Sunday July 9 0500 hours local time -- (GP) Defying the warnings of the French navy, the Rainbow Warrior and its inflatables have entered the 12 mile exclusion zone around Moruroa atoll, attempting to delay preparations for French nuclear tests underway at the site.
At 5 a.m. local time, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the bombing of the first Rainbow Warrior, the ship's namesake crossed the 12 mile test zone limit established by the French. Simultaneously, four inflatables were launched from the Warrior at 2 a.m. and 3.30 a.m., ten miles apart from each other, and entered the zone around the Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls. Four French warships are now circling the Rainbow Warrior, while two other military vessels have been pursuing the Greenpeace vessel Vega and the Danish vessel Bifrost.
"We aim to delay tests at the atoll by attempting to disrupt the testing facilities in the Moruroa lagoon," Greenpeace's Stephanie Mills said from on board the Rainbow Warrior. "The safety of our ship and crew are paramount, but we are prepared to risk the force of the French military if we can stop the greater danger of nuclear testing at Moruroa and Fangataufa."
"The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior and Fernando Pereira's death on 10 July 19085 is in all our minds," she said. "We feel the best way to honour Fernando's memory is to help ending nuclear tests forever."
Greenpeace France's Jean-Luc Thierry said President Chirac would do more for the grandeur of France by keeping its promises under the Non-Proliferation Treaty than by developing and testing new nuclear weapons. He said Greenpeace's protest reflected public anger at Chirac's decision in France, French Polynesia and around the world.
The crew of the four inflatables are: Madaleen Habib (Australia) and Julien Prieur (France); Philip Pupuka (Solomon Islands) and Mimo Casa (Italy); Todd Thompson (New Zealand) and Letitia Rastoin (France); Richard Leney (UK) and Kate Lecci (New Zealand).
ENDS
Contact: Stephanie Mills, Jean-Luc Thierry, SV Rainbow Warrior
+872 1300312
Blair Palese, Greenpeace Communications, London +44
171 833 0600 -- Communications.
Further information on the
Greenpeace home page on the Internet: http:/www.greenpeace.org/