Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior

France began testing nuclear weapons in 1966 on Mururoa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia. In 1985, the South Pacific nations of Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu signed the Treaty of Rarotonga declaring the region a nuclear-free zone.{{cite journal |last=Truver |first=Scott C. |year=1986 |title=Maritime Terrorism, 1985 |journal=Proceedings |volume=112 |issue=5 |pages=160–173 |publisher=United States Naval Institute}}

Since being acquired by Greenpeace in 1977, Rainbow Warrior was active in supporting several anti-whaling, anti-seal hunting, anti-nuclear testing and anti-nuclear waste dumping campaigns during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since early 1985, the ship was based in the southern Pacific Ocean, where its crew campaigned against nuclear testing. After relocating 300 Marshall Islanders from Rongelap Atoll, which had been polluted by radioactive fallout by past American nuclear tests, it travelled to New Zealand to lead a flotilla of yachts protesting French nuclear testing at the Mururoa Atoll.[http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/history/mejato/ The evacuation of Rongelap] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916100156/http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/history/mejato/ |date=16 September 2012 }} (from the Greenpeace website. Accessed 12 July 2010.)

During previous nuclear tests at Mururoa, protest ships had been boarded by French commandos after sailing into the shipping exclusion zone around the atoll. For the 1985 tests, Greenpeace intended to monitor the impact of nuclear tests and place protesters on the island to monitor the blasts.

French agents posing as interested supporters or tourists toured the ship while it was open to public viewing. DGSE agent Christine Cabon, who had previously worked on intelligence missions in the Middle East, posed as environmentalist "Frederique Bonlieu" to infiltrate the Greenpeace office in Auckland.{{Cite web |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/rainbow-warrior-spy-tracked-down-in-france-32-years-after-bombing-20170709-gx7iuw.html |title=Rainbow Warrior spy tracked down in France 32 years after bombing |first=Cecile Meier and Kelly |last=Dennett |date=9 July 2017 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=29 September 2019 |archive-date=10 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510115822/https://www.smh.com.au/world/rainbow-warrior-spy-tracked-down-in-france-32-years-after-bombing-20170709-gx7iuw.html |url-status=live }}[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127539047 The French Government and Greenpeace Agents back in court on Friday] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501094244/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/127539047 |date=1 May 2023 }} The Canberra Times, 20 November 1985, at Trove While working for the Auckland office, Cabon secretly monitored communications from Rainbow Warrior, collected maps and investigated underwater equipment.

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File:Fernando Pereira by David Robie.jpg, a photographer who was trapped and drowned in the sinking ship]]

Three agents on board the yacht Ouvéa imported the limpet mines used for the bombing. Two more agents, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, posing as the newlywed couple "Sophie and Alain Turenge", picked up the mines and delivered them to the bombing team, consisting of the divers Jean Camas ("Jacques Camurier") and Jean-Luc Kister ("Alain Tonel").

After sufficient information had been gathered, Camas and Kister attached two limpet mines to Rainbow Warrior berthed at Marsden Wharf. They were detonated seven minutes apart.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10656635 |title=At the end of the Rainbow |date=8 July 2015 |publisher=New Zealand Herald |access-date=27 July 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304134546/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10656635 |url-status=live }} The first bomb went off at 23:38, blasting a hole about the size of an average car.

While the ship was initially evacuated, some of the crew returned to the ship to investigate and film the damage. Portuguese-Dutch photographer, Fernando Pereira, returned below deck to fetch his camera equipment. At 23:45, the second bomb went off. Pereira drowned in the rapid flooding that followed, and the other ten crew members either safely abandoned ship on the order of Captain Peter Willcox or were thrown into the water by the second explosion. Rainbow Warrior partially sank four minutes later.

