Nuclear twins: French-South African strategic cooperation (1964–79)

ABSTRACT

This article sheds light on the French strategic nuclear assistance to South Africa between 1964 and 1979 based on untapped primary sources from both countries. It documents a vast cooperation between France and South Africa from nuclear and military technology to tacit knowledge. It shows that, contrary to common assumptions, this nuclear cooperation was not unidirectional but benefited the nuclear programs of both countries. It also argues that French leaders were fully aware of the risks of proliferation. The article draws conclusions on how to redefine nuclear assistance and write global Cold War history so as not to keep such cooperations invisible.

KEYWORDS:

• France
• South Africa
• strategic assistance
• uranium supplies
• nuclear technology

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Benoît Pelopidas for his kind support and for precious feedback over several drafts of this essay. I would like to thank Kelsey Suggitt, Aurelia Wa Kabwe-Segatti, Adrien Delmas, Ed Naylor, Sébastien Philippe, Nathaniel Powell, Rob Skinner, Roel van der Velde, and the participants of seminars at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, Sciences Po (CERI) and University of Portsmouth (BISA Global Nuclear Order). I am grateful to Prof. Anna-Mart van Wyk. I would like to acknowledge the support of November 2018 Nuclear Knowledges workshop on “French nuclear histories and politics” at Sciences Po funded by the ANR project VULPAN. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable feedback as well as to all archivists who every day make our research possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ See the critique on this very point by Jean Klein, “Dominique Mongin. La bombe atomique française. 1945–1958,” Politique étrangère 62, no. 4 (1997): 666–7.

² Bruno Bourliaguet, “Les technocrates et les ‘relations spéciales’ franco-américaines, 1969–1973,” Relations Internationales 165, no. 1 (2016): 117–34; Jacques Villain, La force nucléaire française: l’aide des États-Unis 35 (Paris: ISC, 2014); Maurice Vaïsse, “Les Relations spéciales franco-américaines au temps de Richard Nixon et Georges Pompidou,” Relations Internationales 119 (2004): 345–62; Maurice Vaïsse, “Un dialogue de sourds: les relations nucléaires franco-américaines 1957–1960,” Relations Internationales 68 (1991): 407–23; and Richard H. Ullman, “The Covert French Connection,” Foreign Policy 75 (1989): 3–33.

³ On French views about proliferation, see Benoît Pelopidas and Nick Ritchie, “European Nuclear Nationalism: UK and French Perspectives on Nuclear Disarmament,” in Global Nuclear Disarmament: Strategic, Political, and Regional Perspectives, ed. Nik Hynek and Michal Smetana (London: Routledge, 2016), 225–50; Florent Pouponneau, La politique française de non-prolifération nucléaire: de la division du travail diplomatique, Enjeux internationaux 34 (Brussels: P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2015). On Israel see Frédérique Schillo, La politique française à l’égard d’Israël, 1946–1959, Histoire (Brussels: André Versaille, 2012). On India see the articles by Jayita Sarkar, for instance Jayita Sarkar, “‘Wean Them Away from French Tutelage’: Franco-Indian Nuclear Relations and Anglo-American Anxieties during the Early Cold War, 1948–1952,” Cold War History 15, no. 3 (2015): 375–94. On pledges to South Korea, Or Rabinowitz and Jayita Sarkar, “‘It Isn’t over until the Fuel Cell Sings’: A Reassessment of the US and French Pledges of Nuclear Assistance in the 1970s,” Journal of Strategic Studies 41, nos 1–2 (2018): 275–300. On the cases of French sensitive assistance to foreign countries, Matthew Kroenig, “Exporting the Bomb: Why States Provide Sensitive Nuclear Assistance,” American Political Science Review 103, no. 1 (2009): 113–33.

