B>O>O>M BULLETIN for 10/12/95 / Bulletin provided by Bombs Out Of Mururoa /
News material copyright Reuters. Some portions may have been abbreviated.
* FRANCE WANTS TO SPEED UP TESTS / EU EXPERTS NOT GIVEN FULL ACCESS TO TEST
DATA *
"PARIS, Oct 12 (Reuter) - Foreign Minister Herve de Charette hinted on
Thursday that France's controversial nuclear tests might wrap up sooner than
the May 31 deadline set earlier by President Jacques Chirac.
Asked at a seminar on European security if the remaining planned four to
six tests might be concluded before May 31, de Charette responded, ``the
sooner the better, if I judge by the hullaballoo that they have produced.''
Acknowledging there had been ``a lot of reaction'' to the tests, he
added: ``Do not think that we take these reactions lightly.''
(...)
Chirac announced in June that Paris would stage up to eight underground
tests in the South Pacific between September 1 and the end of May 1996.
Officials later promised that the tests, two of which have already been
conducted, will be France's last.
The testing plans have prompted widespread protest and diplomatic
criticism around the globe, triggering speculation that France may speed up
the pace of the blasts to end the uproar.
Reut10:11 10-12-95
(Recasts, adds quotes)
BRUSSELS, Oct 9 (Reuter) - France has made it impossible for European
Commission experts to assess the safety risks of its nuclear blasts in the
South Pacific, a report said on Monday.
Paris's refusal to allow access to radioactivity monitoring sites on
Mururoa Atoll and to the nearby Fangataufa Atoll had made it ``impossible to
give an unreserved view on the efficiency and adequacy of the overall
surveillance system,'' it said.
Greenpeace, which released the document to reporters, accused France of
violating the EU's Euratom Treaty, which governs the 15-country bloc's rules
on nuclear issues.
``This report shows that the French government has clearly breached the
Euratom Treaty, leaving the European Commission no choice but...to initiate
legal proceedings against France,'' said Greenpeace's Louise Gale.
The Commission is to repeat on Wednesday its demand that France provide
more details on the effects of its nuclear tests in the South Pacific, a
Commission spokesman said.
``There will be a letter sent to France,'' the spokesman told Reuters.
Commission discussions ahead of the meeting will centre on whether to
issue a formal, legal demand to France for more information or a general one.
A formal request, involving a deadline for Paris to reply, would kick off
a legal procedure which could lead to Commission action before the European
Court to delay further tests.
``It hasn't been decided whether or not to issue an ultimatum,'' the
spokesman said.
Any Commission action must come under provisions laid out in the Euratom
Treaty, the interpretation of which has sharply divided the Commission in
recent weeks.
The experts, who visited the region last month, said data on the
``geological and hydrological'' aspects of tests were withheld, as were
details on their long-term effects, on past atmospheric tests, possible
health effects and any plans to clean up the site.
The report says access to data held by France's Direction des Centres
d'Experimentations Nucleaires (DIRCEN), the country's centre for nuclear
tests, was denied in some cases and supplied only in part for others.
``No positive information was received on any monitoring programme for
Fangataufa and no comprehensive overview of the DIRCEN sampling programme was
provided,'' the report said.
The centre is responsible for air sampling, rain-water collection, fish
and seawater testing around the Mururoa Atoll test site.
Experts were unable to find out if similar arrangements were in place on
the nearby Fangataufa atoll, site of the second blast in France's current
series on October 1.
Reut14:32 10-09-95
PARIS, Oct 12 (Reuter) - Five weeks before the new harvest of
Beaujolais wine comes to market, wine industry leaders are playing down
boycott threats over France's resumption of nuclear testing in the South
Pacific, hoping things will blow over.
``There is no point in talking about it,'' Georges Bourgeais, director of
the National Interprofessional Office on Wine, told a news conference on
Thursday.
``This is not the moment to go around saying we are obsessed by the
boycott. The more we talk about it, the more we will give the impression that
it is working,'' he said.
Agriculture Minister Philippe Vasseur had similar advice for industry
professionals, advising them that ``the less we talk about it, the better we
will do,'' Bourgeais said.
This year's Beaujolais Nouveau, the fruity young wine that has become a
symbol of the good life in France, is scheduled to go on sale on November 16.
