United Nations Security Council Resolution 418

Impact

The embargo had a direct impact on South Africa in a number of ways:

• Last-minute cancellation of the sale of s and s by France.
• The cancelation of the purchase of s from Israel, some of which had to be built covertly in South Africa instead.
• South Africa's inability to purchase modern fighter aircraft to counter Cuban MiG-23s over the SAAF in the South African Border War.
• The growth of the modern day multibillion-dollar South African arms industry.
• The end of shipments by the United States of enriched uranium fuel for South Africa's SAFARI-1 research nuclear reactor.

Circumvention of the embargo

The South African government devised a number of strategies to bypass the embargo to obtain military technology and components that it was unable to procure openly. United Nations Security Council Resolution 591 was passed in 1986 to extend the embargo and to tighten some of the loopholes.

Local production

Many armaments were wholly designed and manufactured in South Africa, as reflected by the growth and export business of Armscor. South African defence industries were able to successfully meet demand in some areas such as ammunition, infantry weapons, missile technology and armoured vehicles but struggled when it came to the development of combat aircraft, attack helicopters and main battle tanks. For more advanced systems, Armscor would often modernise and improve on designs imported or licence-built in the years prior to the embargo, sometimes to the point of being an almost completely different design (such as the Atlas Oryx helicopter or Olifant main battle tank). By the 1980s, almost all of South Africa's weapons were domestically developed.

Smuggling

Notable operations that came to light were:

• The 1984 case of the Coventry Four. Four South African businessmen in the UK were found to be operating a front company on the behalf of Kentron that was sourcing materiel in defiance of the ban.
• The arrest and imprisonment of Gerald Bull for developing the G5 howitzer for Armscor.
• The nuclear weapons program reached its peak during the embargo. According to David Albright, components for the program were imported without the knowledge of the international community, or put to ingenious uses that had not been envisaged by the enforcers of the embargo.

Dual purpose equipment

Computer and air traffic control radar systems ostensibly destined for civilian use were diverted to the military.

Use of foreign specialists

The South African government was able to hire the services of foreign technicians, for example Israeli specialists who had worked on the Lavi fighter aircraft were recruited by Atlas Aircraft Corporation to work on the Atlas Cheetah and Atlas Carver.

Licensed production

In some cases, foreign armaments were simply produced under license in South Africa, as in the case of the , the R4 assault rifle and Atlantis Diesel Engines.

Co-operation with other states

South Africa exchanged military technology with other states in a similar position to itself, notably through the Israel–South Africa Agreement, as well as with Taiwan and Morocco. Between 1977 and 1991, Morocco was involved in transfer of French technology, French armaments and designs to South Africa, and in return South African Forces and specialists went to train the Moroccan Armed Forces and Police

References

References

1. (November 4, 1977). "Resolution 418". [[United Nations]].
2. (May 26, 1994). "Resolution 919". [[United Nations]]}}{{Dead link.
3. (2008-10-13). "Victor Moukambi dissertation.doc". [[University of Stellenbosch]]}}{{Dead link.
4. Andre Wessels. (20 April 2007). "The South African Navy During The Years of Conflict In Southern Africa, 1966–1989". Sabinet Online Ltd.
5. Hilton Hamann. (2001). "Days of the Generals". Zebra.
6. David Albright. (July 1994). "South Africa and the Affordable Bomb". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
7. Cawthra, Gavin. "Arms for apartheid: the secret world of sanctions busting." Index on Censorship 20, no. 10 (1991): 41-42.
8. Wessels, A., & Marx, L. (2008). The 1977 United Nations mandatory arms embargo against South Africa: a historical perspective after 30 years. Journal for Contemporary History, 33(1), 70-86.
9. David Albright. (July 1994). "South Africa and the Affordable Bomb". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
10. Geldenhuys, Deon. (1990). "Isolated States: A Comparative Analysis". Cambridge University Press.
11. (1981-06-08). "Africa Review". [[National Security Archive]].