⁴ Most recently, see Nic Von Wielligh and Lydia Von Wielligh-Steyn, The Bomb: South Africa’s Nuclear Weapons Programme, translated edition (Pretoria: Litera Publications, 2016); David Albright and Adrea Stricker, Revisiting South Africa’s Nuclear Weapons Program: Its History, Dismantlement, and Lessons for Today (Washington, DC: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016); Helen E. Purkitt and Stephen F. Burgess, South Africa’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2005); and Richardt Van Der Walt, Jan Van Loggerenberg, and Hannes Steyn, Armament and Disarmament: South Africa’s Nuclear Experience (Pretoria: Network Publishers, 2003). [TQ8]

⁵ For the focus on enrichment and reprocessing see Kroenig, “Exporting the Bomb”; Matthew Kroenig, Exporting the Bomb: Technology Transfer and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010) [TQ9]; and Matthew Fuhrmann, Atomic Assistance: How ‘Atoms for Peace’ Programs Cause Nuclear Insecurity (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012).

⁶ Michael Aaron Dennis, “The Less Apparent Component – Tacit Knowledge as a Factor in the Proliferation of WMD: The Example of Nuclear Weapons,” Studies in Intelligence 57, no. 3 (2013): 1–9.

⁷ For the overview of the indicators suggested by these authors see: Scott Sagan, “The Causes of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation,” Annual Review of Political Sciences 14, no. 1 (2011): 225–45.

⁸ Edward A. Kolodziej, Making and Marketing Arms: The French Experience and Its Implications for the International System (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987).

⁹ Matthew Kroenig, “Exporting the Bomb,” 113–33; Henrik Stålhane Hiim, China and International Nuclear Weapons Proliferation: Strategic Assistance (London: Routledge, 2018).

¹⁰ This is visible in claims that de Gaulle did end French cooperation with Israel when he returned to power in 1958 and that he was not aware of further cooperation. See Maurice Vaïsse, La grandeur: politique étrangère du Général de Gaulle, 1958–1969 (Paris: Fayard, 1998); Georges-Henri Soutou, “La France et la non-prolifération nucléaire. Une histoire complexe,” Revue historique des armées 262 (15 March 2011): 35–45; and Schillo, La politique française à l’égard d’Israël, 1946–1959, 879–98. On the autonomy of sub-state actors, see Pouponneau, La politique française de non-prolifération nucléaire; Florent Pouponneau and Frédéric Mérand, “Diplomatic Practices, Domestic Fields, and the International System: Explaining France’s Shift on Nuclear Non-Proliferation,” International Studies Quarterly 61, no. 1 (2017): 123–35; and Nicolas Blarel and Jayita Sarkar, “Substate Organisations as Foreign Policy Agents: New Evidence and Theory from India, Israel, and France,” Foreign Policy Analysis 15, no. 3 (2019): 413–31.

¹¹ Soutou, “La France et la non-prolifération”, 35-45; Pouponneau, La politique française de non-prolifération

¹² James Cameron and Or Rabinowitz, “Eight Lost Years? Nixon, Ford, Kissinger and the Non-Proliferation Regime, 1969–1977,” Journal of Strategic Studies 40, no. 6 (2017): 839–66; William Burr, “A Scheme of ‘Control’: The United States and the Origins of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, 1974–1976,” The International History Review 36, no. 2 (2014): 252–76; and Isabelle Anstey, “Negotiating Nuclear Control: The Zangger Committee and the Nuclear Suppliers Group in the 1970s,” The International History Review 40, no. 5 (2018): 975–95.

¹³ Hiim, China and International Nuclear Weapons Proliferation, 17–25.

¹⁴ Gabrielle Hecht, Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium Trade (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012).; Gabrielle Hecht, “On the fallacies of Cold War nostalgia: Capitalism, Colonialism, and South African Nuclear Geographies”, in Entangled geographies and Technolitics in the Global Cold War, ed. Gabrielle Hecht (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011), 75–99.

