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Project Coast was a top-secret chemical and biological (CBW) weapons program instituted by South Africa's minority white government during the Apartheid-era. Project Coast was the successor to a limited post-war CBW program which mainly produced tear gas, CX powder and mustard gas. The non-lethal agents were created for use in bringing riots under control.
In the middle of the 1970s, South Africa became increasingly involved in Angola in operations against Cuban and Angolan troops, backed by the Soviet Union. The South African government feared that the Cuban forces had access to battlefield chemical and biological weapons, and immediately began ramping up its own program, initially as a defensive measure and in order to research vaccines. As the years went on, however, research into offensive uses of the newly-found capability was increased. Finally, in 1981, then-president PW Botha ordered the South African Defence Force (SADF) to develop the technology to a point where it could be used effectively against South Africa's enemies. In response, the head of the SADF's South African Medical Service (SAMS) division, responsible for defensive CBW capabilities, hired Dr. Wouter Basson, a cardiologist, to visit a number of countries and report back on their respective CBW capabilities. He returned with the recommendation that South Africa's program be scaled up, and in 1983, Project Coast was formed, with Dr Basson at its head.
In order to hide the program, and to make the procurement of CBW-related substances, Project Coast involved the formation of four front companies, Delta G Scientific Company, Roodeplaat Research Laboratories (RRL), Protechnik and Infadel.
Over the following years, Project Coast created a large variety of lethal offensive CBW toxins and biotoxins, in addition to the defensive measures. Initially these were intended for use by the military in combat as a last resort, but by the mid 1980s research was being done into CBW for the purpose of assassinating the enemies of the regime. To this end, a leaf was taken out of the Soviet book, with a number of devices, designed to look like ordinary everyday objects, being created with the capabilities to poison those targetted for assassination. Examples included umbrellas and walking sticks which fired pellets containing pellets, syringes disguised as screwdrivers, and poisoned beer cans and envelopes.
With the end of Apartheid, South Africa's various weapons of mass destruction programs were abolished. However, despite efforts to destroy equipment, stocks, and information from these programs, some still remain, leading to fears that they may find their way into the hands of terrorist networks. In May 2002, Daan Goosen- the former-head of South Africa's biological weapons program- contacted the U.S. FBI and offered to exchange existing bacterial stocks from the program in return for 5 million dollars and immigration permits for him and 19 other associates and their family members. The offer was eventually refused, with the FBI claiming that the strains were obsolete and therefore no longer a threat.
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