United Nations Security Council Resolution 418, adopted unanimously on 4 November 1977, imposed a mandatory

arms embargo An arms embargo is a restriction or a set of sanctions that applies either solely to weaponry or also to " dual-use technology." An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes: * to signal disapproval of the behavior of a certain actor * to maintai ...

against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. This resolution differed from the earlier Resolution 282, which was only voluntary. The embargo was subsequently tightened and extended by Resolution 591. The embargo was lifted by Resolution 919 following democratic elections in South Africa in 1994.

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 France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. * The cancelation of the purchase of s from

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, some of which had to be built covertly in South Africa instead. * South Africa's inability to purchase modern

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

to counter

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

MiG-23 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generati ...

s over the SAAF in the

South African Border War The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Ango ...

. * The growth of the modern day multibillion-dollar South African

arms industry The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry classification, industry which manufacturing, manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commerce, commercial Private industry, industry involved ...

. * The end of shipments by the United States of enriched

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

fuel for South Africa's

SAFARI-1 SAFARI-1 is a 20 MW light water-cooled, beryllium reflected, pool-type research reactor, initially used for high level nuclear physics research programmes and was commissioned in 1965. The reactor is owned and operated by South African Nuclear ...

research

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...

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 United Nations Security Council resolution 591, adopted unanimously on 28 November 1986, after recalling resolutions 418 (1977), 421 (1977), 473 (1980) and 558 (1984), the Council strengthened the mandatory arms embargo against apartheid South ...

was passed in 1986 to extend the embargo and to tightened 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.

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 Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the spec ...

in defiance of the ban. * The arrest and imprisonment of Gerald Bull for developing the

G5 howitzer The G5 is a South African towed howitzer of 155 mm calibre developed in South Africa by Denel Land Systems. The G5 design was based on the Canadian GC-45 155mm gun which was highly modified to suit southern African conditions. Production hist ...

for Armscor. * The nuclear weapons program reached its peak during the embargo. According to

David Albright David Albright, M.Sc., is an American physicist and a weapons expert who is the founder of the non-governmental Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), its current president, and author of several books on proliferation of atom ...

, 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 Lavi ( he, לָבִיא, ''lit.'' Lion) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located 310 meters above sea level and 10 minutes from Tiberias, it falls under the jurisdiction of Lower Galilee Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The ...

were recruited by

Atlas Aircraft Corporation The Atlas Aircraft Corporation (also known as Atlas Aviation) was a South African aircraft manufacturer. It was a division of the South African government-owned defence conglomerate Armaments Corporation of South Africa (commonly known as ''Ar ...

to work on the

Atlas Cheetah The Atlas Cheetah is a South African fighter aircraft designed and produced by the aviation company Atlas Aircraft Corporation (later Denel Aeronautics). It was developed at the behest of, and principally operated by, the South African Air F ...

and Atlas CAVA.

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 The Vektor R4 is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle designed in 1979 based on the IMI Galil rifle. It entered service as the standard service rifle of the South African Defence Force (SADF) in 1980. The R4 replaced the R1, a variant of the 7.62×51mm ...

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 Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

. 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

External links

*
Text of the Resolution at undocs.org
{{UNSCR 1977 0418 United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 United Nations Security Council sanctions regimes 0418 Boycotts of apartheid South Africa Embargoes November 1977 events mzn:قطعنومه ۴۱۷ امنیت شورا ckb:بڕیارنامەی ٤١٧ی ئەنجومەنی ئاسایش