Paper Reports S. African Plan for Antarctic Airstrip

South Africa plans to build a major runway for its remote Marion Island weather station that could be used to develop the Antarctic island as a nuclear missile test site, possibly with Israeli help, the Observer newspaper reported Sunday.

In a front-page report, the liberal weekly said South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs decided this month to go ahead with the $5.8-million runway.

“The secret airstrip will be an important military asset and could be used to develop the site for testing nuclear missiles,” the newspaper said.

South Africa says it wants the mile-long runway on Marion Island, 1,200 miles south of Cape Town in the Indian Ocean, simply to establish air communications with a 25-man scientific station it already has there, the report said.

Scientist Confirms Report

The deputy head of the British Antarctic Survey team, Cambridge University scientist Nigel Bonner, was quoted as confirming the plan to build the runway, saying he was asked by South African authorities to assess its impact on the environment.

The newspaper report said the runway would be capable of handling Hercules transport planes, raising environmental concerns because flight approaches and its construction could disrupt the habitats of birds, seals and killer whales.

The paper quoted Frank Barnaby, former director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, as saying: “South Africa probably exploded a nuclear test device in this area in 1979, and the airstrip is very likely to have military implications.”

The institute produces authoritative annual reports on world armaments.

Barnaby was said to believe that the island could provide a site for missile testing. He was further quoted as saying that South Africa probably told the United States about the project and that Washington “may be hoping to gain some strategic benefit.”

Environmental Aspect

Bonner was quoted as saying, “I have not been told of any military dimension. . . . I shall be concentrating on the environmental aspect of the project.”

Marion Island scientists have reported visits by South African and Israeli military officers, including two members of an airstrip survey team, during the last two years, the Observer said. The newspaper added that the scientists were ordered by government officials not to discuss the plans for the runway and are “worried that their weather station could be used as a cover for military operations, either nuclear or convention.”