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Project Coast The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR—an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations—conducts research on disarmament and security. UNIDIR is based in Geneva, Switzerland, the centre for bilateral and multilateral disarmament and non- proliferation negotiations, and home of the Conference on Disarmament. The Institute explores current issues pertaining to the variety of existing and future armaments, as well as global diplomacy and local entrenched tensions and conflicts. Working with researchers, diplomats, Government officials, NGOs and other institutions since 1980, UNIDIR acts as a bridge between the research community and Governments. UNIDIR’s activities are funded by contributions from Governments and donors foundations. http://www.unidir.org The Centre for Conflict Resolution (formerly known as the Centre for Intergroup Studies) was founded by the University of Cape Town in 1968 as an independent non-profit organisation. It is based in the Western Cape and works nationally (South Africa) and elsewhere in Africa to contribute towards a just and sustainable peace in South Africa and other African countries by promoting constructive, creative and co-operative approaches to the resolution of conflict and the reduction of violence. Its goals are to: contribute towards an understanding of conflict and violence; promote public awareness of the value and practice of constructive conflict resolution; provide third-party assistance in the resolution of community and political conflict; equip and empower individuals and groups with the skills to manage community, political and social conflict; participate in national and regional peace initiatives; contribute to the transformation of South African society and its institutions by promoting democratic values; promote disarmament and demilitarisation in South and Southern Africa. http://ccrweb.ccr.uct.ac.za Cover page: Eric Miller—iAfrika—Teargas, Cape Town, South Africa, 24 May 1990 UNIDIR/2002/12 Project Coast: Apartheid’s Chemical and Biological Warfare Programme Chandré Gould and Peter Folb Edited by Robert Berold UNIDIR United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research Geneva, Switzerland CCR Centre for Conflict Resolution Cape Town, South Africa NOTE The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. * * * The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Secretariat. UNIDIR/2002/12 Copyright © United Nations, 2002 All rights reserved UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION Sales No. GV.E.02.0.10 ISBN 92-9045-144-0 CONTENTS Page Foreword by Desmond Mpilo Tutu. v Preface by Laurie Nathan and Patricia Lewis . vii Acknowledgements . xi Acronyms. xiii Introduction. 1 Summary of Findings . 7 The Botha Regime and Total Strategy . 11 The Regional Context. 21 Chemical Weapons in South Africa Prior to Project Coast. 31 Project Coast’s Links with the Police and Operational Units of the Military. 47 Getting Down to Business . 57 Roodeplaat Research Laboratories . 69 The Private Companies . 103 The De Klerk Years (1989-1993) and the Use of CBW Agents . 115 The Phases of Project Coast’s Development . 143 Allegations of Fraud: The Sale of Delta G Scientific and RRL. 145 The Intention of the Programme. 153 Incidents of Poisoning . 159 Structure and Management of Project Coast. 169 International Links . 191 Closing Down . 209 Basson’s Arrest and the TRC Hearing . 223 The Criminal Trial of Dr Wouter Basson . 231 Notes. 241 iii FOREWORD Dastardly in its concept and execution, Project Coast was a reflection of the inherent evil of apartheid. As Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, I had the privilege of participating in an extraordinary and unique experience. I heard people tell of their part in some of the most terrible crimes against their brothers and sisters. I heard them plead for forgiveness from those they had wronged and I saw the spirit of humanity triumph in the forgiven and the forgiving. Forgiveness depends on repentance, which has to be based on an acknowledgement of what was done wrong, and therefore on disclosure of the truth, you cannot forgive what you do not know. It was therefore critical that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and then later the High Court, was able to expose the truth of Project Coast to the people of South Africa and the rest of the world. This book by Chandré Gould and Peter Folb makes a vital contribution to our understanding of how the apartheid regime planned the deliberate use of chemical and biological agents on people, how those involved put together a determined programme to acquire knowledge and materials to develop the means to poison people within and outside South Africa’s borders and how corruption inside that programme eventually led to their downfall. It is only when we have this understanding that we can learn and move on from the past. It is only then that we can prevent this happening again somewhere else. I thank Chandré Gould, Peter Folb, the Centre for Conflict Research in Cape Town and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva for publishing this account of Project Coast. A huge amount of work has gone into producing this account of the inhumanity at the heart of apartheid. What we learn from this research is what now allows South Africa to work tirelessly in the international arena to prevent the development and use of chemical and biological weapons. It is only by having dealt with the truth of our past, however painful and difficult that v vi might have been, that we can grow in the light and assist others in their struggle to be free. It is my fervent hope that, by spreading knowledge, this book will help in the fight against the spread of chemical and biological weapons. I pray that shedding light on the sordid past of apartheid’s chemical and biological warfare programme will provide a salutary reminder to people that we must do all we can to uphold international law and leave no stone unturned in our efforts to prevent the deliberate use of disease as a weapon against people. God bless you. Desmond Mpilo Tutu Archbishop Emeritus Cape Town October 2002 PREFACE In the bleakest of days during apartheid in South Africa, despite its membership of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, a programme to poison the regime’s foes with chemical and biological warfare agents was conceived in great secrecy at the heart of the military establishment. Project Coast was to develop a range of chemical and biological agents designed to control, poison and kill people within and outside South Africa. Large quantities of riot gas were produced, as were methaqualone and MDMA. Other chemical and biological agents were produced in small quantities and were used in the covert murders and attempted murders of individuals who were seen as a threat to the apartheid government. This included members of the police and the armed forces and, at least once, an organism was used with the intention of deliberately infecting a whole community. That so much could have been done and by so few people during the era of sanctions was due to the secrecy and lack of civil control over the personnel involved and to the complicity of foreign actors. The project was funded through the back door and its leader was given carte blanche to do whatever he saw fit in terms of learning and buying what he could from abroad. Project Coast: Apartheid’s Chemical and Biological Warfare Programme written by Chandré Gould and Peter Folb, tracks the history of Project Coast. It was through the revelations at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the arrest of Wouter Basson and then later the criminal prosecution of Basson in the High Court in Pretoria that the pieces of the puzzle could be fitted together. Of course, not everything is known and many documents are still missing, but enough has been revealed for us to learn some sobering lessons from South Africa’s experience. In the early nineties, coming clean about (and dismantling) its nuclear weapons programme allowed the new South Africa to take a moral lead in the prevention of nuclear weapons proliferation and in pursuit of global nuclear disarmament. Perhaps in much the same way, the revelations over Project Coast and the transparency with which the South African vii viii government has dealt with them, has enabled South Africa to vigorously pursue the global effort to ban biological weapons and take a lead role in the negotiations for strengthening the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. South Africa’s disarmament policy is coherent and consistent in its opposition to weapons of mass destruction in all their forms and in all countries. Having come clean on its experience during the apartheid years lends real credibility to South Africa’s ethical and practical stance on international disarmament. South Africa went to the edge and beyond and then—under a new, enlightened regime—came back. Others can do the same. We have a great deal to learn from Project Coast. It warns us of how a few people, with political and financial backing, lack of financial controls, lack of a moral and ethical framework, and lack of due civil process, can manufacture chemical and biological agents to achieve the assassination of individuals and threaten whole communities. Now, with the advances in genetic engineering leading to biological agents that could be engineered to affect only certain groups of people, who knows what the future holds and who knows who may get their hands on such organisms.
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