File:RainbowWarriorAmsterdam1981.jpg

After the bombing, the New Zealand Police started one of the country's largest police investigations. They identified two of the French agents, Captain Dominique Prieur and Commander Alain Mafart, as possible suspects. Prieur and Mafart were identified with the help of a Neighbourhood Watch group and arrested. Both were questioned and investigated. Because they were carrying Swiss passports, their true identities were discovered, along with the French government's responsibility.{{Cite book |last=King |first=Michael |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/14638318 |title=Death of the Rainbow Warrior |date=1986 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=0-14-009738-4 |location=Auckland, N.Z. |pages=171 |oclc=14638318 |access-date=12 February 2023 |archive-date=1 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501094300/https://www.worldcat.org/title/14638318 |url-status=live }}

The other agents of the French team all escaped from New Zealand. Christine Cabon, whose role had ended before the bombing, had left for Israel immediately before the sinking. After she was identified as a participant in the operation, Auckland police requested that the Israeli authorities detain her. Cabon was tipped off and fled before she could be arrested.{{cite web |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11887992 |title=Rainbow Warrior spy Christine Cabon breaks 32-year silence |date=8 July 2017 |via=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=31 May 2018 |archive-date=16 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616203809/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11887992 |url-status=live }}

Three other agents, Chief Petty Officer Roland Verge ("Raymond Velche"), Petty Officer Jean-Michel Bartelo ("Jean-Michel Berthelo") and Petty Officer Gérard Andries ("Eric Audrenc"), who had carried the bombs to New Zealand on the yacht Ouvéa, escaped by that yacht and were arrested by Australian police on Norfolk Island, but released as Australian law did not allow them to be held until the results of forensic tests came back. They were then picked up by the French submarine Rubis (then known as Provence), which scuttled Ouvéa.{{cite web |url=http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/rw/pkbomb.html |title=The Bombing of the Warrior |publisher=Greenpeace |work=Rainbow Warrior home page |access-date=4 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310214637/http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/rw/pkbomb.html |archive-date=10 March 2012 |url-status=unfit}}

File:RainbowWarrior-1985b.jpg

Several agents, including Jean-Luc Kister, one of the bombers, had posed as tourists. They took a ferry to the South Island, went skiing at Mount Hutt, and then left the country using false documents about ten days later. Another agent, Louis-Pierre Dillais, possibly the commander of the operation, was also never captured.

France, being an ally of New Zealand, initially denied involvement and joined in condemning what it described as a terrorist act. The French embassy in Wellington denied involvement, stating that "the French Government does not deal with its opponents in such ways".Diary compiled by Mike Andrews (Secretary of the Dargaville Maritime Museum)

Once it was realised that the bombing was the action of the government of a friendly state, the New Zealand government stopped referring to it as a "terrorist act", instead calling it "a criminal attack in breach of the international law of state responsibility, committed on New Zealand sovereign territory". The "breach of international law" aspect was referred to in all communications with the United Nations to dissuade any arguments from the French government that might imply justification for their act.

Prieur and Mafart pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment on 22 November 1985. France threatened an economic embargo of New Zealand's exports to the European Economic Community if the pair were not released.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/03/world/france-must-pay-greenpeace-8-million-in-sinking-of-ship.html |title=France Must Pay Greenpeace $8 Million in Sinking of Ship |last=Shabecoff |first=Philip |date=3 October 1987 |work=New York Times |access-date=11 April 2010 |archive-date=19 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019065157/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/03/world/france-must-pay-greenpeace-8-million-in-sinking-of-ship.html |url-status=live }} Such an action would have crippled the New Zealand economy, which was dependent on agricultural exports to the United Kingdom.{{Cite book |last=Szabo |first=Michael |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/27687705 |title=Making waves |date=1991 |publisher=Reed |others=Greenpeace New Zealand |isbn=0-7900-0230-2 |location=Auckland [N.Z.] |oclc=27687705 |access-date=12 February 2023 |archive-date=10 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610234032/https://www.worldcat.org/title/making-waves/oclc/27687705 |url-status=live }}

France launched their own commission of enquiry headed by Bernard Tricot which declared the French government innocent of any involvement in the terrorist act, claiming that the arrested agents, who had not yet pleaded guilty, had merely been spying on Greenpeace. When The Times and Le Monde contradicted these findings by claiming that President Mitterrand had approved the bombing, Defence Minister Charles Hernu resigned and the head of the DGSE, Admiral Pierre Lacoste, was fired.

