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'France no longer welcome in South Pacific islands'

BRISBANE: South Pacific island nations said on Wednesday that France was no longer welcome in the Pacific and made an emotional plea to the world to stop French nuclear testing.

They labelled the testing as a "malicious and systematic" destruction of their environment.

Nauru President Bernard Dowiyogo condemned French President Jacques Chirac's decision to break a moratorium on nuclear testing in the Pacific, labelling nuclear weapons a "barbaric" act against the environment.

"With the breaking of that moratorium by the Chirac government, it is up to all of us, just as strongly, to condemn France as unwelcome in this sensitive ocean region," Dowiyogo told a two-day meeting of South Pacific environment ministers.

Dowiyogo said France, the region's last remaining colonial power, should be denied dialogue partner access to next month's 26th South Pacific Forum, an annual gathering of Pacific nations, including Australia and New Zealand.

A Forum official said a decision on France's atttendance would be made by Forum leaders when they meet in Papua New Guinea in a few weeks.

The scattered island nation of Tuvalu also condemned France for its plans to detonate up to eight nuclear devices in French Polynesia between September 1995 and May 1996.

Papua New Guinea told France the Pacific's small island states were custodians of some of the world's most vulnerable environments and would fight to protect them.

The island state of Nauru, denuded of plant life by years of phosphate mining, warned of the ease with which the fragile Pacific environment can be damaged.

"Nauru, like other islands in the Pacific, fully realises how easily harm can be done to the fragile environment of our oceans and coral reefs on which so many livelihods depend," said Dowiyogo.

A scientific report by Australia and New Zealand released on Wednesday said there could be long-term radiation leakage from the French nuclear test sites of Mururoa and Fangataufa.

Australian Environment Minister John Faulkner urged the South Pacific to challenge France to accept responsibility, including any remediation and compensation, for damage caused by past and future nuclear tests in the region.

"If the French government is unwilling to accept this responsibility, then how can they possibly proceed with their testing programme," Faulkner said.-Reuter