MCTAGGART AND GREENPEACE TEAM RETURN TO VEGA
COOK ISLANDS, 22 July, 1995 -- (GP) Greenpeace today reported that Hon. Chairman David McTaggart and the other two activists on board the fifth Greenpeace zodiac have returned to the vessel Vega after having been in the vicinity of the test site for two weeks.
According to Greenpeace, McTaggart and crew were near the French test site but because radio communication is likely to be heavily monitored by the French, the team could not give exact details of where they were throughout their two week stay. All are safe and in good health. The Vega crew report that the team were on a nearby atoll outside the test site as reported by the French Military but only briefly, not throughout their entire two weeks. A French warship remains near the Vega and Bifrost just outside the 12-mile exclusion zone.
"Now that David McTaggart and the other two activists have returned to the Vega, we are making plans to meet with them to discuss Greenpeace's next steps in our ongoing protest against French nuclear testing," said Greenpeace Executive Director Steve D'Esposito.
Greenpeace's major campaign effort to prevent the testing from going forward has turned to organizing a sizable peace flotilla of vessels from around the world to congregate around the test site in September.
"Our political work and preparations for the peace flotilla are well under way. We believe this will be the most effective way to demonstrate the international outrage and condemnation of a resumption of nuclear testing," said D'Esposito.
The Rainbow Warrior and the MV Greenpeace will lead the peace flotilla near Moruroa as soon as both ships are equipped and the Rainbow Warrior is repaired. Both will attempt to stay in the area for as long as possible.
The fifth Greenpeace inflatable left the Rainbow Warrior on the evening of Saturday July 8, 12 hours before the Rainbow Warrior and four other inflatables entered the 12-mile exclusion zone around Moruroa. The original four inflatables reached the drilling rig in the lagoon and two activists chained themselves to it as the Rainbow Warrior was boarded by French commandos and the crew tear-gassed.
French authorities have reported that the three Greenpeace activists aboard the fifth inflatable were not inside the 12-mile exclusion zone at any time. Greenpeace radio contact with the team confirms that although the activists did spend some time on an atoll outside the 12-mile exclusion zone as the French reported, they were there only briefly over the last two weeks.
Contact:
Penelope Komites, Greenpeace Paris: +331-4770-4689
Blair Palese, Greenpeace Communications:+44171-833-0600
Stephanie Mills, Greenpeace New Zealand: +649-377-6128