Operation Satanic was a public relations disaster. Eventually Prime Minister Laurent Fabius admitted the bombing had been a French plot: on 22 September 1985, he summoned journalists to his office to read a 200-word statement in which he said: "The truth is cruel," and acknowledged there had been a cover-up; he went on to say that "Agents of the French secret service sank this boat. They were acting on orders."Evening Mail – Monday 23 September 1985

Several figures, including then New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange, have referred to the bombing as an act of terrorism{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Paul |last2=Evans |first2=Rob |name-list-style=and |date=23 August 2005 |title=How Rainbow Warrior was played down |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/aug/23/uk.freedomofinformation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903031446/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/aug/23/uk.freedomofinformation |archive-date=3 September 2017 |access-date=3 September 2017 |work=The Guardian }} or state-sponsored terrorism,{{cite news |last1=Page |first1=Campbell |last2=Templeton |first2=Ian |name-list-style=and |date=24 September 1985 |title=French inquiry into Rainbow Warrior bombing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/24/rainbow-warrior-sinking-greenpeace-france-1985-archive |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903031605/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/24/rainbow-warrior-sinking-greenpeace-france-1985-archive |archive-date=3 September 2017 |access-date=3 September 2017 |work=The Guardian }}{{cite news |title=Reality behind the Rainbow Warrior outrage |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10333759 |access-date=2 September 2017 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=2 July 2005 |language=en-NZ |archive-date=3 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903032314/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10333759 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last=Conte |first=Alex |title=Human Rights in the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism: Commonwealth Approaches: The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand |date=2010 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3642116087 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pJsqayP3OD8C&pg=PA86 |language=en |access-date=26 September 2020 |archive-date=3 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803001604/https://books.google.com/books?id=pJsqayP3OD8C&pg=PA86 |url-status=live }} with scholars since describing the attack as an act of state terrorism.{{Cite journal |last=Robie |first=David |date=2016-07-31 |title=Frontline: The Rainbow Warrior, secrecy and state terrorism: A Pacific journalism case study |journal=Pacific Journalism Review |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=187 |doi=10.24135/pjr.v22i1.19 |issn=2324-2035 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last=Clark |first=Roger S |date=1988 |title=State Terrorism: Some Lessons from the Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/rutlj20&i=403 |journal=Rutgers Law Journal |publisher=HeinOnline |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=393–414 |url-access=subscription |access-date=28 December 2022 |archive-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227124850/https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/rutlj20&i=403 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last=Veitch |first=James |date=1 July 2010 |title='A Sordid Act': The 'Rainbow Warrior' Incident |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.217447756197214 |journal=New Zealand International Review |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=6–9 |url-access=subscription |access-date=28 December 2022 |via=InformIT |archive-date=1 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501094238/https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.217447756197214 |url-status=live }}

The next nuclear test Héro was conducted at Mururoa on 24 October 1985 with a yield of {{convert|2|ktTNT|spell=in}}. France conducted 54 more nuclear tests until the end of nuclear testing in 1996.{{cite web |author=Capcom Espace |year=2005 |title=Les essais nucleaire Francaispublisher=Capcom Espace |url=http://www.capcomespace.net/dossiers/espace_europeen/albion/essais_nucleaire_francais_listing.htm |accessdate=6 February 2022 |archive-date=26 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326035525/http://www.opex360.com/2015/02/19/le-president-hollande-devoile-les-capacites-nucleaires-francaises |url-status=live }}

A Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior benefit concert at Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, on 5 April 1986 included performances by Herbs, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Topp Twins, Dave Dobbyn and a Split Enz reunion.{{cite web |url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/rainbow-warrior-music-festival |title=Rainbow Warrior music festival |work=NZHistory |publisher=History Group of the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=17 April 2014 |archive-date=19 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419012025/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/rainbow-warrior-music-festival |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.frenzforum.com/topic/rainbow-warrior-concert-1986 |title=Rainbow Warrior concert 1986 |date=14 July 2006 |work=Frenz Forum |access-date=17 April 2014 |archive-date=8 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308124554/https://www.frenzforum.com/topic/rainbow-warrior-concert-1986 |url-status=live }}

