Difference between revisions of "South Africa/Nuclear weapons"

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David Albright in the ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' and Chris McGreal in ''The Guardian'' have claimed that '''South Africa's nuclear weapons''' were developed in the 1970s and 1980s in co-operation with Israel.<ref>{{cite news
+
{{concept
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1704037,00.html
+
|image=South_African_nuclear_bomb_cases.jpg
|title=Brothers in arms&nbsp;— Israel's secret pact with Pretoria
+
|image_width=360px
|date=7 February 2006
+
|image_caption=South African nuclear bomb casings
|author=Chris McGreal
+
|constitutes=Nuclear weapons
|work=The Guardian | location=London
+
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
+
|description=Like the [[South Africa/biological weapons|South African biological weapons program]], it was developed in close cooperation with the [[Israel/Samson Option|Israeli nuclear]] and [[Israel/Biological weapons|biological weapons]] programs. While officially destroyed in 1993, the bombs were in fact sold on the [[international black arms market]], with help from the [[British deep state]].
|title=South Africa and the affordable bomb
+
}}
|publisher=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
+
Looking at nearly twenty-five years of '''South African nuclear policy''', the [https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/ Wilson Center digital archive] sheds new light on the country’s unique nuclear history, from early uranium supply arrangements under the [[United States]]-[[South Africa]] Atomic Energy Bilateral to the South African response to the September 1979 [[Vela Incident]], through the early 1990s when it announced the existence and subsequent - supposed - destruction of its [[nuclear weapons]] program.<ref>''[https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/95/south-african-nuclear-history/1 "Wilson Center digital archive collection"]''</ref>
|date=August 1994
 
|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=VAwAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37&dq South Africa and the affordable bomb (David Albright)
 
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 
|url=http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/rsa/nuke/
 
|author=Unknown author
 
|title=RSA Nuclear Weapons Program
 
|publisher=Federation of American Scientists
 
}}</ref> Such co-operation is in clear breach of United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 of 4 November 1977 which introduced a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa, and required all states to refrain from "any co-operation with South Africa in the manufacture and development of nuclear weapons".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/documents/sc/res/1977/scres77.htm |title=UNSCR 418 of 4 November 1977: States should refrain from "any co-operation with South Africa in the manufacture and development of nuclear weapons" |publisher=United Nations  |accessdate=15 May 2011}}</ref>
 
  
According to the ''Nuclear Threat Initiative'', in 1977 Israel traded 30&nbsp;grams of tritium for 50 tonnes of Namibian uranium and in the mid-1980s assisted with the development of the RSA-3 and RSA-4 ballistic missiles, which are similar to Israeli Shavit and Jericho missiles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/south-africa/delivery-systems/
+
Like the [[South Africa/biological weapons|South African biological weapons program]], it was developed in close cooperation with the [[Israel/Samson Option|Israeli nuclear]] and [[Israel/Biological weapons|biological weapons]] programs. While officially destroyed in 1993, the bombs were in fact sold on the [[international black arms market]], with help from the [[British deep state]].
|title=South Africa: Missile |publisher=Nuclear Threat Initiative |date=November 2011}}</ref> Also in 1977, according to the ''Jerusalem Post'', South Africa signed a pact with Israel that included the transfer of military technology and the manufacture of at least six nuclear bombs.<ref>{{cite news
 
|url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378307806&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
 
|title=P.W. Botha felt Israel had betrayed him
 
|accessdate = 2 November 2006
 
|publisher=Jerusalem Post
 
|date= 2 November 2006}}</ref>
 
  
David Albright reported that although President [[P W Botha]] limited the number of South Africa's nuclear weapons to seven in 1985, it was estimated that the seven gun-type devices had enough Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) for 14 implosion weapons.<ref>[http://www.isis-online.org/publications/southafrica/ir0594.html "South Africa's Secret Nuclear Weapons"]</ref>
+
==Official narrative==
 +
In 1993, [[South African President]] [[F W de Klerk]] publicly announced that South Africa ''had'' developed nuclear weapons. In 1988 South Africa signed the Tripartite Accord with Cuba and Angola, which led to the withdrawal of South African and Cuban troops from Angola and independence for Namibia. The pre-emptive elimination of nuclear weapons was expected to make a significant contribution toward regional stability and peace, and also to help restore South Africa's credibility in regional and international politics. Officially, South Africa's nuclear bombs were said to have been "dismantled"<ref>''[https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/south-african-nuclear-program The Atomic Heritage Foundation - South African Nuclear Program]</ref><ref>[https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116790 "REPORT, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, 'THE AGENCY’S VERIFICATION ACTIVITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA'"]''</ref>, and South Africa acceded to the [[Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons]] when South African Ambassador to the United States [[Harry Schwarz]] signed the treaty in 1991. On 19 August 1994, after completing its inspection, the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]] (IAEA) confirmed that one partially completed and six fully completed nuclear weapons had been dismantled. As a result, the IAEA was satisfied that South Africa's nuclear programme had been converted to peaceful applications.<ref>''[http://books.google.com/books?id=VAwAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_pages&cad=0_1#PPA37,M1 "South Africa and the affordable bomb"]'', David Albright, [http://thebulletin.org ''The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''] Jul 1994, pp 37.</ref> This may or may not have been the whole story.
  
