The first of six parts on the biological programmes that went by the benign name of Project Coast – a covert endeavour representing some of the worst practices in building and dismantling a biological weapons capability responsibly. Profound lessons can be learnt about how to – and how not to – govern high-consequence programmes.

The second of six parts on the apartheid-era biological programmes that went by the benign name of Project Coast – a covert endeavour representing some of the worst practices in building and dismantling a biological weapons capability responsibly. Profound lessons can be learnt about how to – and how not to – govern high-consequence projects.

In the third of a six-part series, the new South African President FW de Klerk is shocked to learn of the apartheid biological weapons programme and takes action to suspend those involved in what was known as Project Coast.
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In Part Four of our six-part series, legal missteps, political caution, and evidentiary hurdles allowed Project Coast’s mastermind to walk free.

Nelson Mandela stepped down as president of South Africa on 13 June 1999. He wanted to set an example on the African continent and disrupt its tradition of having lifetime heads of state.

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South Africa signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the first multilateral treaty to ban an entire class of weapons, on 10 April 1972, and ratified it in November 1975.

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