A sordid act: the Rainbow Warrior incident

James Veitch provides a 25-year perspective stop the tests. planned to become such a nuisance that in exasperation would stop. But France had other on the act of that sank the ideas in mind. Greenpeace flagship. On the night of the explosion, the Rainbow Warrior was docked in Auckland Harbour. It was the flagship of five The Pacific has long been used as a nuclear testing and vessels; the others, however, would not be able to carry out dumping ground. The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior was the protests without it. On board was equipment essential France’s public demonstration of its opposition to Greenpeace to transmit pictures of French activity at Moruroa to the and that organisation’s opposition to the French nuclear Associated Press. The only unintended casualty of the attack testing programme in the Pacific. was the ship’s photographer, who operated this apparatus. He The explosions heard on 10 July 1985 at Auckland was drowned as he attempted to return to his bunk to retrieve Harbour were met with astonishment. Many were shocked his photographic equipment as the boat sank. when the news broke that behind the explosions were French Although at first France denied any involvement, it was intelligence agents. , the then Prime Minister, soon discovered that the French Minister of Defence, Charles described the incident as ‘a sordid act of international state- Hernu, had approved the assault on the vessel. It was later backed terrorism’. revealed that President François Mitterand had ‘personally The attack centred around two explosions which sunk a authorised’ the operation, as head of the Secret Service Pierre vessel docked at Marsden Wharf in Auckland Harbour at Lacoste claimed that without this consent the operation 11.50 pm on 10 July 1985. It was carried out by operatives would not have gone ahead. claimed that Hernu of the French intelligence service. Direction Générale de la gave instructions for the Rainbow Warrior to be ‘sunk’ rather Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE). This was not a random act of than ‘immobilised’ to deter Greenpeace from continuing its destruction; it was the result of months of preparation. protests. On 21 September 1985 Hernu resigned and Lacoste The context for the incident can be traced to the Pacific was dismissed. On that same day, the French government being used as a nuclear testing ground since the 1940s and acknowledged its involvement. the belief of one nuclear power that it had the right to use any means to safeguard its own testing programme. As a result, Thirteen agents a strained relationship had been growing between France The DGSE employed thirteen agents to carry out different and Greenpeace; the bombing was a planned retaliation. The tasks in . On 23 April 1985, Christine Cabon, political context of this nuclear disagreement must not be a French Army lieutenant was the first to arrive. Her task forgotten. It took place during the Cold War. was to infiltrate Greenpeace and gather information on the Greenpeace’s protest at the nuclear testing site at Moruroa movements of the Rainbow Warrior, and inform the DGSE of atoll focused world attention on France’s nuclear testing. It ways to obstruct plans for the Moruroa voyage. She introduced was a bid to raise public opposition to compel the French to herself as Frederique Bonlieu and claimed she was a scientific consultant gathering information for travel articles and friends wanting to visit New Zealand. She claimed to be writing James Veitch is a lecturer in the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington. Research of the incident and the writing of a draft of this articles on ecological issues for the French press. Gabon’s article was undertaken by Lydia Berlad during the summer of 2009–10. infiltration assumed that whoever assigned her to this task Peter Cozens and Gary Hawke commented on an earlier version. A fully was already well informed about the activities of Greenpeace. referenced copy of this article may be obtained from the writer at jim. [email protected]. This is a shorter version of a much longer study of the In 1985, the majority of the operational membership of Rainbow Warrior incident and its implications for New Zealand. Greenpeace in New Zealand was female, so Cabon was

