Atoms, apartheid, and the agency: South Africa's relations with the IAEA, 1957–1995

Abstract

A founder member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), South Africa embarked on an ambitious nuclear weapons programme contrary to the IAEA Statute. Against the background of the Cold War, South Africa's threat perception included, amongst others, threats posed by the Soviet Union, which was a nuclear-armed state and a supporter of the banned South African liberation movements. Moreover, the South African government's apartheid policies resulted in the country's increased international isolation, which also affected its relations with the IAEA. A major global campaign to isolate the apartheid government in South Africa spilt over to the IAEA, resulting in several punitive actions against South Africa. Tracing the South African case through several phases, this article illustrates the intimate links between state identity, state ideology, nationalism, status, and threat perception. The South African case illustrates the need for sustained scholarship on all the dimensions of the Cold War.

Acknowledgements

This article was produced in compliance with the author's Monash South Africa-Carnegie Nuclear History Fellowship. Monash South Africa, a campus of Monash University Australia, is a partner of the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP) of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington D.C., US.

Notes

¹ Frederik (F.W.) de Klerk, ‘Matters relating to nuclear non-proliferation treaty, violence, negotiation and the death penalty. Statement by the State President to a Joint Sitting of Parliament’, Hansard, 24 March 1993, columns 3465–3478.

² Dwight Eisenhower, ‘Address by the President of the United States of America to the 470th Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly’, New York, US, 8 December 1953, http://www.iaea.org/About/atomsforpeace_speech.html (accessed 11 May 2011).

³ David Fischer, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The First Forty Years (Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency, 1997), 30–31.

⁴ Ibid., 31–34.

⁵ Ibid., 47, 49.

⁶ Ibid., 64.

⁷ Donald Sole, ‘Great Expectations. A Diplomat's Recollections of the Birth and Early Years of the IAEA’, in International Atomic Energy Agency: personal reflections. A Fortieth Anniversary Publication (Vienna: IEAE, 1997), 21.

⁸ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ‘Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons’, 1970, http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/infcirc140.pdf, (accessed 10 August 2010).

⁹ Adolf von Baeckmann, Gary Dillon and Demetrius Perricos, ‘Nuclear Verification in South Africa’, IAEA Bulletin, 1: 42–48, 1995, 47.

¹⁰ Waldo Stumpf, ‘Birth and Death of the South African Nuclear Weapons Programme’ (paper presented at the ‘50 Years After Hiroshima’ conference, organised by Unione Scienziati per Disarmo, Castiglioncello, Italy, 28 September to 2 October 1995), http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/rsa/nuke/stumpf.htm (accessed 16 May 2011).

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² Ampie Roux, ‘Statement by the Delegate of South Africa’, in IAEA General Conference, Records of the Fourteenth Regular Session (22–28 September 1970), One hundred and thirty-sixth Plenary Meeting, 23 September 1970. GC(XIV)/OR.136.

¹³ Ampie Roux, ‘Statement by the Delegate of South Africa’, in IAEA General Conference, Sixteenth Regular Session: 26 September – 3 October 1972. Record of the one hundred and fifty-second Plenary Meeting, 27 September 1972. GC(XVI)/OR.152.

¹⁴ Ampie Roux, ‘Statement by the Delegate of South Africa’, IAEA General Conference, Nineteenth Regular Session: 22–26 September 1975. Record of the one hundred and seventy-seventh Plenary Meeting, 23 September 1975. GC(XIX)/OR. 177.

¹⁵ IAEA General Conference, Twenty-second Regular Session: Examination of Delegates’ Credentials. Report of the General Committee, 22 September 1978, GC(XXI)/607; IAEA General Conference, Twenty-first Regular Session. Agenda item 12. Examination of Delegates' Credentials. Report of the General Committee, 30 September 1977, GC(XXI)/593; IAEA General Conference, Twentieth Regular Session. Agenda item 11. Examination of Delegates' Credentials. Report of the General Committee. 27 September 1976. GC(XX)/575.

¹⁶ United Nations (UN), South Africa's Nuclear-Tipped Ballistic Missile Capability. A Report of the Secretary General. A/45/571, 1991, 8.

¹⁷ IAEA GC, Twenty-third Regular Session. Examination of Delegates' Credentials. Report of the General Committee, 10 December 1979. GC(XXIII)/622.

¹⁸ IAEA GC, Twenty-third Regular Session: 4–10 December 1979. Record of the Two hundred and eleventh Plenary Meeting, Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, December 5, 1979, GC(XXIII)/OR.211.

¹⁹ IAEA, Statute of the IAEA, 1957, http://www.iaea.org/About/statute_text.html (accessed 10 August 2010).

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ Sole, ‘Great Expectations’ 15-26.

²² Fischer, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 90.

²³ IAEA, Statute of the IAEA.

²⁴ Munir Khan, ‘Major Milestones in the Development of the IAEA’, in International Atomic Energy Agency: Personal Reflections. A Fortieth Anniversary Publication (Vienna: IEAE, 1997), 307.

²⁵ These included resolutions of the GC, namely GC(XXVIII)/RES/423 (1985) and GC(XXX)/RES/789 (1986).

²⁶ Fischer, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 100.

²⁷ IAEA, South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities. Report by the Board of Governors and the Director General. 23 September 1985, http://www.iaea.org (accessed 10 August 2010).

²⁸ Fischer, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 109–110.

²⁹ IAEA GC, South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities. Resolution Adopted During the 266th Plenary Meeting on 28 September 1984, GC(XXVIII)/RES/423.

³⁰ IAEA GC,.South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities. Resolution Adopted During the 292nd Plenary Meeting on 3 October 1986, GC(XXX)/RES/468.

³¹ IAEA GC, South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities, 1985, GC(XXIX)/RES/442.

