[ad_1]
Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev were leaders of the United States and the USSR in 1977 (Image: GETTY)
The availability of new stories from this story Former Southern Civil Servants Africa's nuclear program, as well as declassified cables and documents from US government sources, have brought other important details
The Book, Once and Future Partners: The United States, Russia and Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Published Today by the International Institute's Think Tank for Strategic Affairs, are co-edited by Dr. William Potter, Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California. Sarah Bidgood
With the use of recently declassified documents, the pair has reconstructed a little-known crisis that has unfolded in a context of conflict between Sout. Africa and Angola in 1977, where the Soviet-backed rebels had overthrown three years earlier the government installed by the Portuguese.
The report states: "The availability of new stories from this history of former South African nuclear program officials, as well as declassified cables and documents sourced from US government sources, has brought some of the most recent reports. other important details in light
"South Africa began to pursue a civilian nuclear power program in the late 1950s: it possessed vast resources of Uranium on its territory and, thanks to the Atoms for Peace program launched by the United States, easy access to the nuclear reactor. Pik Botha ” data-w=”590″ data-h=”350″/>
South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha was warned by US Ambassador William Bowdler (Image: GETTY)
"In 1960, the Department of Foreign Affairs Foreigners expressed their intention to apply for "special nuclear material", that is, uranium 235 enriched to 90%, and plutonium from the United States, under a bilateral agreement between Pretoria and Washington, Safari-1, a 20 megawatt electric nuclear (MWe) nuclear research reactor of American origin and, as early as 1967, South African leaders began using peaceful nuclear explosions for projects Mining and other civil projects.
Within two years, investiga In 1971, a program of peaceful nuclear explosions (PNE) was in progress.
The United States stopped its supply of nuclear fuel for the Safari-1 reactor in Afghanistan In 1976, however, South African nuclear scientists were able to develop a method of enriching uranium at the highest concentrations required for nuclear weapons, with a focus on civilian applications for military applications.
<img src = "https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/78/590x/secondary/Warren-Christopher-1437001.jpg?r=1532700779929" alt = "Warren Christopher" title = "Warren Christopher" Warren Christopher, who was then Deputy Secretary of State of the United States, was in contact with the USSR (1965: 90) adds: "While the sources are in conflict over the precise moment when the South African nuclear program officially took on a military dimension, this transition certainly took place before 1976. The funds were allocated to identify and secure a nuclear test site in an isolated location in Upi.Ngton in the Kalahari Desert, which was called Vastrap, and a cold craft (a life-size explosive device with a depleted uranium core for testing) was developed in August 1977.
"The motivations of the decision of South Africa The NCP program in a military program is firmly linked to the The country's apartheid interior policy and political unrest in the surrounding region at that time
"Indeed, in the run-up to the planned nuclear test in the Kalahari, South Africa was neighbor. conflicts in the former Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique; 24 additional conflicts were increasing in Namibia and Rhodesia. "
The report speculates that the plan to detonate the device may have been the result of a whistleblower from the Soviet spy Dieter Felix Gerhardt, a senior official embedded in
South Africa had the ambition to develop nuclear weapons for military use (Image: GETTY)
As a result, a Soviet reconnaissance satellite flew On the proposed site in the Kalahari on July 3-4, 1977, and after detecting unusual activity, a second satellite entered orbit on July 20 for further examination.
A message was sent to US President Jimmy Carter The Russian leader Leonid Brezhnev said on August 8: "Between the Soviet Union and the United States, cooperation is developing to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."
"Une si In 1965, the undersecretary of state, Warren Christopher, responded two days later that the United States was "watching the United States closely." on the existence of a nuclear test site in the Kalahari ", and adding:" It would be very helpful for us to provide as much detail as possible on this site of the Soviet Union. " 39; test.
The test was planned for the Kalahari Desert (Image: GETTY)
"For example, it would be helpful if we could be informed of geographic coordinates, size, configuration and exact nature of the installation and any other information that would help to get an independent idea of the probability of an experimental explosion. "
After independent verification by the United States of Soviet allegations, the report suggests that William Bowdler, US Ambassador to South Africa, met with South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha on August 18.
million. Bowdler reportedly stated that he "received the order to specify that the detonation of a nuclear device any other measure to acquire or develop an explosive nuclear capability would have the most serious consequences for relations between the United States. and South Africa and would be considered a serious threat to peace. "
Subsequently, on August 26, a telegram sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Africa to its various embassies stated to have informed France, the United Kingdom and the United States" L & South Africa has no intention of developing a nuclear explosive device for any purpose whatsoever, peaceful or otherwise; the so-called Kalahari facility is not a test facility for nuclear explosions; The report adds, "While this type of successful US-Soviet cooperation on non-proliferation has not been unprecedented, it underscores the foreknowledge of both Americans and Soviet leaders to perceive how working together served their mutual interests, despite difficult circumstances in their bilateral relations. "
Source link
