The next day, hovever, the united states Department of state in a formal statementdisagreed with vorsterrs contention and said thst the prime Minister had formarlyrepeated just such assurances on all three points in a r-etter of 13 october 197?to Pres id.ent Carter. l-06/ 67. Conparable ambiguity stil-1 characterizes the official position inPretori-a: !17 / At the very least that suggests that South Africa's leaders nay be :f^*.U to exploit the impression that South _A.frica rnay be a latent nucl-ear_veapon 68. concern about south Africars intentions in the nuclear field was augmentedconsiderabfly in the late sunmex and early fa11 ot r9T7 when evid.ence was uncovered :$g.:ti$i that a nuclear-weapon test by South Africa was inminent. In August of1977 soviet diplornats inforned. the main western capitals lo8/ rrid iass issueo afornal statenent to the effect that work vas neariirg conpf-etdon in-Ef,-utrr Africa onthe creation of the nuclear rreapon and preparations were being held for carryingout a test (see appe'dix r). That same Tass statement arso called forinternational co-operation to prevent " E6-tn African test, 109/ Lrhife a Tasscornmentary the next day reiter.ated this varning and call for-action. !q/- 69. united states reconnaissance satellites apparently had. not been monitoringevents in this region of the globe, even though their ftight tracks sometirnes didpass over the Kalahari Desert. I{owever, after exa,nining the Soviet data, theunited states ordered new reconnaissance raissions. photographs fror' thoseUnited States sateLlites definitely confir:ned the existence it "tt"t professionalsin the intelligence and nuclear 'eapon connunities thought ra" u. ,rr"1"a" -weapon - _ IO2/ "U,S. Disagrees with Voxster on A-hreapons,', Washington poqq, 25 n.t^].al 1077V. TI^O INDICATORS 0F A POSSIELE SOUTH AFRTCAN NUCLTAR WEAPOI,I CAPABILITY , uashington Post,105/ rbid. 101/ "South Africa Disnisses Reports of A-Testrr27 Oetober 1979. 108/ Fravda, ! August 197?. 109/ rlia. 110/ Pravda, 10 Aueust 19?7.A/35 / 4a2 rnl{rlsn .Annex test site. It included a hole for an underground test and a tower and other
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing a controversy surrounding South Africa's potential nuclear weapons capability and the reactions of other countries, particularly the United States. The text mentions diplomatic statements, reconnaissance satellites, and intelligence communities, indicating a focus on international relations and security.

**Category**
Science and technology, International trade