French president makes tests vow
NZPA-Reuter Plateau d’ Albion, France
President Francois Mitterrand has vowed to continue French nuclear testing at the Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific, saying criticism of the tests was based on poor knowledge of geography. France has tested some 80 nuclear devices at Mururoa since 1975, drawing strong criticism from New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific region’s independent nations. “Mururoa exists and Mururoa will continue to exist. The possession of a nuclear force presupposes that one is able to carry
out tests,” President Mitterrand said during a visit to a nuclear missile site in central France. “South Pacific countries have not studied geography closely enough and have not realised that Mururoa is further away from them than Moscow is from Paris,” he said. France’s test programme, moved to Mururoa after an earlier test site in Algeria was closed, has soured relations between Paris and Pacific nations, particularly New Zealand.
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Press, 25 February 1987, Page 41
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154French president makes tests vow Press, 25 February 1987, Page 41
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