Rainbow Warrior was refloated for forensic examination. She was deemed irreparable and scuttled in Matauri Bay, near the Cavalli Islands on 12 December 1987, to serve as a dive wreck and fish sanctuary.{{cite journal |url=http://www.nzgeographic.co.nz/archives/issue-23/wreck-to-reef-the-transfiguration-of-the-rainbow-warrior |title=Wreck to reef-the transfiguration of the Rainbow Warrior |journal=New Zealand Geographic |issue=23 |date=Jul–Sep 1994 |access-date=30 October 2012 |archive-date=13 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313060659/http://nzgeographic.co.nz/archives/issue-23/wreck-to-reef-the-transfiguration-of-the-rainbow-warrior |url-status=live }} Her masts had been removed and put on display at the Dargaville Maritime Museum. Greenpeace acquired a new ship and gave it the name Rainbow Warrior earlier that same year. On 14 October 2011, Greenpeace launched a new sailing vessel, again called Rainbow Warrior, which is equipped with an auxiliary electric motor.[http://anewwarrior.greenpeace.org/ Rainbow Warrior] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119181059/http://anewwarrior.greenpeace.org/ |date=19 November 2011 }} Greenpeace International, October 2011. Accessed 10 February 2015 The ships are informally known as Rainbow Warrior II and Rainbow Warrior III, respectively.

File:Rainbow Warrior Memorial .jpg

In 1987, after international pressure, France paid $8.16m to Greenpeace in damages, which helped finance another ship.{{cite news |last=Willsher |first=Kim |title=French Spy who sank Greenpeace ship apologises for lethal bombing |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/06/french-spy-who-sunk-greenpeace-ship-apologises-for-lethal-bombing |access-date=7 May 2016 |work=The Guardian |date=6 September 2015 |ref=French Spy apologises |archive-date=4 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604032806/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/06/french-spy-who-sunk-greenpeace-ship-apologises-for-lethal-bombing |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last=Boczek |first=Boleslaw Adam |title=International Law: A Dictionary |date=2005 |publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc |location=Maryland |isbn=0-8108-5078-8 |page=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NR7mFXCB-wgC&q=french+government+apologises+to+New+zealand+for+rainbow+warrior+1986&pg=PA97 |access-date=7 May 2016 |archive-date=3 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803001605/https://books.google.com/books?id=NR7mFXCB-wgC&q=french+government+apologises+to+New+zealand+for+rainbow+warrior+1986&pg=PA97 |url-status=live }} It also paid compensation to the Pereira family, reimbursing his life insurance company for 30,000 Dutch guilders and making reparation payments of 650,000 francs to Pereira's wife, 1.5 million francs to his two children, and 75,000 francs to each of his parents.{{cite book |title=Reports of International Arbitral Awards : Case concerning the differences between New Zealand and France arising from the Rainbow Warrior affair |date=6 July 1986 |publisher=United Nations |pages=199–221 |url=http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XIX/199-221.pdf |access-date=7 May 2016 |archive-date=3 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403071528/http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XIX/199-221.pdf |url-status=live }}

The failure of Western leaders to condemn a violation of a friendly nation's sovereignty caused a great deal of change in New Zealand's foreign and defence policy.Keith Sinclair, A History of New Zealand Penguin Books, New Zealand, 1991 New Zealand distanced itself from the United States, a traditional ally, and built relationships with small South Pacific nations, while retaining excellent relations with Australia and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom.Nuclear Free: The New Zealand Way, The Right Honourable David Lange, Penguin Books, New Zealand, 1990