==Vela Incident==
+
===Sold on the black arms market===
In September 1979 a US Vela satellite detected a double flash over the Indian Ocean that was suspected, but never confirmed to be a nuclear test, despite extensive air sampling by Boeing WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft of the United States Air Force. If the Vela Incident was a nuclear test, South Africa is one of the countries, possibly in collaboration with Israel, that is suspected of carrying it out. No official confirmation of its being a nuclear test has been made by South Africa, and expert agencies have disagreed on their assessments. In 1997, South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad stated that South Africa had conducted a test, but later retracted his statement as being a report of rumours.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Safrica/Vela.html |title=Aziz Pahad's statement and retraction discussed here |publisher=Nuclearweaponarchive.org |accessdate=15 May 2011}}</ref>
+
[[File:Cameron_and_Thatcher.jpg|300px|right|thumb|South Africa's nukes became Iraq's [[WMD]] ]]
 
+
In what has been described as a sanctions-busting trip, a youthful [[David Cameron]] visited South Africa in 1989 accompanied by Conservative MP, Sir [[Kenneth Warren]]<ref>https://eyreinternational.wordpress.com/tag/sir-kenneth-warren/</ref> and nuclear weapons inspector, Dr [[David Kelly]] who in several earlier visits had been given access to South Africa's nuclear weapons research facility at Pelindaba, near Pretoria.<ref>[http://petereyrepatch.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/us-and-uk-lost-three-nuclear-weapons_04.html "The US and UK lost three nuclear weapons each! Part 3 - What went missing on Prime Minister Thatcher’s Watch?"]</ref> The purpose of [[David Cameron]]'s trip was to arrange for three of South Africa's nuclear weapons to be shipped to Oman, where the nukes would be stored in case they were required in Iraq. The remaining six nukes were destined to travel from South Africa to Chicago in the US. The next phase of the operation was that, once the weapons had left South African soil, the British Government would reimburse the South African firm [[Armscor]] and the British firm [http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread783366/pg1 Astra] through the middle man [[John Bredenkamp]].  
In February 1994 Commodore Dieter Gerhardt, former commander of South Africa's Simon's Town naval base who was later convicted of spying for the USSR, was reported to have said:
 
{{cquote|Although I was not directly involved in planning or carrying out the operation, I learned unofficially that the flash was produced by an Israeli-South African test code-named ''Operation Phoenix''. The explosion was clean and was not supposed to be detected. But they were not as smart as they thought, and the weather changed - so the Americans were able to pick it up.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=VAwAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_pages&cad=0_1#PPA37,M1 South Africa and the affordable bomb], David Albright, [http://thebulletin.org ''The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''] Jul 1994, pp 37.</ref><ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=vgwAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15 Proliferation: A flash from the past] David Albright, [http://thebulletin.org ''The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''] Nov 1997, pp. 15</ref>}}
 
 
 
In 2000, Gerhardt claimed that Israel agreed in 1974 to arm eight Jericho II missiles with "special warheads" for South Africa.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=PBS Newshour |date=2 May 2005  |title=Tracking Nuclear Proliferation |url=http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/military/proliferation/countries/s-africa.html}}</ref>
 
