Papeete, March 13th:
Greenpeace crews and a marine surveyor
nominated by Greenpeace will leave at 6am this morning
for Moruroa atoll, to free three yachts
seized by the French military during anti-nuclear protests there
last year.
The presence of the surveyor, who will assess the safety of the
yachts, was only agreed on Monday by the French authorities,
after many months of negotiations by Greenpeace.
Greenpeace's Stephanie Mills said the presence of the surveyor, an
independent and internationally recognised expert, was a victory
for common sense.
"Greenpeace sincerely hopes that the French authorities will
adopt a similarly open approach to future proposals by indepedent
scientists wishing to assess the condition of Moruroa itself,"
Ms Mills said.
Twelve crew, Greenpeace legal representatives and the surveyor
will take possession of the Vega (Canadian registered), La
Ribaude (French registerd) and Manutea (US registered).
"We are looking forward to the release of our vessels, but they
should never have been seized in the first place,"
Ms Mills said. "France used massive military might to try and block
peaceful protest, but the fact is the presence of the peace
flotilla at Moruroa last year forced France to reduce its number
of tests and agree to support a 'zero yield' test ban treaty."
"With France, the United States and Britain having agreed to sign
the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty on March 25th,
Greenpeace is now calling on China to end its testing programme."
China is the only nuclear weapons state still testing nuclear
weapons, and is stalling negotiations for a test ban treaty by
insisting that the treaty allow nuclear tests for "peaceful"
purposes.
"Greenpeace continues to focus on an end to all nuclear testing
and is actively campaigning for conclusion of a test ban treaty
this year," Ms Mills said. "We urge France to exercise leadership
and work with China to ensure this happens."
The Vega, La Ribaude and Manutea will head for Papeete to enable
further assessment of the state of the vessels before heading to
New Zealand (Vega and La Ribaude) and the United States
(Manutea). Meanwhile, crews for the MV Greenpeace and Rainbow
Warrior will fly to Hao atoll over the next week. The
destinations of the larger ships will be decided once their
seaworthiness has been assessed.
Further information: Stephanie Mills, Greenpeace NZ, +64 9 630
6317 or mobile +64 25 790 817
CREWS AND SURVEYOR LEAVE FOR MORUROA TO FREE GREENPEACE YACHTS
Blair Palese, Greenpeace Communications, +44 171 833 0600 or
Bunny McDiarmid/Laurence Mermet, Greenpeace Tahiti +689 43 32 82