File:Atoll de Hao (prise de vue - l'infirmerie).jpg

In June 1986, in a political deal with Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange, presided over by United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, France agreed to pay NZ$13 million (US$6.5 million) to New Zealand and apologise, in return for which Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur would be detained at the French military base on Hao Atoll for three years. However, the two agents had both returned to France by May 1988, after less than two years on the atoll. Mafart returned to Paris on 14 December 1987 for medical treatment and was apparently freed after the treatment. He continued in the French Army and was promoted to colonel in 1993. Prieur returned to France on 6 May 1988 because she was pregnant, her husband having been allowed to join her on the atoll. She, too, was freed and later promoted. The removal of the agents from Hao without subsequent return was ruled to be in violation of the 1986 agreement.{{Cite journal |url=http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XX/215-284.pdf |date=30 April 1990 |title=Case concerning the difference between New Zealand and France concerning the interpretation or application of two agreements, concluded on 9 July 1986 between the two states and which related to the problems arising from the Rainbow Warrior Affair |journal=Reports of International Arbitral Awards |volume=XX |pages=215–284, especially p 275 |access-date=21 October 2013 |archive-date=27 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527193734/http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XX/215-284.pdf |url-status=live }}

Following the breach of the arrangement, in 1990 the UN secretary-general awarded New Zealand another NZ$3.5 million (US$2 million) to establish the New Zealand / France Friendship Fund. Although France had formally apologised to the New Zealand Government in 1986,{{cite news |title=French send PM letters of apology |work=Auckland Star |location=Auckland |date=23 July 1986}} during a visit in April 1991, French Prime Minister Michel Rocard delivered a personal apology.{{cite news |last=Armstrong |first=John |title=Reality behind the Rainbow Warrior outrage |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10333759 |access-date=7 May 2016 |work=New Zealand Herald |date=2 July 2005 |archive-date=3 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903032314/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10333759 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last=Bar-Siman-Tov |first=Yaacov |title=From Conflict Resolution to Reconciliation |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-516643-4 |page=190 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gbiBwAAQBAJ&q=french+government+apologises+to+New+zealand+for+rainbow+warrior+1986&pg=PT178 |access-date=7 May 2016 |archive-date=3 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803001605/https://books.google.com/books?id=9gbiBwAAQBAJ&q=french+government+apologises+to+New+zealand+for+rainbow+warrior+1986&pg=PT178 |url-status=live }} He said it was "to turn the page in the relationship and to say, if we had known each other better, this thing never would have happened". The Friendship Fund has provided contributions to a number of charity and public purposes.{{cite news |title=Kokako Chick thrives thanks to Rainbow Warrior bombers |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10334915 |access-date=8 May 2016 |work=New Zealand Herald |publisher=NZME Publishing Limited |date=8 July 2008 |archive-date=23 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623210544/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10334915 |url-status=live }} During a visit in 2016, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls reiterated that the incident had been "a serious error".{{cite news |last=Young |first=Audrey |date=2 May 2016 |title=France reaches out for Kiwi friendship |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11631810 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512174013/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11631810 |archive-date=12 May 2016 |access-date=7 May 2016 |work=New Zealand Herald |quote=France committed a serious error, which tainted the friendship uniting our peoples.}}

In 2005, French newspaper Le Monde released a report from 1986 which said that Admiral Pierre Lacoste, head of DGSE at the time, had "personally obtained approval to sink the ship from the late president François Mitterrand."{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article542620.ece |title=Mitterrand ordered bombing of Rainbow Warrior, spy chief says |date=11 July 2005 |work=The Times |access-date=11 March 2013 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706181503/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article542620.ece |archive-date=6 July 2008}} Soon after the publication, former Admiral Lacoste came forward and gave newspaper interviews about the situation, admitting that the death weighed on his conscience and saying that the aim of the operation had not been to kill.{{cite news |last=Simons |first=Marlise |title=Report Says Mitterrand Approved Sinking of Greenpeace Ship |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/international/europe/10greenpeace.html |work=The Guardian |date=10 July 2005 |access-date=1 November 2013 |archive-date=1 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501094238/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/world/europe/report-says-mitterrand-approved-sinking-of-greenpeace-ship.html |url-status=live }} He acknowledged the existence of three teams: the yacht crew, reconnaissance and logistics (those successfully prosecuted), plus a two-man team that carried out the bombing.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10333480 |last=Field |first=Catherine |title='Third team' in Rainbow Warrior plot |work=New Zealand Herald |date=30 June 2005 |access-date=6 June 2010}}

