strong>the</strong> investigations into Project Coast concluded<br />
satisfactorily. Finally, in October 1996 Vice Presidents Mbeki and Gore<br />
worked out an agreement so that ARMSCOR could plea bargain at a meeting<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> US-South African Bi-national Commission. In early 1997, <strong>the</strong> Defense<br />
Committee and Modese signed <strong>the</strong> agreement in July 1997.<br />
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