Fresh allegations against French secret

service over Rainbow Warrior

By Michael Field

AS the ill-fated

Greenpeace ship

Rainbow Warrior sailed around the Pacific in the 1980 s French spies may have followed it around, quietly damaging its engine and, at some point, even trying to poi son its crew.

The ship was destroyed by French bombs in Auckland Harbour on July 10, 1985, just before it was due to sail for Mururoa Atoll to protest against French nuclear testing. Portuguese/Dutch photog rapher Fernando Pereira was killed.

Now Alain Mafart, one of the two

Direction Generale des Services exterieurs (French secret services or DGSE) spies convicted of manslaughter has published his account of what Paris called “Operation

Satanique”.

His book, Secret Notes of a Combat diver, reveals little that is new other than his personal lack of regret over killing somebody. He says he was following orders and that the operation was bungled by politicians, not by the French spies.

However the interesting aspect of his book is his claim that France had tested a “bacteriological weapon” on the ship while it was in the Pacific. Mafart says French agents routinely sabotaged protest missions

to Mururoa atoll. Ship’s crew would come down with small health problems during their stop overs and had to endure health quarantines. Boat engines suffered break downs because of defective fuel, and pro pellers mysteriously came unscrewed and sank.

They also tried to put a bacteria into the ship’s fuel supply that would multiply, foul ing the tank and pipes.

Mafart says French Defence Minister Charles Hemu demanded that the ship be sunk, not damaged. He insisted shorter fuses be used and no warnings given.

The Paris newspaper Liberation report ed that Mafart objected to blowing up the

The Rainbow Warrior lies sunken at its mooring in Marsdon Whart, Auckland

Rainbow Warrior, saying it was “killing a fly with a hammer”.

“He has accepted that the orders he received were the result of political pres sure coming to bear on a weakened organ isation,” Liberation said.

Mafart says the agents made great attempts to place the bombs in an area away from cabins. He and his make believe wife, Dominique Prieur, heard on the radio next morning that the photogra pher had been killed.

“Catastrophe... Dominique and I are speechless. Both of our faces are etched in shock. Silence takes root,” Mafart wrote.

“But personal problems that this accident causes for each of us are not allowed, for the time being, to dominate. We have to carry on. We must pursue our mission.”

His book shows no remorse.

He now calls himself an Oecological soldierO and suggests he supports the environmental movement.

“Greenpeace was not the enemy. To us it was the nominated adversary. Not even so, it was just perceived as being in the way. So it became the designated target.

An agent does not discuss orders, as long as they are given by a democratically elected government, which was our situa tion.”

The Rainbow Warrior’s second engi neer, Hanne Sorensen, says she felt insult ed by claims the French never intended

killing anyone.

“When you plant two bombs on a manned ship in the middle of the night and don’t give any warning, you expect to kill people,” she said.

“Mafart’s expressions of regret are an insult. They were terrorists and murderers - nothing more”.

Greenpeace spokeswoman Stephanie

Mills said Mafart missed the point in his book.

“The point is, they killed someone,” she said.

“There’s no sense of any apology or any sense of personal regret. He seems to be saying something went wrong, but not with him or the secret service, but putting it all back on the politicians... but you can’t put two bombs on a ship and not expect to hurt someone”. ■