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French damaged protest ships

AUCKLAND: Crew from two Greenpeace ships that sailed into Auckland harbour on Friday said their vessels had been damaged after being impounded by France for their protests near the nuclear test site at Mururoa Atoll.

The Rainbow Warrior II and the MV Greenpeace were two of five ships the French Navy arrested last September during protests against nuclear testing at the atoll.

They were released by the French military last month after almost six months in detention at Hao Atoll.

Manuel Pinto, electrical engineer for the Rainbow Warrior, said the French had been "very clever" with their attempts to damage computer and radio equipment.

Outwardly it looked normal but, on closer inspection, cables had been cut and computer chips destroyed.

"Everything looks beautiful but when you switch things on they don't work," he told a news conference.

Radio operator Tim Gorter said glue had been sprayed into some equipment. Plugs on the MV Greenpeace had been tampered with and were a fire hazard.

"Every way we turn, we find another piece of equipment that's been damaged in one way or another. It's sabotage."

Surveyors would establish the cost of repairs in readiness for a compensation claim.

Greenpeace said the ships were instrumental in shifting public opinion internationally to condemn the tests.

Spokeswoman Stephanie Mills said the pressure had led to France, Britain and the United States signing the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty last month. The next hurdle was to stop China's testing programme, she said.

French agents sank the Rainbow Warrior II's predecessor in Auckland harbour in June 1985, killing one man and starting a decade-long freeze in relations between Paris and Wellington.-Reuter