EX-DEFENSE MINISTER BLAMED FOR SINKING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201630011-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: September 26, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201630011-1
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ARTICLE APREARfp?,
ON PAGE ~Jj~~
By Michael Dobbs
Washington Poet Foreign service.
WASHINGTON POST
26 September 1985
41 nister
Ex-Defense Mi
Blamed for Sinking France Names General to Run Secret Ser e
PARIS, Sept. 25-Prime Min-
ister Laurent Fabius tonight blamed
the sabotage of a Greenpeace pro-
test ship and a subsequent cover-up,
by French authorities on' the former.
defense minister and the former
head of the secret services.
The prime minister's television
statement marked the first time the
French government has publicly
addressed the question of who or-
dered the sinking of the Rainbow
Warrior in the New Zealand port of
Auckland July 10. The government
admitted, Sunday that agents of the
General Directorate for External
Security (DGSE), as the French
secret service is known, blew up
the ship to keep it from leading a
protest against French nuclear test-
ing in the South Pacific.
In his television appearance to-
night, Fabius managed to combine a
tone of contrition for the sabotage
of the Greenpeace ship with a hint
of a political counteroffensive by
the government. He promised com-
pensation for the family of a Por-
tuguese-born photographer killed
when the Rainbow Warrior was
wrecked, praised the French Army
for its sense of duty and insisted
that France would never yield to
pressure to give up nuclear tests.
The government also today
named Gen. Rene Imbot, 60, a bat-
tle-hardened veteran of the French
Foreign Legion and the World War
II resistance, as the new chief of the
DGSE.
The "Greenpeace affair" has
caused a political sensation in
France, undermining the position of
Socialist President Francois Mitter-
rand just six months before crucial
legislative elections. It has also pro-
voked strains between the govern-
ment and the DGSE, which is a
branch of the Defense Ministry.
Fabius said that, in an attempt to
find out who ordered the sinking of
the Greenpeace ship, he had sum-
moned former defense minister
Charles Hernu and the former bead
of the DGSE, Adm. Pierre Lacoste,
to his office this afternoon and
made each answer a series of ques-
tions.
"My conviction is that b&1 of
them acted [against Greenpeacej
motivated by the idea that what
they were doing was in the? inter-
ests of our country. It is my.convic-
tion . that responsibility [for the
Greenpeace affair and subsequent
cover-up] is situated at this level.
But the decision was a bad one and
its unfortunate execution has had
serious consequences," he said. - >"
Hernu, 62, resigned last Friday
after acknowledging that there bad
been a cover-up at the Defense
Ministry. Lacoste, 61, was dis-
missed for refusing to reveal the
identities of French agents in New
Zealand.
Suggesting that Hernu was the
prime culprit, Fabius added: 'In' a
democracy like ours, the responsi-
bility for this kind of decision is as-
sumed by the political autIagipr-
that is to say, the minister.""-'
Political analysts said that; : by
apportioning the blame in the lay
he did, Fabius appeared to fie"seeJ -
ing to satisfy conflicting pressures
from the military, the press and
public opinion. Earlier in the week,
sympathetic press leaks suggested
that Lacoste was ready to make
disclosures damaging to the if either the militaryor the
secret services was discredited,
The naming of another military
man to head the DGSE was seen as
a further step toward appeasing the
military, which has traditionally
been mistrustful of the Socialists.
Lacoste's successor, Imbot, is
known as a tough disciplinarian and
carried out a major reorganization
of the Army in his previous post as
Army chief of staff. The reorgani-
zation, which was opposed by some
more traditional Army officers, in-
cluded the creation of a 45,000-man
rapid deployment force.
Asked why it had taken more
than two months to establish that
French agents. sunk the Rainbow
Warrior, Fabius said that the, truth
about the affair had been hidden
from himself, Mitterrand and a spe-
cial government investigator, Ber-
nard Tricot.
Fabius said that it was not until
Saturday that he had learned that
the Greenpeace boat had been sunk
by French agents acting under or-
ders. He suggested that Hernu had
feed to him by replying "no" to direct
questions about whether French
agents had been involved in the
sinking.
"You will notice that it is since
the admiral [Lacoste) was relieved
of his functions and the minister
[Hernuj resigned that the truth has
advanced in large steps," he said.
Both Hernu and Lacoste repeat-
edly denied that the Rainbow War-
rior had been sabotaged by French
agents. Hernu has insisted for two
months that his instructions to the
DGSE were limited to approving an
increase in information gathering
against Greenpeace.
It remains to be seen whether
the designation of Hernu as the
principal culprit will satisfy the
right-wing opposition and the press,
which already has published a
steady stream of revelations about
the affair. Initial reactions sug-
gested that the prime minister's
statement was being greeted with
skepticism.
"The lies continue," commented
Michel Noir, a neo-Gaullist deputy.
"Laurent Fabius knew all about this
and he has denied it. That is not
very courageous."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201630011-1