³² IAEA, 1985 Summary record of the discussion on the item ‘South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities’ at meeting of the Board of Governors held in February, June and September 1985, in IAEA, General Conference. Twenty-ninth Regular Session. South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities. Report by the Board of Governors and the Director General. 23 September 1985.

³³ The IAEA can be regarded as the ‘implementation agency’ of the NPT.

³⁴ Fischer, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 109–110.

³⁵ UN, South Africa's Nuclear-Tipped Ballistic Missile Capability, 9.

³⁶ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), A Balanced Approach to the NPT: Armscor/AEC Concerns Viewed from a DFA Standpoint, 1988. Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) Archive, Pretoria.

³⁷ Ibid.

³⁸ Ibid.

³⁹ Stumpf, Birth and Death of the South African Nuclear Weapons Programme, http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/rsa/nuke/stumpf.htm

⁴⁰ Reuters, ‘Pretoria Says It Can Build A-arms’, New York Times 14 August 1988, http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/14/world/pretoria-says-it-can-build-a-arms.html?scp = 72&sq = SOUTH+AFRICA+NUCLEAR&st = nyt (accessed 21 September 2011).

⁴¹ ‘Superpowers Urge SA to Sign Nuke Treaty’, The Citizen, 22 September 1988, 5.

⁴² Theresa Papenfus, Pik Botha and His Times (Pretoria: Litera Publications, 2010), 732.

⁴³ ‘Pretoria Says It Can Build A-arms’, New York Times.

⁴⁴ Papenfus, Pik Botha and His Times, 732.

⁴⁵ IAEA GC, South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities. Resolution Adopted During the 312th Plenary Meeting, on 23 September 1988, GC(XXXII)/RES/503; 1988; IAEA, IAEA GC, 1989, South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities. Resolution Adopted During the 322nd Plenary Meeting on 29 September 1989, GC(XXXIII)/RES/524, 1989.

⁴⁶ Fischer, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 110.

⁴⁷ UN, South Africa's Nuclear-Tipped Ballistic Missile Capability, 11.

⁴⁸ Ibid.

⁴⁹ IAEA GC, South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities. Resolution Adopted During the 332nd Plenary Meeting on 21 September 1990, GC(XXXIV)/RES/545, 1990.

⁵⁰ IAEA GC, South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities. Resolution Adopted During the 341st Plenary Meeting on 20 September 1991, GC(XXXV)/RES/567, 1991.

⁵¹ Minister of Foreign Affairs, Statement in South Africa's Position on Accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 17 September 1990, in IAEA, 34^thRegular Session of the General Conference, Communication Received from South Africa. GC(XXXIV)/INF/290, http://www.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC34/GC34InfDocuments/English/gc34inf-290_en.pdf (accessed 26 September 2011).

⁵² UN, South Africa's Nuclear-Tipped Ballistic Missile Capability, 11.

⁵³ IAEA, The Denuclearization of Africa. The Agency's Verification Activities in South Africa, 9 September 1993, 7, http://www.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC37/GC37Documents/English/gc37-1075_en.pdf (accessed 7 July 2011).

⁵⁴ Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa (AEC), Report on the Completeness of the Inventory of South Africa's Nuclear Installations and Nuclear Material, in IAEA, 1992, Thirty-sixth Regular Session [of the General Conference]. South Africa's Nuclear Capabilities. 4 September 1992, http://www.iaea.org (accessed 7 July 2011).

⁵⁵ IAEA, Thirty-seventh Regular Session [of the General Conference]. Record of the Three hundred and fifty-third Plenary Meeting, 27 September 1993, http://www.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC37/GC37Records/English/gc37or-353_en.pdf (accessed 7 July 2011).

⁵⁶ IAEA, The Denuclearization of Africa. The Agency's Verification Activities in South Africa, 1993.

⁵⁷ Ibid.

⁵⁸ Ibid.

⁵⁹ Ibid.

⁶⁰ Von Baeckmann, Dillon and Perricos, Nuclear Verification in South Africa, 42–48.

⁶¹ IAEA, The Denuclearization of Africa. The Agency's Verification Activities in South Africa. Thirty-seventh Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference. 9 September 1993, http://www.iaea.org/About/Policy/GC/GC37/GC37Documents/English/gc37-1075_en.pdf (accessed 7 July 2011).

⁶² Ibid.

⁶³ Ibid.

⁶⁴ Ibid.

⁶⁵ Ibid.

⁶⁶ IAEA, South Africa's Position in the IAEA and the Board of Governors. Thirty-eighth Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference. September 1994, http://www.iaea.org (accessed 7 July 2011).

⁶⁷ IAEA, The Denuclearization of Africa.

⁶⁸ Von Baeckmann, Dillon & Perricos, Nuclear Verification in South Africa, 42–48.

⁶⁹ Fischer, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 110.

⁷⁰ Ibid.

⁷¹ IAEA, The Denuclearization of Africa.

⁷² Ibid.

⁷³ South Africa (Embassy of the Republic of South Africa in Vienna). 2011. Multilateral, http://www.dirco.gov.za/vienna/multilateralvienna.html (accessed 16 May 2011).

⁷⁴ IAEA, South Africa's Position in the IAEA and the Board of Governors. Thirty-eighth Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference. September 1994, http://www.iaea.org, (accessed 7 July 2011).

⁷⁵ Ibid.

⁷⁶ ‘SA Pushes for More African Countries in IAEA’, BuaNews, 22 September 2010, http://www.buanews.gov.za/news/10/100922114251002 (accessed 16 May 2011).

Additional information

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Jo-Ansie van Wyk

Jo-Ansie van Wyk lectures in International Politics in the Department of Political Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. She has published widely on South Africa's nuclear diplomacy. Email: [email protected]