¹⁵ It included: exchange of letters between Francis Perrin and A. J. A. Roux on the training of South African engineers by the CEA, Roux to Perrin, 16 July 1963 and Perrin to Roux, 16 July 1963, BPA, 8, 18.25, vol. 2, South African National Archives (hereafter Pretoria, South Africa: SANA); exchange of letters for the provision of uranium, 31 January 1964, note, ‘South African uranium,’ Atomic Affairs Division to Georges Balaÿ, the French Ambassador in South Africa, 15 June 1965, 8/QA, Box 54, Direction Afrique Levant (hereafter DAL), Afrique du Sud (1960–65), Archives Ministère des Affaires étrangères de France, (hereafter La Courneuve, France: AMAE); an agreement between the CSIR and the French CNES for the construction of the French satellite-tracking station in Paardefontein, near Pretoria, signed on 6 January 1964, Balaÿ to Quai d’Orsay in Paris, 6 January 1964, Box 77, DAL, Afrique du Sud (1960–65), AMAE; exchange of letters for the cooperation between the SNPE and AECI in the field for the local production of propellants, H. R. Meintjes, South African military attaché to Secretary for Defence, 26 May 1964, File MAP 70/15/1/1, Military attaché in Paris (hereafter MAP), archives of South African National Defence Forces (hereafter Centurion, South Africa: SANDF); an agreement between the CSIR and Thomson Huston (see below); an agreement between the CSIR and Sud-Aviation for technical assistance in the construction of an aircraft industry.

¹⁶ Memorandum, ‘Technical assistance proposals for South Africa,’ South African Department of Defence to Thomson Huston, 20 February 1964; letter of intent, ‘“Cactus” system proposal,’ Gerald Cauvin, marketing manager of Thomson Houston, to J.P. de Villiers, Secretary for Defence, 22 April 1964; letter of intent, ‘Missile Firing Range and CSIR Guided Weapons system,’ Cauvin to de Villiers, 22 April 1964, Secretary of Defence (hereafter DC), 202.7.1 vol. 1, Group 1, SANDF.

¹⁷ Records of the NUFCOR, Uranium Technical Advisory Committee, folders 1–174 (hereafter UTAC), Goldfields papers, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa (hereafter RU).

¹⁸ ‘Conversion of UF4 to UF6ʹ, Record of discussions held in Johannesburg amongst representatives of SUCP, CEA, NIM and NUFCOR on 7, 8, and 12 November 1968, UTAC, RU.

¹⁹ Report, ‘Summary of the negotiations that took place between the AEB and the CEA leading to the formal contract for the supply of a UF6 pilot plant, prepared by R.E. Robinson.’ Undated, file BTS 137/11/23/2/5 Vol 2, Department of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa (hereafter Pretoria, South Africa: DIRCO).

²⁰ For the summaries of the feasibility studies see: BTS 137/11/23/2/5 Vol 2.

²¹ The verbatims of conversations and official documents on the joint enrichment plant project are available in file BTS 137/11/23/2/5 Vol 2, DIRCO.

²² Albright and Stricker, Revisiting South Africa’s Nuclear Weapons Program, 54.

²³ David Albright and Mark Hibbs, “South Africa: The ANC and the Atom Bomb,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 49, no. 3 (1993): 35.

²⁴ Hennie van Vuuren, Apartheid Guns and Money: A Tale of Profit (London: Hurst, 2019), 225.

²⁵ The CSIR initially created the National Institute for Rocket Research and Development and changed its name to the NIDR in 1965.

²⁶ At least three collections in SANDF’s archives provide details on the ‘Cactus’ project, its different elements, and training of South African engineers. See: Chief of Staff/Commandant general (hereafter HVS) 202/7/1 vol. 1–7, Group 1; DC 17,850/324/13 vol. 1–2, Group 1 as well as MAP 70.26.2 vol. 1–5.

²⁷ Albright and Stricker, Revisiting South Africa’s Nuclear Weapons Program, 26–7.