  
In 2010, ''The Guardian'' released South African government documents that it alleged confirmed the existence of Israel's nuclear arsenal, and were associated with an Israeli offer to sell South Africa nuclear weapons in 1975.<ref>{{cite news
+
In order to keep this out of Parliament and out of the public domain, [[Margaret Thatcher]] was asked to sign off these weapons under a special Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) describing them as metal cylinders rather than nuclear bombs. The UOR document was signed just before [[Margaret Thatcher|Mrs Thatcher]] left office in late 1990.<ref>[http://petereyrepatch.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/us-and-uk-lost-three-nuclear-weapons_05.html "The US and UK lost three nuclear weapons each! Part 4 - What went missing on Prime Minister Thatcher’s Watch?"]</ref> It was subsequently revealed that £17.8 million was siphoned from this secret nuclear deal into Conservative Party funds.<ref>[https://eyreinternational.wordpress.com/tag/sir-kenneth-warren/ "UK’s Electoral Commission to investigate Friends of Israel Groups"]</ref> This narrative was the basis of the ''Facebook'' page [https://www.facebook.com/DavidCameronAndTheMissingNukes "David Cameron and the Missing Nukes"] in July 2012.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/DavidCameronAndTheMissingNukes "David Cameron and the Missing Nukes"]</ref>
|title=Revealed: how Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear weapons
 
|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons
 
|work=The Guardian |location=UK |date=24 May 2010| first=Chris| last=McGreal| accessdate=24 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The memos and minutes that confirm Israel's nuclear stockpile|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-documents
 
|work=The Guardian |location=UK |date=24 May 2010| first=Chris| last=McGreal| accessdate=24 May 2010}}</ref> Israel categorically denied these allegations and said that the documents do not indicate any offer for a sale of nuclear weapons. Israeli President [[Shimon Peres]] said that The Guardian article was based on "selective interpretation... and not on concrete facts."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/world/middleeast/25israel.html | work=The New York Times | title=Israel Denies It Offered South Africa Warheads | first=Isabel | last=Kershner | date=24 May 2010}}</ref>
 
  
Avner Cohen, author of ''Israel and the Bomb'' and ''The Worst-Kept Secret: Israel's Bargain with the Bomb'', said:
+
On 7 February 2015, the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' announced that [[David Cameron]] had leaked details from the as yet unpublished [[Iraq Inquiry]] report which "will be a 'devastating' indictment of the [[Tony Blair|Blair]] Government".<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2944230/Chilcot-report-devastating-say-No-10-emerges-THIRTY-firing-line-heavily-critical-Iraq-Inquiry-Blair-s-secret-letters-Bush-revealed-full.html "Chilcot report will be 'devastating' says No 10 as it emerges THIRTY are in the firing line of heavily critical Iraq Inquiry... and Blair's secret letters to Bush to be revealed in full"]</ref>
:"Nothing in the documents suggests there was an actual offer by Israel to sell nuclear weapons to the regime in Pretoria."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/avner-cohen-yitzhak-rabin-would-have-opposed-sale-of-nuclear-weapons-1981962.html | location=London | work=The Independent | title=Avner Cohen: Yitzhak Rabin would have opposed sale of nuclear weapons | date=25 May 2010}}</ref>
 
  
==Dismantling==
+
On 8 February 2015, it was revealed that the [[Chilcot Inquiry]] had been tasked specifically with tracking down those responsible for “misplacing” the three South African nukes 25 years ago. Both [[David Cameron]] and Dr David Kelly are understood to have been involved in the diversion of these [[WMD]] which eventually became the pretext for the [[Iraq War]].<ref>[http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/02/08/the-color-of-david-camerons-underwear/ "The Colour of David Cameron’s Underwear"]</ref>
South African forces feared the threat of a "domino effect" in favour of communism, represented in southern Africa by Cuban proxy forces in Angola and threatening Namibia. In 1988 South Africa signed the Tripartite Accord with Cuba and Angola, which led to the withdrawal of South African and Cuban troops from Angola and independence for Namibia. The pre-emptive elimination of nuclear weapons was expected to make a significant contribution toward regional stability and peace, and also to help restore South Africa's credibility in regional and international politics.
 
 
 
It was not until 24 March 1993 that President [[F W de Klerk]] publicly announced that South Africa had developed its own nuclear weapons, and that the programme had ended in 1989. All of its bombs were said to have been dismantled, and South Africa acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons when South African Ambassador to the United States Harry Schwarz signed the treaty in 1991. On 19 August 1994, after completing its inspection, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that one partially completed and six fully completed nuclear weapons had been dismantled. As a result, the IAEA was satisfied that South Africa's nuclear programme had been converted to peaceful applications.
 
 
 
==Treaty of Pelindaba==
 
On 5 April 1995, South Africa joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as a full member and went on to play a leading role in the establishment of the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (also referred to as the Treaty of Pelindaba) in 1996, becoming one of the first members in 1997. South Africa also signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996 and ratified it in 1999.
 
