A talk with the first secretary

by LIZ BERNSTEIN

<*> At a demonstration in front of the French Embassy in Phnom Penh on Bastille Day, activists were assured that they would be granted a meeting with the ambassador the following day. However, at the appointed time the representatives were informed they would meet the first secretary instead, and that he was unavailable at the moment. When they returned in the afternoon, a letter to the ambassador, copies of letters to Jacques Chirac and petitions were delivered to him, and our meeting began.

"Hmm," he said leafing through the petitions just presented, "I see very few French signatures ... it is because French public opinion overwhelmingly supports the tests, despite what the press portrays ... In a democracy, the majority rules, the majority supports the tests ... If the French public didn't support this, then why was it not raised during the election?"

>>> Weapon of peace

"The moratorium was in place then, remember?" "Oh yes, well ... We believe that the nuclear weapon is a weapon of peace. It is because we had nuclear weapons that we have not had a war in Europe for 50 years."

"Bosnia??? That is not French territory! We are talking about FRANCE. No one would dare invade FRANCE because we have nuclear weapons. We have to remain independent, of the Americans, everyone, we are not a super power like the Americans or the former Soviet Union, but we are strong power and we have our place in the world because of our nuclear weapons capability."

"When France decided to develop nuclear weapons it was a technical matter. We made that decision many years ago and now it is another technical matter whether we conduct more tests or not."

"Why test in Muroroa, not in France? It IS France! We are completely at home there! During the tests buildings can be damaged, so where in France could we find an area of 50km with no buildings, it doesn't exist! There are no buildings on Muroroa."

"Danger? No one has ever been killed. No one has ever been injured, except one person by a wave. It is perfectly safe. There are no people there. And people on nearby islands? It is a source of income for them! And the environment? It is all underground, it's a hole like a carrot, completely sealed. Nothing comes out and so there are no effects at all on the environment."

"Then why are no independent tests allowed?" "It is unnecessary! We have had scientists go there, but we can't just let anyone go there. It is a matter of national security! Of course it is a restricted area, like most military bases. Secrecy is perfectly normal."

"The Rainbow Warrior II? You can't say we have reacted with violence. It is normal that we remove them, they have no authorisation to be there. We had every right to kill them. It is against the law for them to be there. But we didn't, we know that would be disproportionate."

[At the end of the meeting one delegate informed him that she had attempted to fax a letter to Chirac the previous day. Yet someone had answered the phone in the President's office instead, shouting "M Chirac knows already! You piss us off! Shit!" and slammed the phone down. The embassy official laughed, "Oh I used to work in that office, it is staffed by the military, that explains it."]