²⁸ Cauvin to S.M. Naudé (president of CSIR), 16 September 1964, MAP 70/5/8/5, SANDF.

²⁹ Hugo Sada, “Les intérêts militaires et stratégiques en Afrique australe,” in La France et l’Afrique du Sud: histoire, mythes et enjeux contemporains, ed. Daniel Bach (Paris: KARTHALA Editions, 1990), 287–8.

³⁰ Signe Landgren, Embargo Disimplemented: South Africa’s Military Industry (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), 108; and Anna Konieczna, “L’histoire d’une relation spéciale: les relations entre la France et l’Afrique du Sud dans les années 1958–1974” (PhD diss., Paris, Sciences Po, 2013), 405.

³¹ Purkitt, Helen E., and Stephen F. Burgess. “South Africa’s Nuclear Strategy: Deterring ‘Total Onslaught’ and ‘Nuclear Blackmail’ in Three Stages.” in Strategy in the Second Nuclear Age. Power, Ambition, and the Ultimate Weapon, ed. Toshi Yoshihara and James R. Holmes (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2012), 37–52.

³² Albright and Stricker, Revisiting South Africa’s Nuclear Weapons Program, 102.

³³ Wielligh and Wielligh-Steyn, The Bomb, 190.

³⁴ For more on Gallois’ role with Dassault and in the French nuclear doctrine, see Benoît Pelopidas and Sébastien Philippe’s essay in this special section.

³⁵ Office français d’Exportation de Matériel Aéronautique.

³⁶ Letter, Gallois to Fraser, 26 December 1967, MAP 70.10, SANDF.

³⁷ Jamie Miller, African Volk: The Apartheid Regime and Its Search for Survival (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 108.

³⁸ Note ‘Opperbevel Vergadering,’ 2 June 1970, Box 5, C.A. Fraser papers, SANDF.

³⁹ Kolodziej, Making and Marketing Arms.

⁴⁰ Béatrice Faillès, “Non-prolifération et coopération nucléaire de la France: les débuts de la Ve République,” in Armement et ve République: Fin des années 1950 – fin des années 1960, ed. Maurice Vaïsse, Histoire (Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2013), 305–17.

⁴¹ For more on France's uranium procurement strategy in the world, see Matthew Adamson’s essay in this special section. See also: Hecht, Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium Trade.

⁴² Konieczna, “L’histoire d’une relation spéciale,” 214–15.

⁴³ Hand-written record of discussions held at Matignon, ‘Uranium supplies,’ 20 May 1966; Note, ‘Note à l’attention du général de Gaulle sur la demande de livraison d’uranium enrichi par l’Afrique du Sud,’ Paris, 21 May 1966, Box 90, Sébastian Loste papers (hereafter 640AP), National Archives of France (hereafter Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, France: AN).

⁴⁴ Note, unsigned, Paris, 9 May 1966. In Ministère des affaires étrangères, Commission des Archives diplomatiques, Documents diplomatiques français: 1966, vol. 1 (Brussels: P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2006).

⁴⁵ Note, ‘Letter received from the Transvaal and Orange Free State Chamber of Mines dated 4 November 1965. Stockpiling of uranium.’ Atomic Energy Board of South Africa, MAC 5/56, File M3/7, Private Secretary of the Minister of Mines (hereafter MMY), SANA.

⁴⁶ On the CEA’s commercial strategy in the field of nuclear fuel elements see Gabrielle Hecht, Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium Trade (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2012).

⁴⁷ Scientific and Technical Intelligence Report, ‘Atomic Energy Activities in the Republic of South Africa,’ Directorate of Science and Technology, March 1971; cited by Jeffrey T. Richelson, “U.S. Intelligence and the South African Bomb,” The National Security Archive, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB181/index.htm (accessed May 6, 2020).