New Zealand International Review 6 actually fixed the explosives to the vessel. In September 2006 the agent responsible was identified as Gerard Royal. He was named by his brother, Antoine, for political reasons; their sister Segolene was a candidate running as the (unsuccessful) socialist candidate in the 2007 presidential elections. The damage was extensive as it left a two by three-metre hole in the engine room and destroyed the ship’s propulsion system. After the bombs were detonated, the pieces self-destructed; their shape and size are therefore unknown. What is known is that each bomb was magnetic, the first weighing seven kilograms and the second thirteen. Prieur and Mafart were scheduled to leave New Zealand on 23 July. However, they changed their tickets to 12 July when they heard on the radio of Pereira’s death. They informed their minders in France about the complication — but the latter did not respond. At 8.30 next morning drowned on the Rainbow Warrior while attempting to salvage his photographic equipment they returned the vehicle and shortly afterwards two police officers arrived. readily accepted. She collected maps, names, numbers and Although Prieur and Mafart did not immediately confess, rates of hotels, vehicle hire firms, boat rentals and underwater their claim of being tourists had been badly conceived. When gear. She was also seen taking photos of the coast at Otama the police went through their belongings, they found that the Beach, Whitianga and Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel couple had not taken a single photo, bought a single souvenir peninsula just south of Auckland. or sent a postcard to anyone. Agents Xavier Maniguet, Roland Verge, Jean-Michel Barcelo and Gerald Andries hired the boat Ouvéa in New Legal action Caledonia to transport the explosives. The crew were to On 23 July Mafart and Prieur were arrested and charged with make no secret of their presence in New Zealand in order, conspiracy to commit arson, wilfully damaging the Rainbow if necessary, to divert police attention so that the agents Warrior and murdering Fernando Pereira. A hundred police responsible for the bombing could escape. The crew passed officers were involved at the height of the operation. the explosives to agents Alain Mafart and Dominique After Prieur contacted the DGSE and informed them of Prieur at the Hinemoa Hotel in Helensville on 8 July. The the situation, she was instructed to contact Russell McVeagh explosives were given the next day to the team carrying out and request assistance; Gerard Curry took on their case. the detonation. On the night of the bombing, there was a As soon as it was confirmed that France was involved. New party on board the Rainbow Warrior which another French Zealand sought compensation for damages. It was made clear agent François Verlet attended posing as a guest. that they wanted the case against Mafart and Prieur dealt with by the New Zealand courts. This issue posed difficulties Three teams for the two governments, mainly because the French claimed Although there were three teams of French agents working that the innocence of the agents lay in the fact that they were on different projects and concurrently planning to sabotage doing what they were employed to do — carry out military the Rainbow Warrior, the New Zealand police only managed orders. New Zealand saw this as a breach of international to arrest Alain Mafart and . They were law and a serious crime under New Zealand law, therefore disguised as a Swiss couple holidaying as tourists in New justifying a suitable sentence. The release of the agents to the Zealand but were in reality responsible for the logistical side of French government was not acceptable to New Zealand. the operation. After the bombing, the two were spotted acting In the Auckland District Court on 4 November, in an suspiciously by a neighbourhood watch group; one member appearance that took less than an hour, the two agents on of the group noted the license number of their vehicle and a advice from France pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of report was made to the police. The agents were caught only manslaughter and wilful damage. Solicitor-General Paul because the police subsequently warned the rental company Neazor outlined the case and explained the reason for the of the license number and gave instructions that they were to lesser charge. Journalists were taken by surprise at the plea be phoned when the van was returned. and the speed with which the matter was settled. The plea to a There was at the time much speculation as to who lesser charge of manslaughter and not murder was supported

The 1985 Rainbow Warrior incident gripped the imagination of New Zealanders. Never before had a country carried out such an action on New Zealand soil. The incident and the way in which its after- math unfolded became a lesson for the New Zealand government. The fact that the French govern- ment saw the incident in a very different light brought New Zealand abruptly into the grey and often murky confusions of international diplomacy. The incident helped to firmly establish New Zealand as an anti-nuclear state; this had the unfortunate implication of putting New Zealand further off side with its valuable ally the United States.

New Zealand International Review 7 by the fact that the two had not been ‘directly responsible’ for attaching the explosives to the vessel. This outcome was ‘reached in accordance with accepted New Zealand practice and without political pressure’. The change in plea, however, enabled the agents to remain silent and their counsel offered only the briefest of comments, thus enabling many of the details to remain squirreled away in police and security service files. Certainly the official role of France was never called into question as a result of the change in plea. The pair were remanded to the High Court for sentencing.

