Project Coast – 1980s Chemical and Biological Weapons (CBW) Program by South African Government

Project Coast Background

Project Coast was a top-secret chemical and biological weapons (CBW) program instituted by the South African government during the apartheid era. Project Coast was the successor to a limited post-war CBW program which mainly produced the lethal agents CX powder and mustard gas; as well as non-lethal tear gas for riot control purposes.  Project Coast was headed by Wouter Basson, a cardiologist who was the personal physician of the then South African Prime Minister PW Botha.

Declassified Documents

Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

FOIA Response Indicated 21 Pages Completely Exempt [2 Pages, 1MB]

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

 Prospects for Special Weapons Proliferation and Control, July 1991 [42 Pages, 1.7MB]

 Chemical Weapons: Use in Angola? November 1989 [15 Pages, 0.4MB] – This paper provides an Intelligence Community coordinated assessment regarding the reported use of chemical weapons in Angola. There is Intelligence Community agreement that technical public reports submitted to the US Government as
proof of CW use in Angola contain no substantive evidence to indicate the use of lethal CW agents in Angola.

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