Back in the 1980s, France was developing nuclear warheads, with regular underground tests at
Moruroa Atoll, French Polynesia. The atoll was gradually cracking and leaking radiation into the sea.
NZ was an unofficial leader of the growing global anti-nuclear movement. In July 1985 the Greenpeace flagship
Rainbow Warrior was in Auckland, NZ, preparing for a protest mission to
Moruroa...but the voyage was not to be.
The French government, wanting to stop Greenpeace's protest, sent a large team of saboteurs to
sink the Warrior: "Opération Satanique" was carried out by the 'action' branch of the French foreign intelligence services - the Direction
Générale de la
Sécurité Extérieure (
DGSE) - late in the evening of
July 10, 1985...
The first limpet mine exploded under the engine room, blasting a hole the size of a car. Everyone was ordered off the ship but photographer Fernando
Pereira went back to get his precious cameras. There was a second explosion and, caught in a rush of water,
Pereira drowned. He had just celebrated his 35th birthday.
The NZ police, reacting swiftly to their first act of terrorism, were soon questioning two high-ranking French agents of the
DGSE, while the rest of the team managed to escape – some by yacht and later submarine. France, an ally (!!!) of NZ, initially denied involvement and condemned the "terrorist act", but it was soon obvious they were involved. The French Defence Minister resigned and the head of the
DGSE was fired. "Opération Satanique" was a public relations disaster.
Six weeks later, the agents'
pre-trial hearing was dramatically shortened by a French threat: an economic embargo of N
Z's exports to Europe if the pair was not released. Such an action would have crippled the NZ economy, as it was then so dependent on agricultural exports. In 1986, France agreed to pay NZ$13 million to NZ and apologise: in return
the pair would be detained at a French military base on
Hao Atoll in French Polynesia. But the two were released in less than two years. As this violated the agreement, the French had to pay further reparations.
In the wake of the bombing, a flotilla of private NZ yachts sailed to
Moruroa to protest: French nuclear tests in the Pacific eventually halted. In 1987, under international pressure, the French government paid $8.16 million to Greenpeace.
The failure of
NZ's Western allies to condemn what could be considered an act of war by France caused a change in foreign and defence policy. NZ distanced itself from its traditional ally USA, and built relationships with smaller South Pacific nations, while keeping excellent relations with Australia and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom.
No-one else has ever been charged over the bombing and death, although all the team members' identities are known: 20 years later, a French Intelligence report said the attack was authorised by French President
François Mitterrand. Justice has never fully been served for Fernando
Pereira but his memory continues to inspire those who fight for a cleaner world.
And what happened to the
Rainbow Warrior? Two years after the bombing, she reached her final resting place under
Matauri Bay, in Northland. Resting at 27m depth, she has become a living reef, attracting marine life and divers: a fitting end for a ship that spent her time protecting the marine environment.
N
Zer David
Robie, aboard the ship that fateful night, wrote
Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior in 1986. And you can read an article about that fateful night and the aftermath
here.
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