 
 
The Treaty of Pelindaba, which came into effect on 15 July 2009 once it had been ratified by 28 countries, required parties not to engage in the research, development, manufacture, stockpiling acquisition, testing, possession, control or stationing of nuclear explosive devices in the territory of parties to the treaty and the dumping of radioactive wastes in the African zone by treaty parties. The African Commission on Nuclear Energy, in order to verify compliance with the treaty, was established and headquartered in South Africa.<ref>{{cite web | title=African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty | publisher=Department of Foreign Affairs, Republic of South Africa | url=http://www.dfa.gov.za/foreign/Multilateral/africa/treaties/anwfz.htm | accessdate=2006-07-28}}</ref> .<ref>[http://disarmament.un.org/TreatyStatus.nsf/Pelindaba%20Treaty%20(in%20chronological%20order%20by%20deposit)?Open disarmament.un.org - Pelindaba Treaty - View chronological order by deposit]</ref>
 
  
 +
==Origins==
 +
[[David Albright]] in the ''[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' and [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/chrismcgreal Chris McGreal] in ''[[The Guardian]]'' wrote that South Africa had developed its Nuclear weapons in co-operation with [[Israel]].<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1704037,00.html</ref>
 +
<ref>http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/rsa/nuke/</ref>
 +
 +
Such co-operation was in clear breach of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_418 United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 of 4 November 1977] which introduced a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa, and required all states to refrain from "any co-operation with South Africa in the manufacture and development of nuclear weapons".<ref>http://www.un.org/documents/sc/res/1977/scres77.htm</ref><ref>http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/south-africa/delivery-systems/</ref>
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Timeline of South Africa's nuclear weapons programme<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=M7wIryQK6UkC&pg=PA17|page=17|title=Out of (South) Africa: Pretoria's Nuclear Weapons Experience|year=1999|author=Roy E. Horton, USAF Institute for National Security Studies|publisher=Dianne Publishing}}</ref>
+
|+ Timeline of South Africa's nuclear weapons programme<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=M7wIryQK6UkC&pg=PA17</ref>
 
|-
 
|-
 
! Year
 
! Year
 
! Activity
 
! Activity
 
|-
 
|-
| 1950s and 1960s
+
| [[1950s]] and 1960s
 
| Scientific work on the feasibility of peaceful nuclear explosives and support to nuclear power production efforts
 
| Scientific work on the feasibility of peaceful nuclear explosives and support to nuclear power production efforts
 
|-
 
|-
Line 77: Line 52:
 
| 1974
 
| 1974
 
| Work on a nuclear device and the Vastrap test site are authorised
 
| Work on a nuclear device and the Vastrap test site are authorised
 +
|-
 +
| 1975
 +
| Israel offered to sell nuclear weapons to South Africa<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons</ref>
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1977
 
| 1977
Line 85: Line 63:
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1979
 
| 1979
| Vela Incident; First bomb with HEU core produced by AEC
+
| [[Vela Incident]]; First bomb with HEU core produced by AEC
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 1982
 
| 1982
Line 106: Line 84:
 
|}
 
|}
  
 +
[[David Albright]] also reported that although President [[P W Botha]] had limited the number of South Africa's nuclear weapons to seven in [[1985]], it was estimated that those gun-type devices had enough Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) to produce as many as fourteen nuclear bombs.<ref>[http://www.isis-online.org/publications/southafrica/ir0594.html "South Africa's Secret Nuclear Weapons"]</ref>
 +
 +
==Vela Incident==
 +
{{FA|Vela Incident}}
 +
In September 1979 a US Vela satellite detected a double flash over the [[Indian Ocean]] that was suspected, but never confirmed to be a nuclear test, despite extensive air sampling by Boeing WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft of the [[United States Air Force]]. If the Vela Incident was a nuclear test, [[South Africa]] is one of the countries, possibly in collaboration with Israel, that is suspected of carrying it out. No official confirmation of its being a nuclear test has been made by South Africa, and expert agencies have disagreed on their assessments. In 1997, South African Deputy Foreign Minister [[Aziz Pahad]] stated that South Africa ''had'' conducted a test, but later retracted his statement as being a report of rumours.<ref>http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Safrica/Vela.html</ref>
 +
 +
==Treaty of Pelindaba==
 +
On 5 April 1995, South Africa joined the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Suppliers_Group Nuclear Suppliers Group] as a full member and went on to play a leading role in the establishment of the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (also referred to as the Treaty of Pelindaba) in 1996, becoming one of the first members in 1997. South Africa also signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996 and ratified it in 1999.<ref>http://www.dfa.gov.za/foreign/Multilateral/africa/treaties/anwfz.htm</ref>
 +
 +
The Treaty of Pelindaba, which came into effect on 15 July 2009 once it had been ratified by 28 countries, required parties not to engage in the research, development, manufacture, stockpiling acquisition, testing, possession, control or stationing of nuclear explosive devices in the territory of parties to the treaty and the dumping of radioactive wastes in the African zone by treaty parties. The African Commission on Nuclear Energy, in order to verify compliance with the treaty, was established and headquartered in South Africa.<ref>http://disarmament.un.org/TreatyStatus.nsf/Pelindaba%20Treaty%20(in%20chronological%20order%20by%20deposit)?Open disarmament.un.org</ref>
 +
{{SMWDocs}}
 
