LETTERS OF PROTEST SENT TO GREENPEACE - 3 September 1995

                                            Jonathan Willis
                                             Sunside
                                             Bressay
                                             Shetland
                                             ZE2 9ER
                                             2 September 1995

I wish to protest against the reported forcible detention by tour armed services of the Greenpeace ships in French Polynesia.

The Captain of the Rainbow Warrior, Mr Jon Castle, is known to me personally and I can assure you that he is an honourable, peaceful person who acts according to the dictates of his conscience.

In conversations with many French citizens whom I meet in the course of my business as a wildlife guide here in the Shetland Islands, I have found them without exception opposed to and ashamed of your government's action in resuming nuclear testing. Many of them regard this activity as a crime against the people of the Pacific and the world, as do I.

I hope that France will immediately release the peaceful Greenpeace protestors and terminate the proposed programme of nuclear explosions.

This, and full payment for the damage caused to the equipment on board the two Greenpeace vessels, would do much to restore the reputation of your country with its many friends in Scotland, amongst whom I have been proud to include myself.
Yours sincerely

Johnathan Willis

The next one is from the MV Kaunitoni which is on its way to Moruroa to be part of the International peace flotilla.

The Kaunitoni Declaration - 3 September 1995 South Pacific Ocean - 20 degrees 24'S. 154 degrees 23'W

We the individuals, representatives of environmental and anti- nuclear groups, parliamentarian and members of the press coming from Tahiti, Fiji, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, UK, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Austria and Japan on board the MV Kaunitoni, an independently funded, non-commercial initiative from Fiji, are proud to be part of the International Peace Flotilla. Regardless of the fact that due to an engine failure, we have been drifting two days sailing from the test site, we are, however, carrying our mission to stop nuclear testing. We are in constant contact and cooperation with the international effort.

We are united in our conviction that the planned nuclear testing on Moruroa is a crime against the planet - specifically the peoples of South Pacific and the environment. It is also clearly a breach of the existing European law i.e the European Convention on Human Rights, the EURATOM treaty and against agreed foreign policies.

We urge the French Government to acknowledge the global opposition to these tests and to accept this as an international issue. We demand that they stop all nuclear testing. We insist that respective governments take all positive action against this aggression and immediately initiate an International Commission of Inquiry with unrestricted access to all aspects of the test site. Furthermore, we strongly criticise the Chinese Government which has recently conducted nuclear tests in China.

As there is now a real chance of achieving the aim of global nuclear disarmament, we call upon all people to use this critical moment to take any positive action you can.

We are united in our convictions. Nuclear tests must be banned forever. Global nuclear disarmament is a prerequisite for world peace.

54 people from many different countries and walks of life have made this declaration. The list includes four European Members of Parliament, the Vice President of the German Social Democratic Party, the Vice President of the Belgian Christian Democratic Party, a Deputy of the German Green Party, a Senator from the Fiji Parliament and the Ex Prime Minister of the Cook Islands.