Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior

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The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Operation Satanic ^[1], was a special operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), carried out on July 10, 1985. It aimed at disabling the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior, in the port of Auckland, New Zealand, to prevent her from interfering in a nuclear test in Moruroa.

Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship. Two of the French agents were subsequently arrested by the New Zealand Police on passport fraud and immigration charges. Following questioning, they were subsequently charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage and murder. The ensuing scandal resulted in the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu, and the subject became so touchy that it was not until twenty years afterward that the personal responsibility of French President François Mitterrand was officially admitted.

Contents 1 Background 2 Sinking of the ship 3 Scandal 4 Afterward 5 Miscellaneous 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External links 9 See also

Background

In the 1980s, the direction of military applications of the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique was developing new nuclear warheads for the new M4 SLBM, which were tested in underground explosions in the French Polynesian atoll of Moruroa.

Greenpeace was opposed to testing and had planned to lead a flotilla of yachts to the atoll to protest against the test, including an illegal incursion into French military zones. The Rainbow Warrior had not previously visited New Zealand, but David Lange's New Zealand Labour Party government opposed nuclear weapons development and had banned nuclear armed or powered ships from New Zealand ports. (As a consequence the United States was in the process of withdrawing from its ANZUS treaty obligations of mutual defense.)

Sinking of the ship

Agents had boarded and carefully examined the ship while she was open to public viewing. Explosions were calculated that would be sufficient to cripple the ship, but, they hoped, precise and small enough not to take life.

Two limpet mines attached to the hull of the ship detonated 10 minutes apart, at around 11:45 p.m., and the ship sank in four minutes.

The agents failed to allow for the less drilled safety procedures on the non-military vessel.^{[citation needed]} Some below decks did not evacuate the ship but returned below decks to salvage belongings and make a film record of events. A Portuguese-Dutch photographer, Fernando Pereira, drowned in the flooding that followed the second blast while attempting to fetch his equipment. The other ten crewmembers evacuated on the order of Captain Peter Willcox, or were thrown into the water by the force of the explosion.

The agent who placed the bomb was named as Gérard Royal by his brother, Antoine Royal, in September 2006. Their sister is French Socialist Party politician Ségolène Royal. ^{[2] [3]}. But this statement appeared to be wrong, Royal being only part of the logistic team as known for a long time^[4]

Scandal

Operation Satanic was a public relations disaster. New Zealand was an ally of France. France initially denied any involvement, and even joined in condemnation of it as a terrorist act.

After the bombing, an immediate murder inquiry was started by the New Zealand Police. Two agents were captured by the prompt actions of a local Neighbourhood Watch: Captain Dominique Prieur and Commander Alain Mafart, passing themselves as "Sophie and Alain Turenge." Both pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment on November 22, 1985.

In July 1986, a United Nations-sponsored mediation between New Zealand and France resulted in the transfer of the two prisoners to the French Polynesian island of Hao, to serve three years instead, as well as an apology and a NZD 13 million payment from France to New Zealand.

Mafart returned to Paris on December 14, 1987 for medical treatment, and was apparently freed after treatment. He continued to serve in the French Army, and was promoted to Colonel in 1993. Prieur returned to France on May 6, 1988 because she was pregnant, her husband having been allowed to join her on the atoll. She, too, was freed and later promoted. This was in violation of the agreement France signed; the French were consequently required to pay further reparations to New Zealand.

Three other agents, Chief Petty Officer Roland Verge, Petty Officer Bartelo and Petty Officer Gérard Andries, who sailed to New Zealand onboard the yacht Ouvéa, were also captured, but had to be released as New Zealand law did not allow them to be held for sufficient time until the results of forensic tests came back. Knowing the tests would show they had transported the bombs to New Zealand, the crew rendezvoused with the French submarine Rubis and sank the Ouvéa. They were never punished.

As evidence gathered, a superficial commission of enquiry headed by François Tricot cleared the French government of any involvement, claiming that the arrested agents, who had not yet pleaded guilty, had merely been spying on Greenpeace. When The Times and Le Monde claimed that President Mitterrand had approved the bombing plan, Defence Minister Charles Hernu resigned, and the head of the DGSE, Admiral Pierre Lacoste, was fired. Days later, Prime Minister Laurent Fabius admitted that the bombing had been a French plot.

Afterward

In the wake of the bombing, a flotilla of privately owned New Zealand yachts sailed to Muroroa to protest against the French test.