==References==
 
==References==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>

Latest revision as of 11:29, 23 September 2023

Concept.png South Africa/Nuclear weapons 
(Nuclear weapons)Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
South African nuclear bomb cases.jpg
South African nuclear bomb casings
Interest ofChristopher Shale
Subpage(s)South Africa/Nuclear weapons/1989 Sell Off
Like the South African biological weapons program, it was developed in close cooperation with the Israeli nuclear and biological weapons programs. While officially destroyed in 1993, the bombs were in fact sold on the international black arms market, with help from the British deep state.

Looking at nearly twenty-five years of South African nuclear policy, the Wilson Center digital archive sheds new light on the country’s unique nuclear history, from early uranium supply arrangements under the United States-South Africa Atomic Energy Bilateral to the South African response to the September 1979 Vela Incident, through the early 1990s when it announced the existence and subsequent - supposed - destruction of its nuclear weapons program.[1]

Like the South African biological weapons program, it was developed in close cooperation with the Israeli nuclear and biological weapons programs. While officially destroyed in 1993, the bombs were in fact sold on the international black arms market, with help from the British deep state.

Official narrative

In 1993, South African President F W de Klerk publicly announced that South Africa had developed nuclear weapons. In 1988 South Africa signed the Tripartite Accord with Cuba and Angola, which led to the withdrawal of South African and Cuban troops from Angola and independence for Namibia. The pre-emptive elimination of nuclear weapons was expected to make a significant contribution toward regional stability and peace, and also to help restore South Africa's credibility in regional and international politics. Officially, South Africa's nuclear bombs were said to have been "dismantled"[2][3], and South Africa acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons when South African Ambassador to the United States Harry Schwarz signed the treaty in 1991. On 19 August 1994, after completing its inspection, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that one partially completed and six fully completed nuclear weapons had been dismantled. As a result, the IAEA was satisfied that South Africa's nuclear programme had been converted to peaceful applications.[4] This may or may not have been the whole story.

Sold on the black arms market

South Africa's nukes became Iraq's WMD

In what has been described as a sanctions-busting trip, a youthful David Cameron visited South Africa in 1989 accompanied by Conservative MP, Sir Kenneth Warren[5] and nuclear weapons inspector, Dr David Kelly who in several earlier visits had been given access to South Africa's nuclear weapons research facility at Pelindaba, near Pretoria.[6] The purpose of David Cameron's trip was to arrange for three of South Africa's nuclear weapons to be shipped to Oman, where the nukes would be stored in case they were required in Iraq. The remaining six nukes were destined to travel from South Africa to Chicago in the US. The next phase of the operation was that, once the weapons had left South African soil, the British Government would reimburse the South African firm Armscor and the British firm Astra through the middle man John Bredenkamp.

In order to keep this out of Parliament and out of the public domain, Margaret Thatcher was asked to sign off these weapons under a special Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) describing them as metal cylinders rather than nuclear bombs. The UOR document was signed just before Mrs Thatcher left office in late 1990.[7] It was subsequently revealed that £17.8 million was siphoned from this secret nuclear deal into Conservative Party funds.[8] This narrative was the basis of the Facebook page "David Cameron and the Missing Nukes" in July 2012.[9]

On 7 February 2015, the Daily Mail announced that David Cameron had leaked details from the as yet unpublished Iraq Inquiry report which "will be a 'devastating' indictment of the Blair Government".[10]

On 8 February 2015, it was revealed that the Chilcot Inquiry had been tasked specifically with tracking down those responsible for “misplacing” the three South African nukes 25 years ago. Both David Cameron and Dr David Kelly are understood to have been involved in the diversion of these WMD which eventually became the pretext for the Iraq War.[11]

Origins

David Albright in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and Chris McGreal in The Guardian wrote that South Africa had developed its Nuclear weapons in co-operation with Israel.[12] [13]

