The South African Biological Weapons Program - Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945 - page 205

such action was in US national security interests and approved by Con-
gress. 67 Meanwhile US arms manufacturers were sending arms to South
Africa through front companies. In the latter half of 1976 US attention
was focused on promoting change in Namibia and Rhodesia through
talks between US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and South African
President John Vorster. 68
Beginning in 1977, US policy toward South Africa hardened. Because
of its exploitation of Namibian uranium, South Africa was removed from
its permanent position in the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Shortly thereafter, Soviet satellite pictures showing South Africa pre-
paring to detonate a nuclear explosive in the Kalahari desert brought a
warning from US President Jimmy Carter not to do so. 69
On 13 September 1977, black consciousness leader Steven Biko died in
police detention. Repression of dissent in South Africa increased. So did
international pressure. In October the US voluntary ban on arms sales to
South Africa became a formal embargo, followed by UN Security Council
Resolution 418, instituting a mandatory arms embargo against South Af-
rica. This compromise resolution followed a veto by the US, UK, and
France of an earlier draft calling for sanctions as well. 70
US-South Africa relations worsened between 1978 and 1980 and were
not helped by US satellite evidence recording a light signal over South Af-
rica that some in the US government believed indicated a nuclear detona-
tion. 71 With the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as US president in Janu-
ary 1981 (the year the CBW program was approved), US support for the
apartheid government increased. In March 1981 Reagan asked Congress
to repeal the Clark Amendment “in order to remove an 'unnecessary
restriction' on his foreign policy authority.” 72 The amendment was re-

pealed.
In April 1981 US Secretary of State Alexander Haig invited South Afri-
can foreign minister Pik Botha to the US, 73 and France, the UK, and the
US vetoed four UN resolutions calling for sanctions against South Africa.
For the next four years South Africa could count on a more tolerant US
attitude.
Further examples of the US adoption of a Nelsonian eye to apartheid in
South Africa abound. In April 1982 the US Commerce Department ap-
proved the sale to South Africa of 2,500 3,500-volt shock batons designed
for crowd control, in violation of section 502(b) of the Foreign Assistance