⁴⁸ Frank Blackaby et al., The Arms Trade with the Third World, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell Humanities Press, 1971), 253; Landgren, Embargo Disimplemented, 42.

⁴⁹ For summaries and programmes of the visits, see: ‘Visites des personnalités sud-africaines en France,’ file A.I. 2^E 11,200, 2e Bureau de l’Etat-major de l’armée de l’Air (hereafter 2^E), Département Air (hereafter A.I.), Service Historique de la Défense, Vincennes (hereafter SHD).

⁵⁰ Compte-rendu de la réunion du 14 octobre 1965 au siège du CEA avec M. Roux, Directeur de l’Atomic Energy Board d’Afrique du Sud, Box 67, DAL, Afrique du Sud (1960–65), AMAE.

⁵¹ Memorandum, ‘Last Phase of the Negotiations on French Cooperation with South Africa in the Field of Uranium Enrichment – May 1976.ʹ

⁵² Laurence Badel, “L’État français face au risque politique dans les années 1970: les cas polonais, sud-africain et iranien,” Les cahiers Irice 6, no. 2 (November 17, 2010): 123–40.

⁵³ Landgren, Embargo Disimplemented, 108; Konieczna, “L’histoire d’une relation spéciale,” 405; L.J. Van der Westhuizen and J.H. Le Roux, ARMSCOR: The Leading Edge, Unpublished book (Bloemfontein: Institute for Contemporary History, University of Free State, 1997), 225.

⁵⁴ See file ‘Navorsing: Cactus,’ 58.2, Box 132, Minister of Defence (MV), Group 4, SANDF.

⁵⁵ Landgren, Embargo Disimplemented, 103–4.

⁵⁶ A.R. Newby-Fraser, Twenty Years of Nuclear Research and Development in South Africa (Pelindaba: Atomic Energy Board, 1979), 80; John D.L. Moore, South Africa and Nuclear Proliferation: South Africa’s Nuclear Capabilities and Intentions in the Context of International Non-Proliferation Policies (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1987), 94.

⁵⁷ David Albright, “South Africa and the Affordable Bomb,” The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 50, no. 4 (1994): 37–47.

⁵⁸ Hiim, China and International Nuclear Weapons Proliferation, 20.

⁵⁹ Press release by the Department of External Affairs, 3 March 1961, Box 138, the French Embassy in Pretoria (551PO/2), Archives Ministère des Affaires étrangères à Nantes (hereafter AMAE, Nantes).

⁶⁰ Record of conversation between Charles de Gaulle and Eric Louw held in Paris on 11 September 1961, Box 207, Archives of the presidency of Charles de Gaulle (hereafter AG5/1), AN.

⁶¹ Report, ‘Tour of information, 16–20 October 1961. Centre for energy: Marcoule,’ by Jan Robbertze, 31 October 1961, file KG/GPR/6/2 ‘Atomic Research/Atoomnavorsing,’ Group 1, Kommandant General (hereafter KG), SANDF.

⁶² Note. B. Goldschmidt to François de Rose (Atomic Affairs Division), 30 March 1961, Gaston Palewski papers (hereafter 547AP), AN.

⁶³ Note, ‘Note à l’attention du général de Gaulle sur la demande de livraison d’uranium enrichi par l’Afrique du Sud,’ Paris, 21 May 1966, Box 90, 640AP, AN.

⁶⁴ Report, record of conversation with Victor Verster (Munitions Production Board), ‘Mission of Mr Victor Verster and Professor Samuels to Europe,’ 21 February 1968, unsigned, BTS 9/56/9 vol. 2, DIRCO.

⁶⁵ Report for the period 1 December 1967–29 February 1968. Office of armed forces attaché, Paris, HVS 212/3/3 vol. 1, Group 1, SANDF.

⁶⁶ Note, Dirkse van Schalkwyk, South African Ambassador in Paris, to Secretary of Foreign Affairs (hereafter SFA), 22 February 1968, BTS 9/56/9 vol. 2, DIRCO.

