Status: 07/28/2021 2:10 p.m.
25 years after France’s last nuclear tests in the South Pacific, President Macron has promised better compensation for the victims. He also admitted guilt – but did not ask for forgiveness.
French President Emmanuel Macron has admitted his country’s debt to the victims of nuclear tests in French Polynesia. “The nation owes a debt to French Polynesia,” Macron said during a visit to the French overseas territory. However, the head of state refrained from asking for forgiveness – as demanded by victims’ associations.
Education and “locating victims”
“The fault is the fact that we did these tests,” Macron said in a speech in the capital, Papeete. “Especially those between 1966 and 1974 that cannot be described as clean.” He admitted that the issue undermined the “trust” between Papeete and Paris. Macron promised clarification and announced that victims would be better compensated in the future. French state officials should go to the most remote areas to locate victims and help them claim compensation.
France had carried out a total of 193 nuclear weapons tests on the South Seas atolls Mururoa and Fangataufa.
Image: picture-alliance / dpa
193 nuclear tests and numerous cancers
France had carried out 193 nuclear weapons tests in the Mururoa Atoll and the Fangataufa Atoll in French Polynesia between 1966 and 1996. Numerous cancers in the region have been linked to the controversial tests.
The victims’ association “193” – based on the number of nuclear weapons tests – had previously demanded an apology from the head of state. Just as Macron recognized the colonization of Algeria as a crime, he must also recognize the nuclear tests in the Pacific as “criminal and a form of colonization,” said the chairman of the association, Father Auguste Uebe-Carlson.
“No progress, just demagogy”
Macron did not use the word “sorry” in his speech. In fact, he basically defended the decision of his predecessors, starting with Charles De Gaulle, to make France a nuclear power. This also served to protect French Polynesia, said Macron in Papeete.
Victim representative Uebe-Carlson sharply criticized: “There is no progress in this speech, only demagoguery.” The French state continues to spread lies.
It is Macron’s first trip to the French overseas territory. A visit planned for 2020 had to be postponed due to the corona pandemic.