Such co-operation was in clear breach of United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 of 4 November 1977 which introduced a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa, and required all states to refrain from "any co-operation with South Africa in the manufacture and development of nuclear weapons".[14][15]

Timeline of South Africa's nuclear weapons programme[16]
Year Activity
1950s and 1960s Scientific work on the feasibility of peaceful nuclear explosives and support to nuclear power production efforts
1969 Atomic Energy Board forms group to evaluate technical and economic aspects of nuclear explosives
1970 Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) releases report identifying uses for nuclear explosives
1971 R&D approval granted for "peaceful use of nuclear explosives"
1973 AEC prioritises work on a Gun-type fission weapon
1974 Work on a nuclear device and the Vastrap test site are authorised
1975 Israel offered to sell nuclear weapons to South Africa[17]
1977 AEC completes bomb assembly for "cold" test
1978 First Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) produced; Armscor assumes control of weapons programme
1979 Vela Incident; First bomb with HEU core produced by AEC
1982 First deliverable bomb built; work on weapons safety
1985 Three-phase nuclear strategy reviewed
1987 First production bomb built; seven produced, with an eighth under construction
1988 Armscor prepares Vastrap for a nuclear test
1989 Nuclear weapons dismantled
1991 Accedes to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

David Albright also reported that although President P W Botha had limited the number of South Africa's nuclear weapons to seven in 1985, it was estimated that those gun-type devices had enough Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) to produce as many as fourteen nuclear bombs.[18]

Vela Incident

Full article: Vela Incident

In September 1979 a US Vela satellite detected a double flash over the Indian Ocean that was suspected, but never confirmed to be a nuclear test, despite extensive air sampling by Boeing WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft of the United States Air Force. If the Vela Incident was a nuclear test, South Africa is one of the countries, possibly in collaboration with Israel, that is suspected of carrying it out. No official confirmation of its being a nuclear test has been made by South Africa, and expert agencies have disagreed on their assessments. In 1997, South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad stated that South Africa had conducted a test, but later retracted his statement as being a report of rumours.[19]

Treaty of Pelindaba

On 5 April 1995, South Africa joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group as a full member and went on to play a leading role in the establishment of the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (also referred to as the Treaty of Pelindaba) in 1996, becoming one of the first members in 1997. South Africa also signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996 and ratified it in 1999.[20]

The Treaty of Pelindaba, which came into effect on 15 July 2009 once it had been ratified by 28 countries, required parties not to engage in the research, development, manufacture, stockpiling acquisition, testing, possession, control or stationing of nuclear explosive devices in the territory of parties to the treaty and the dumping of radioactive wastes in the African zone by treaty parties. The African Commission on Nuclear Energy, in order to verify compliance with the treaty, was established and headquartered in South Africa.[21]

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References

  1. "Wilson Center digital archive collection"
  2. The Atomic Heritage Foundation - South African Nuclear Program
  3. "REPORT, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, 'THE AGENCY’S VERIFICATION ACTIVITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA'"
  4. "South Africa and the affordable bomb", David Albright, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Jul 1994, pp 37.
  5. https://eyreinternational.wordpress.com/tag/sir-kenneth-warren/
  6. "The US and UK lost three nuclear weapons each! Part 3 - What went missing on Prime Minister Thatcher’s Watch?"
  7. "The US and UK lost three nuclear weapons each! Part 4 - What went missing on Prime Minister Thatcher’s Watch?"
  8. "UK’s Electoral Commission to investigate Friends of Israel Groups"
  9. "David Cameron and the Missing Nukes"
  10. "Chilcot report will be 'devastating' says No 10 as it emerges THIRTY are in the firing line of heavily critical Iraq Inquiry... and Blair's secret letters to Bush to be revealed in full"
  11. "The Colour of David Cameron’s Underwear"
  12. http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1704037,00.html
  13. http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/rsa/nuke/
  14. http://www.un.org/documents/sc/res/1977/scres77.htm
  15. http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/south-africa/delivery-systems/
  16. http://books.google.com/books?id=M7wIryQK6UkC&pg=PA17
  17. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons
  18. "South Africa's Secret Nuclear Weapons"
  19. http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Safrica/Vela.html
  20. http://www.dfa.gov.za/foreign/Multilateral/africa/treaties/anwfz.htm
  21. http://disarmament.un.org/TreatyStatus.nsf/Pelindaba%20Treaty%20(in%20chronological%20order%20by%20deposit)?Open disarmament.un.org