⁶⁷ Report, ‘Visit in South Africa,’ submitted by Bertrand Goldschmidt, to the CEA’s General-Administrator, 26 March 1963, Box 166, 547AP, AN.

⁶⁸ Note, ‘Courtesy Call on M. Galley, Minister of Scientific Research, and Atomic Energy and Space Matter,’ Dirkse van Schalkwyk to SFA, 9 August 1968, BTS 137.11.4 vol. 5, AN.

⁶⁹ Telegram, SA Embassy in Paris to SFA, 8 August 1964, 35, Top secret, BTS 9/56/9 vol. 1A, DIRCO.

⁷⁰ Note pour le Délégué Ministériel pour l’Armement, chef d’EMA, chef d’EMAT, chef d’EMM, chef d’EMAA. Correspondance avec les Affaires étrangères concernant Israël, l’Union Sud-Africaine, Portugal, Paris, le 22 juillet 1963, 2^E1864, SHD.

⁷¹ There are several letters exchanged between Pierre Messmer and Pieter W. Botha in the following files: BTS 9/56/9 vol. 2 (Botha to Messmer, 9 December 1967, 30 April 1968); MAP 70/26/2 vol. 2 (Messmer to Botha, 30 October 1967; Botha to Messmer, November 1967; Messmer to Botha, November 1967), and 1R233 (Minister of Defence cabinet).

⁷² Programme of the visit of Mr and Mrs Messmer in the Republic of South Africa, 11–25 October 1970, Box 51, the French Embassy in Pretoria (551PO/B), AMAE, Nantes.

⁷³ Memo, ‘Conversation with A.J.A Roux, Robert Hirsch to François-Xavier Ortoli,’ 5 June 1970, Box 1025, Archives of President Georges Pompidou (hereafter AN: AG5/2).

⁷⁴ Ibid.

⁷⁵ Report, summary report covering the fourth round of discussions between the CEA and UCOR feasibility study teams held in France from 21 to 24 August 1974. Prepared by R. A. Barbour, 5 September 1974, BTS 137/11/23/2/5 Vol 2, DIRCO.

⁷⁶ Telegram, South African Embassy in Paris to SFA, 9 April 1975, file BTS 137/11/23/2/5 Vol 2, DIRCO.

⁷⁷ Record of conversation between François-Poncet and Botha in Paris, 18 October 1979. Prepared by the African Affairs Division in Paris, Box 53, 551PO/B, AMAE, Nantes.

⁷⁸ Note, ‘Relations nucléaires franco-sud-africaines – centrale de Koeberg,’ Atomic Affairs Division for the minister of Foreign Affairs, Paris, 12 November 1980, Box 1406, Archives of the President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (AG5/3).

⁷⁹ See for instance the official records of the First Committee of the U.N. General Assembly, ‘UNODA Documents Library,’ United Nations Office for Disarmament, n.d., https://www.un.org/disarmament/publications/library. (October 12, 2020).

⁸⁰ Letter of acceptance for Koeberg Nuclear Power, 28 May 1976, signed by R.C. Appel (ESCOM) and L. Aboudarham (Framatome), Box 889,788, Archives of Electricité de France (Paris, France: EDF).

⁸¹ Wielligh and Wielligh-Steyn, The Bomb, 204.

⁸² Itty Abraham, “The Ambivalence of Nuclear Histories,” Osiris 21, no. 1 (2006): 56.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Institut Français d’Afrique du Sud; Monash South Africa as a subgrantee of grant G-52651 issued by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Notes on contributors

Anna Konieczna

Anna Konieczna is teaching associate at Sciences Po and at Institut catholique de Paris. Her research interest includes foreign policy analysis with a specific emphasis on the French foreign policy in Africa and diplomacy of non-state actors. She co-edited A global history of anti-apartheid. 'Forward to Freedom' in South Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).