Access threat On 22 November Chief Justice Sir Ronald Davison sentenced Mafart and Prieur to ten years’ imprisonment. This ruling was, however, rejected by France, and officials warned New Zealand that access for agricultural products to Europe could Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur be at risk; with France at the time New Zealand’s tenth major On 14 December 1987, after eighteen months on , trading partner, the consequences for New Zealand raised by Mafart was flown to France because of health reasons and France were not insignificant. Dominique Prieur followed on 6 May 1988 as she was France urged New Zealand to return the agents to France pregnant. Mafart was ‘smuggled’ by way of Tahiti using a so that they could be judged in a French court. Had the fake passport posing as a carpenter named Serge Quilla. agents been handed over to France they would have walked Neither of these removals was approved by New Zealand, away unpunished as article 327 of the French penal code and France did not return the agents. states ‘there is no crime or offence when homicide has been Two months later, Mafart was made a ‘knight of the order ordered by legitimate authority in France’. In most Western of merit for distinguished service’. Mike Moore claimed that countries, there is no authority more legitimate than the the tribute was an offence to New Zealand and a signal that government. France considered the bombing justified. Unable to reach an agreement, New Zealand officials The French maintained that nuclear testing was warranted sought assistance from UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de in the Pacific because it took place on French territorial soil. Cuéllar. As a result of the binding outcome the two agents They maintained that their underground nuclear tests at were transferred to the French Pacific atoll of Hao, where Moruroa were essential for the modernisation of their defence they were to remain for three consecutive years. Their removal systems. In 1983 and 1984, French and foreign scientists would be possible only if both countries were in agreement. conducted tests at the atoll that, they claimed, proved there Prieur’s husband subsequently became head of security on were no consequences for the territory or the environment. Hao. On 22 July 1986, Mafart and Prieur were secretly flown France also produced a memorandum documenting by the air force out of New Zealand to the Wallis Islands in Greenpeace’s record of ‘hostile action’ towards the French in the Pacific; from there they were flown to Hao Island on a the Pacific as well as their ‘illegal’ presence in 1973 and 1982 French military aircraft. on the Moruroa nuclear test site.

French reaction Arbitration outcome France paid NZ$13 million in compensation as a result of Mitterrand claimed that prior to the incident relations the UN brokered settlement. The New Zealand Nuclear between New Zealand and France were always affable, but Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act 1987 had he insisted on his country’s sovereign right to undertake the established the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament disputed tests in the Pacific. The New Zealand government and Arms Control. This trust received a grant of $1.5 million was unconvinced and took France to arbitration over its from the French compensation money, and, using interest action in removing the agents from Hao Island without accrued, it annually distributes about $150,000 to projects and consultation and as required by the 1986 agreement. At the scholarships that further the goals of peace and disarmament. end of a lengthy process, the arbitrator recommended that a The trust also allocates money for projects which aim to fund be established to promote close and friendly relations enhance public understanding of disarmament and arms between the two countries and that the government of the control. On 23 May 1989 the New Zealand government French Republic make an initial contribution equivalent to established the Pacific Development and Conservation Trust US$2 million to this fund. The decision of 30 April 1990 with the purpose of fostering the development, improvement outlines in detail the disagreements between France and New and preservation of the natural resources and habitat of the Zealand and records in considerable detail the events leading South Pacific. The trust received a total of $3.2 million of up to the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and the legal process Rainbow Warrior money, from which it dispenses the interest that followed. to suitable projects. This amounts to about $300,000 annually. Sir Kenneth Keith, the New Zealand arbitrator, appended The French government also paid compensation to the family a separate opinion to the decision which reflected this country’s of Fernando Pereira. After two years of negotiations, it also continuing unhappiness with the French government. At the paid compensation to Greenpeace for the loss of their vessel. end of April 1991, the then French Prime Minister, Michel

