MV Greenpeace / PC 8023
Position: Noon Pos: Matsugae dock, Nagasaki Harbour
June 27th, 1996
Day 42

We held a press conference on-board the ship today to tell the Japanese media why we had come to Nagasaki. Our captain Ulf told the media: "We have come from a protest voyage to China, which still insists on testing nuclear weapons, to Japan, which has experienced the horror of nuclear destruction.

Our message in China was simple and today in Nagasaki we repeat that message to all parties in the treaty talks -- ban all nuclear testing now." There was a good turn out and I hope that means the message will get back to the delegates in Geneva that they need to remember Nagasaki and get this test ban signed, now.

A few hours after the press conference we heard that France had delivered a speech to the CTBT conference saying they were prepared to adopt the treaty. This a good sign because France is one of the five nuclear weapons states, and the first to go public with an intention to get this treaty finished. Although it is pretty ironic that Jacques Chirac is turning out to be almost a ‘good guy' on this one. But I guess that is pretty easy for him since he got to do all the tests he needed last year.

Maybe now France is being so helpful in getting a CTBT Jacques Chirac can talk with John Major at the G-7 meeting in Lyon and convince him to change the UK’s position at the CTBT talks. The UK has been one of four countries (Russia, China and Pakistan) who are refusing to compromise on how the treaty would take effect and this is apparently one of the major obstacles to the treaty being finalised.

After the press conference Kazue went with Ulf to meet the Mayor of Nagasaki, Iccho Itoh, who agreed to contact the embassies of those four countries and impress upon them the need for compromise. Tomorrow we go to the Peace Park. Being in the very place where a nuclear bomb was dropped and meeting the wonderful people of Nagasaki makes me wonder why the CTBT delegates find it so hard to agree on a way to stop nuclear testing. From here it seems clear.

Love,

Lynda