But the wine, whose success depends on an annual blitz of media hype at
the time it arrives in pubs and restaurants around the world, has become the
top target of groups opposed to France's underground nuclear weapons tests,
which resumed last month after a three-year moratorium.
The new-harvest Beaujolais is particularly vulnerable to a boycott
because, unlike most wines, it is a perishable commodity whose value begins
to decline soon after it goes on sale.
France has mobilised its overseas diplomats, agricultural missions and
business and export organisations to try to counteract boycott appeals by
making extra efforts to promote sales, Bourgeais said.
Reut15:39 10-12-95
PARIS (Reuter) - The Greenpeace environmentalist movement said Thursday
French police broke up a demonstration involving four vessels in Tahiti
Wednesday and ordered the yachts to be immobilised until the case came to
court.
A statement by Greenpeace France said the yachts Joie, Sudden Laughter,
Te Kaitoa and Carumba were intercepted and boarded by police commandos after
they sailed across Papeete harbour displaying banners with anti-nuclear
testing slogans.
Police ordered the boats, whhich had earlier been used in protests at sea
against French nuclear tests 750 miles southeast of Tahiti, to stay in port
until their captains appeared before a magistrate, possibly next week.
French authorities were not immediately available for comment on the
incident.
Greenpeace has led international protests against the French tests, two
of which have already taken place, and several of its vessels have been taken
into custody by France for entering closed military areas around its test
sites.
Reut10:09 10-12-95
WELLINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuter) - France further angered New Zealand on
Wednesday by banning a group of South Pacific women planning to protest
against French nuclear testing from entering French Polynesia.
Prime Minister Jim Bolger, already angered by France conducting another
underground nuclear test at Fangataufa atoll, told Parliament he had asked
his staff to request that Paris reconsider the decision.
He said the women had planned to peacefully express their opposition to
French nuclear testing.
``As such, the denial of landing rights of the charter flight and entry
permission is unnecessarily defensive,'' Bolger said.
French officials said they feared the women would incite trouble and it
could re-ignite riots which broke out in Tahiti last month after France
expoded the first of up to eight nuclear underground tests at nearby Mururoa
atoll.
The 170 women had been due to arrive on a chartered aircraft on Thursday
morning to participate in an anti-nuclear march that evening.
Flight leader, religious minister Ann Batten, said the ban was a breach
of protocol and human rights.
``We can't believe they would do this,'' she said. ``We do not require
visas. We are only going for one day basically and one doesn't need a visa if
you are going in for less than a month.''
``It was a peaceful flight,'' she said.
The group of women included a member of parliament, a judge and senior
government civil servants.
``This does not sound like a subversive group to me,'' Bolger said.
``If they want to come here for tourism it's okay, but not for
demonstrations,'' French Polynesia High Commissioner Paul Ronciere told
Reuters.
Reut05:33 10-04-95
DHAKA, Oct 4 (Reuter) - A Bangladeshi group of lawyers has accused
France of committing environmental terrorism through its recent nuclear tests
and urged all countries to boycott French goods and cooperation.
``Unfortunately, France is continuing its nuclear tests in the south
Pacific islands ignoring international protests,'' the Bangladesh Environment
Lawyers Association said in a statement on Wednesday.
``Our association considers such heinous acts as a crime against humanity
and a double standard in international diplomacy.
``It (association) believes the people of the world including in
Bangladesh must effectively condemn such international environmental
terrorism by France.
``The detonation of nuclear devices, more powerful than one dropped in
Hiroshima during the World War II, was an utter irresponsibility and every
child on the planet has a right to protest it,'' the association said in what
was the first protest in this country against the tests.
The Bangladeshi government has not lodged a protest directly with France,
with a foreign ministry official saying only that Bangladesh always opposed
such tests.
The association appealed to all people and governments to voice their
protests ``effectively and severely'' by boycotting French products and
cancelling contracts with French companies.
``Or else, there should (be) no Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and and
let all the nations acquire the nuclear technology, if they can afford it, to
have a bargaining power to prevent the environmental terrorism.''
Reut03:13 10-04-95
MADRID, Oct 8 (Reuter) - Several thousand Spaniards marched through the
streets of central Madrid on Sunday in protest at French nuclear tests in the
South Pacific ahead of a Spanish summit with French President Jacques Chirac.
