S. Africa may test N-missiles in Antarctic—paper

Press, 29 December 1986, Page 9

S. Africa may test N -missiles in Antarctic—paper

NZPA-Reuter London South Africa has decided to build an airstrip on Marion Island in the Antarctic under a plan possibly designed to prepare the site for testing nuclear missiles, the “Observer” newspaper, said yesterday. The Sunday newspaper said that the proposed £4 million ($11.12 million) runway would be capable of handling Hercules transport planes and was likely to provoke international controversy among both anti-apartheid campaigners and environmentalists. South Africa says it needs the airstrip to serve a 24-man scientific station based on Marion Island, according to the "Observer.” Marion Island is 2000 km south-east of Cape Town. South Africa took possession of the island in 1947. The newspaper said experts doubted that the runway would be used for civil purposes. “South Africa probably exploded a nuclear test device in the area in 1979

and the airstrip is very likely to have military implications,” the “Observer” quoted a British nuclear expert, Frank Barnaby, as saying. It said Mr Barnaby, former director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, believed that the island could provide a site for testing missiles which were being developed for conventional and probably also nuclear warheads. “South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs decided earlier this month to proceed with the airstrip. They told the scientists that this would facilitate evacuation in the event of a medical emergency, provide a landing site for search-and-rescue aircraft, ease provisioning of the weather station and improve fishery protection,” the newspaper said. “Marion Island scientists were surprised by these explanations. They believe medical cover could be improved more cheaply by building an operating theatre and em-

ploying a doctor to live at the base. There is no commercial flying in the area, and hence no need for rescue operations.” Apart from the scientific base, South Africa maintains a meteorological station on the remote island, which is served twice a year by the 5000ton supply ship Agulhas. The “Observer” said that Israeli and South African military officers had visited the island over the last two years. Speculation about joint South African-Israeli nuclear co-operation has increased recently after revelations by Mordechai Vanunu, an Israeli nuclear technician who appeared in court in Jerusalem a week ago on charges of spying and treason after vanishing in London. Mr Vanunu told a British newspaper that Israeli nuclear scientists made regular visits to South Africa. South Africa has denied having nuclear weapons.