French agents to be sent to Pacific atoll

Press, 8 July 1986, Page 1

French agents to be sent to Pacific atoll

By

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington

The two French agents will be transferred under custody before the end of this month to a French military base on Hao, a tiny atoll in French Polynesia.

They will be sent there on *or before July 25 under the settlement of the Rainbow Warrior dispute decided by the United Nations SecretaryGeneral, Mr Javier Perez de Cuellar, and announced simultaneously yesterday by New Zealand at 8 p.m. and by France at 10 a.m.’ Announcing the ruling, the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, said it was “fair and just.” It was immediately denounced, however, by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bolger, who said the New Zealand justice system had been undermined by the' decision and Mr Lange made to look a fool. The terms of the arbitration, in order of importance as identified by Mr Lange, are: • That the agents, Major Alain Mafart and Captain Dominique Prieur, remain for three years on Hao and that they be prohibited from leaving the island in that period for any reason without the consent of both the French and New Zealand Governments. • While there, they are not to fraternise with the islanders or to have any contact at all with the news media. Instead, they will be allowed to mix only with military or asso-

ciated personnel and to be visited only by immediate family and friends. These conditions must be strictly complied with and enforced under the rules governing military discipline. To ensure they are adhered to, a process of verification has been set up whereby France must make three-monthly reports to New Zealand and to the Secretary-General through diplomatic channels. New Zealand may also request an inspection of the base by a third party but cannot demand one, as Mr Perez de Cuellar has ruled France must consent. • That the French Prime Minister, Mr Chirac, convey to Mr Lange a formal and unqualified apology for the bombing. ® That France pay New Zealand SUS 7 million in compensation, a sum Mr Lange said was higher than he had expected and translated into about $13.07 million. New Zealand had sought no less than SUS 9 million in damages and France, no more than SUS 4 million. • That France not oppose continuing export of New Zealand butter to the United Kingdom in 1987 and 1988 at ’levels pro-

posed by the European Community, providing these do not exceed the amount specified in 1983 — namely 77,000 tonnes in the next year and 75,000 tonnes in the subsequent year. . • That France not take any measures that might frustrate the implementation of the 1980 agreement between New Zealand and the European Community on. mutton, lamb and goatmeat imports. ' - The apology, the compensation payment and the transfer of Mafart and Prieur are all to be completed by July 25. Mr ..Perez de Cuellar said his .decision on the two agents attempted to reconcile; New Zealand’s insistence that they must not be deported to liberty and France’s belief that they should be returned immediately on the grounds that, they had been acting under orders and their imprisonment was therefore unjustified. The compromise was made possible, however, only by a shift in the New Zealand position late last year. ■ On November 25, Mr Lange ruled out an early deportation suggesting that “something approaching 10 years” would be a realistic jail term to be .. served in -j and gave an assurance they would not be deported “in the life of this Government.”, . But bn December 16; he qualified this introducing for the first time the formula that there would be “no release to freedom.” He denied last evening that the “Hao solution” represented a perversion of the New Zealand judicial process, citing 106 cases in which people convicted of offences — including murder — had not only been deported but allowed to go free. He accepted, however, that the agents would now only serve four years of their 10-year sentences and that under normal circumstances they might have been expected to

serve at least five. The military establishment at Hao was set up as a staging post for Mururoa 240 miles away, Mr Lange said. He thought it “an exquisite irony” that the agents should be sent there, saying they would “have cause to reflect on the nature of radiation." Mr Lange conceded they would probably not be confined to cells , but suggested it would* still amount to Incarceration given the restrictions that had been imposed on them. , i ‘ Hao, he said, had its own limitations. It was about one metre high at its highest point, had a population of about 1000, and consisted of "coconut palms, a village at one end, an airstrip and . a base.” . , There were no tourists, no bans, no restaurants, and transport links were at the sufferance of defence authorities. - Mr Lange denied the suggestion that Mafart and Prieur would be no worse placed than other military officers at Hao. “I can assure you; they don’t stay there for three years/ They are allowed to go home and : they have furloughs and they go to other places. They go to Tahiti and drink big and live it up big,” he said. ■‘These people.„(Mafart and Prieur) are Hao, Hao, Hao.” He also rejected claims that the protections offered New Zealand exports to the E.E.C. under the ruling meant New Zealand had exchanged the prisoners for a trade deal. ’ New Zealand access to the Community was still not assured, he said, and had to be negotiated past competing suppliers such as Denmark and Ireland. An aspect of the decision that Mr Lange focused on was that Mr Perez de Cuellar had accepted a New Zealand submission to set up an arbitral tribunal. so. that any disputes which might arise over the . terms

might be referred for adjudication.

Each Government must designate a member of the tribunal within 30 days of a written request being received for arbitration and the two Governments will appoint a third party to act as the chairman within 60 days of that date.

If these requirements are not met, the United Nations Secretary-General can, on request, make the necessary appointments after consultation with both countries. Two members will constitute a quorum and all decisions will be made by majority vote and ,be binding on both parties.