Protesters shouted ``Chirac, leave us in peace'' and a group of children
led the march carrying a banner reading: ``We want a world without arms or
nuclear tests.''
Political parties, unions and environmental groups organised the
demonstration to pressure Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez into using Spain's
weight as acting European Union president to persuade Chirac to stop the
tests.
France last week carried out the second of six to eight planned nuclear
tests in French Polynesia.
Spanish leaders, including Gonzalez, have in the past expressed their
disagreement with the French decision to abandon a three-year moratorium on
testing, but never while acting in the EU presidency role.
A foreign ministry spokesman said Gonzalez was not planning to discuss
the nuclear tests at a summit on Monday.
``Now is not the moment to discuss anything that is not strictly
bilateral,'' he said.
Organisers said there would be protests on Monday aimed directly at
Chirac, who has vowed to complete the tests despite international outrage.
Chirac has said the current campaign would be the last and has indicated
the number tests could be cut down to six or seven from eight originally
planned.
``These protests definitely serve a function,'' said union leader Joaquin
Nieto. ``There were eight, now it's not eight.''
Reut11:49 10-08-95
By John Follain
PARIS, Oct 10 (Reuter) - A one-day strike by five million public sector
employees brought French railways, buses, underground trains, schools, post
offices and a host of other services and state-owned firms to a near
standstill on Tuesday.
Trade unions called the stoppage, the biggest in almost a decade, to
protest against the conservative government's refusal to increase civil
service pay next year beyond its contractual commitments.
In Paris, several million commuters were forced to walk or cycle to work,
or spend hours in traffic jams, as public transport slowed to a skeleton
service.
Transport officials said at least four of 15 lines in the capital's metro
system were closed. On others, the service was cut to just 10 percent and the
average wait for trains on those that were open was between 25 and 50
minutes.
Traffic jams turned the morning rush-hour into a nightmare, with
motorways into the city clogged by queues of up to 15 km (nine miles).
Rubbish piled up on the pavements as dustmen joined the strike.
The action, dubbed ``Black Tuesday,'' tested the austerity policies of
Prime Minister Alain Juppe, who has already been buffeted in the past month
by a sliding franc, plummeting popularity and a housing scandal.
One of the biggest unions, Force Ouvriere (FO), claimed victory early,
saying the strike, originally limited to the civil service, had mobilised
more than 70 percent of staff.
FO leader Marc Blondel said the government must ``learn the lesson of
this day of action, otherwise we will continue.''
A protest march from Bastille square across the capital was expected to
exacerbate traffic congestion. Demonstrations were also planned in more than
80 other towns.
Rail passengers were among the hardest hit. The SNCF rail service said
one out of four trains were cancelled on the high-speed TGV and two out of
three cancelled on other main lines until 0500 GMT on Wednesday.
Seven out of 10 Eurostar Paris-London trains were running but
cross-Channel and Marseille-Corsica ferries were restricted.
Air France flights were unaffected but sister airline Air Inter cancelled
Paris-Madrid and Bordeaux-Marseille flights.
The EDF-GDF state gas and electricity utility, car maker Renault, France
Telecom, the Post Office and social security offices were also hit. Most
schools closed for the day and hospitals provided minimum service only.
Despite the disruption, an opinion poll showed that 57 percent of French
people backed the strike and only 26 percent opposed it, the daily Le
Parisien reported.
Force Ouvriere said more than 60 percent of staff in local government
offices were striking, against 75 percent in unemployment agencies.
Juppe, whose government has ruled out a compromise, is keen to show
unions and financial markets that he is determined to cut the public sector
deficit and rein in government spending.
But one of his predecessors, Socialist Michel Rocard, accused the
government of ``brutally provoking'' civil servants.
``Civil servants are as capable as anyone of understanding that France is
in difficulty and that efforts have to be made...but you must negotiate
seriously and not provoke them,'' Rocard told Europe 1 radio.
Financial markets are sceptical of Juppe's ability to hold the line on
public sector pay and keep a promise to cut the budget deficit from five to
three percent of gross domestic product in the next two years.
Reut06:12 10-10-95"
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