French nuclear tests in the Pacific were halted, although a further series of tests was conducted in 1995.

The Rainbow Warrior was refloated for forensic examination. She was deemed irreparable and scuttled in Matauri Bay, near the Cavalli Islands, on 2 December, 1987, to serve as a dive wreck and fish sanctuary.

An indirect consequence was to help transform New Zealand's "nuclear free" policy from an unpopular minority position to something of a national icon that intense American pressure was unable to alter. The ANZUS treaty was condemned by association, and public opinion polls showed a change to oppose rejoining an alliance with the United States of America. This event strengthened New Zealand's resolution to oppose in any form the military application of nuclear technology. The failure of its Western allies, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, to condemn what could be considered an act of war on New Zealand by France caused a great deal of change in foreign and defence policy.^[5] New Zealand distanced itself from its traditional ally, the United States, and built relationships with small South Pacific nations, while retaining its excellent relations with Australia, and to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom.^[6]

On the twentieth anniversary of the sinking, it was revealed that the French president François Mitterrand had personally authorised the bombing. Admiral Pierre Lacoste made a statement saying Pereira's death weighed heavily on his conscience. Also on that anniversary, Television New Zealand (TVNZ) sought to access a video record made at the preliminary hearing where the two agents pleaded guilty. The footage has remained sealed on the court record since shortly after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings. The two agents oppose release of the footage—despite having both written books themselves on the incident—and have taken the case to the New Zealand Court of Appeal and, subsequently, the Supreme Court of New Zealand. [1]

A memorial edition of the 1986 book Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior [2], by New Zealand author David Robie who was on board the bombed ship, was published in July 2005. He was interviewed by TVNZ on 8 August 2006 about the Court of Appeal judgement [3].

On 7 August 2006, judges Hammond, O'Regan and Arnold dismissed the former French agents' appeal [4]and Television New Zealand broadcast their guilty pleas on network newscasts the same day. However, two days later the judges reversed their ruling and webcasts [5] and further broadcasts of the footage was temporarily blocked [6].

In 2006 Antoine Royal mentioned to a newspaper that his brother, then-lieutenant Gérard Royal, was involved in the planting of the bomb. They are both brothers of Ségolène Royal, a Socialist contender in the 2007 French presidential election who, according to her official curriculum vitae, was a "chargée de mission" (official representative and special adviser) of François Mitterrand during the period 1982-88. That Gérard Royal was involved in the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior had been known for some time however and the New Zealand government announced that there would be no extradition requests since they regarded the case as closed.

Miscellaneous

• Opération Corned-Beef, a French spying comedy, was produced with a storyline strongly based on the events, but with a lighter tone. [7]
• In the 1997 movie Grosse Pointe Blank, John Cusack's character, a hitman, declines to respond to a contract offer from the French Government to blow up a Greenpeace ship, on moral grounds.
• In 1992 Sam Neill and Jon Voigt starred in the film Rainbow Warrior with Neill playing chief inspector of police in Auckland and Voigt as Greenpeace group leader Peter Wilcox. The film is about the bombing and sinking of the ship.[8]
• The song Little Fighter by rock band White Lion is about the incident.

References

1. ^ Mitterrand ordered bombing of Rainbow Warrior, spy chief says. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
2. ^ "Presidential hopeful's brother linked to Rainbow Warrior bomb". New Zealand Herald (2006-09-30). Retrieved on 2006-10-01.
3. ^ NZ rules out new Rainbow Warrior probe. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2006-10-01). Retrieved on 2006-10-01.
4. ^ Guerres secrètes à l'Élysée, by Paul Barril, ed Albin Michel, Paris (1996)
5. ^ A History Of New Zealand, Professor Sir Keith Sinclair KBE, Penguin Books, New Zealand, 1991
6. ^ Nuclear Free: The New Zealand Way, The Right Honourable David Lange, Penguin Books, New Zealand,1990

Bibliography

• Michael King, Death of the Rainbow Warrior (Penguin Books, 1986). ISBN 0-14-009738-4
• David Robie, Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior (Philadelphia: New Society Press, 1987). ISBN 0-86571-114-3
• The Sunday Times Insight Team, Rainbow Warrior: The French Attempt to Sink Greenpeace (London: Century Hutchinson Ltd, 1986). ISBN 0-09-164360-0

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