New Zealand International Review 8 Rocard, officially apologised to New Zealand for the attack military training and exercises were revoked. On 27 June and acknowledged it had been unnecessary. At that stage, 1986, the United States suspended the security agreement the points of difference between the two countries were with New Zealand outlined in the ANZUS Treaty. New deemed to be reconciled. Five years later the tests at Moruroa Zealand Cabinet ministers and New Zealand’s ambassador concluded. in Washington were refused access to their counterparts in How much did New Zealand’s allies know about France’s the Pentagon and the State Department. plans? David Lange claimed that MI6 did in fact know but that British allegiance to France overrode its allegiance to New Polarising fallout Zealand. Certainly as official documents released in 2005 The fallout of the Rainbow Warrior bombing and David reveal, Margaret Thatcher and, for that matter, the United Lange’s unwavering anti-nuclear stance polarised opinions States played down the significance of the bombing, to the in Washington (as well as within his own Cabinet) and dismay of Greenpeace and New Zealand. The United States led to significant misunderstandings with unanticipated was not inclined to denounce the Rainbow Warrior bombing, consequences for New Zealand. Although the New Zealand as it had itself been embarrassed by Greenpeace on account of government emphasised that its policy was anti-nuclear and its own testing carried out in the Pacific. On 26 July 1985 New not anti-American, the United States did not accept this Zealand police issued warrants through Interpol for the arrest argument and maintained that the ANZUS alliance entailed of the Ouvéa crew on charges of arson and murder. Michael consenting to its essential strategic nuclear doctrines and that King claims that New Zealand asked American authorities this aspect of the alliance was not negotiable. to search for the boat using its KH 11 military satellite, but Both the United States and to a lesser extent the United that they refused to co-operate. He links this refusal to the Kingdom reacted in an opposing and confrontational way rift between America and New Zealand over New Zealand’s towards New Zealand’s nuclear free position. The United banning of nuclear-powered naval vessel visits. States is known to give higher priority to its nuclear doctrine than to presrving pluralistic relations with allies. Britain Long-term impact disagreed with New Zealand’s anti-nuclear stance and Despite popular belief, France did not in fact escape ever since the relationship has been affected, especially unpunished. Although the reaction of allies and world leaders in the area of military and security co-operation. Due to was delayed and low-key, the international indignation over misunderstandings, and a lack of clear and concise information France’s action was enough eventually to force France to being exchanged, the United States misinterpreted the Act as abandon its nuclear testing in the Pacific. There were also anti-American rather than as anti-nuclear legislation. riots in the Tahitian capital Papeete, protesting nuclear testing. Eventually France signed the Comprehensive Test Important catalyst Ban Treaty, ratifying it on 10 September 1996. Looking back over 25 years and noting the consequences the The anti-nuclear sentiment which erupted in New Zealand bombing had for New Zealand and Greenpeace, rather than as a result of the Rainbow Warrior affair was an advantage challenging the country’s aspirations to be nuclear free, the to the fourth Labour government elected in 1984. The New incident became the catalyst. What reinforced this nuclear Zealand Nuclear Free Zone Act implemented in 1987 was free stance was the realisation that the bombing was an act the climax of a decade and a half of campaigns by peace of state terrorism inflicted on New Zealand by an ally — an movements, the Labour Party, the Social Credit League, the action that other allies did not condemn even though New Values Party and various church groups; through all this, Zealand sovereignty had been severely violated. The result Greenpeace was at the forefront of protest. was a more independent New Zealand foreign policy, with This new legislation became one of the cornerstones of an increasing focus on working with the . New Zealand’s foreign policy, although its ideals consequently This new necessity for self-reliance gave New Zealand the clashed with those of the United States. As well as banning drive it needed for the anti-nuclear battle and to demonstrate nuclear-armed and powered ships or aircraft visits, the Labour to countries such as France, the United States and the United government officially discarded nuclear deterrent doctrines Kingdom that the colonial era was indeed over. and strategies of nuclear allies. Recently New Zealand’s anti-nuclear policy has attracted Although the Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and the attention of a new American administration. It is suddenly Arms Control Act was not intended as a departure from a not so unfashionable to be anti-nuclear and to advocate the military alliance with the United States, the United States importance of the Non-proliferation Treaty. To be committed saw it challenging the ANZUS Treaty, to which New Zealand to working for security in the world community appears to had been a signatory since 1 September 1951. In response have been a worthwhile international commitment. Over Lange claimed that there were no strategic reasons for nuclear 25 years successive New Zealand governments have never weapons to be in New Zealand ports as New Zealand was wavered in their commitment to the country’s anti-nuclear not in the front line of Western defence. America’s policy of policy. It is not too much of an exaggeration to connect such ‘neither confirm nor deny’, however, was at odds with the commitment to New Zealand’s one and only encounter with Act and, therefore, when the American nuclear weapon state terrorism and to France’s determination to protect its capable ship USS Buchanan was declined port access, own nuclear activity in the South Pacific at whatever cost to America retaliated by ceasing some intelligence flows to its own reputation. This policy actually secured theRainbow New Zealand and by denying New Zealand representatives Warrior incident a permanent place in the country’s history access to security briefings in London and Washington. Joint as a non-nuclear state.

New Zealand International Review 9 Copyright of New Zealand International Review is the property of New Zealand Institute of International Affairs and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.