A 20th anniversary memorial edition of the 1986 book Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior by New Zealand author David Robie—who was aboard the bombed ship—was published in July 2005.{{Cite book |url=http://www.wheelers.co.nz/browse/search/results/?title=Eyes+of+Fire%3A+The+Last+Voyage+of+the+Rainbow+Warrior*&author=Robie |title=Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior |publisher=Auckland University Press |isbn=978-1877314469 |date= 2005 |access-date=6 June 2010 |archive-date=18 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718012349/http://www.wheelers.co.nz/browse/search/results/?title=Eyes+of+Fire:+The+Last+Voyage+of+the+Rainbow+Warrior*&author=Robie |url-status=live }}

Twenty years after the bombing, Television New Zealand (TVNZ) sought access to a video record made at the preliminary hearing in which the two French agents pleaded guilty. The footage had remained sealed since shortly after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings. The two agents opposed release of the footage—despite having both written books on the incident—and unsuccessfully took the case to the New Zealand Court of Appeal and, subsequently, the Supreme Court of New Zealand. On 7 August 2006, Justices Hammond, O'Regan and Arnold dismissed the former French agents' appeal and TVNZ broadcast their guilty pleas the same day.{{cite web |url=https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/the-courts/supreme-court/mr/transcripts/Transcript%20Mafart%20Prieur%20v%20TVNZ.pdf |title=Transcript Mafart Prieur v TVNZ |date=22 November 2005 |website=Courts of New Zealand |access-date=27 June 2018 |archive-date=27 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627062343/https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/the-courts/supreme-court/mr/transcripts/Transcript%20Mafart%20Prieur%20v%20TVNZ.pdf |url-status=dead}}

In 2005, in an interview with TVNZ, Louis-Pierre Dillais acknowledged his involvement with the bombing.Goldenberg, Suzanne (25 May 2007) [https://www.theguardian.com/usa/story/0,,2087877,00.html "Rainbow Warrior ringleader heads firm selling arms to US government"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230501094238/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/may/25/usnews.france |date=1 May 2023 }}. guardian.co.uk, Retrieved 26 May 2007

In 2007, the New Zealand Green Party criticised the government over its purchase of arms from Belgian arms manufacturer FN Herstal, whose U.S. subsidiary was led by Dillais.[http://www.greens.org.nz/searchdocs/other10869.html NZ trades with Arms Company whose US chief executive was a lead agent in the Rainbow Warrior bombing] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929082907/http://www.greens.org.nz/searchdocs/other10869.html |date=29 September 2007 }} NZ Green Party Just Peace newsletter No 110, 18 May 2007. Retrieved 21 February 2015 At that time, Greenpeace was still pursuing the extradition of Dillais for his involvement in the act.[http://www.stuff.co.nz/4056288a11.html Greenpeace gunning for the leader of Warrior bombers] Stuff.co.nz, Retrieved 26 May 2007 {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927191723/http://www.stuff.co.nz/4056288a11.html |date=27 September 2007 }}

In 2006, Antoine Royal revealed that his brother, Gérard Royal, had claimed to be involved in planting the bomb. Their sister is French Socialist Party politician Ségolène Royal who was contesting the French presidential election.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10403727 |title=Presidential hopeful's brother linked to Rainbow Warrior bomb |author=NZH Staff |publisher=The New Zealand Herald |date=30 September 2006 |access-date=1 October 2006}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1753103.htm |date=1 October 2006 |access-date=1 October 2006 |title=NZ rules out new Rainbow Warrior probe |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |archive-date=9 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071209054404/http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1753103.htm |url-status=live }} Other sources identified Royal as the pilot of the Zodiac inflatable boat that carried the bombers.Guerres secrètes à l'Élysée, by Paul Barril, ed Albin Michel, Paris (1996) The New Zealand government announced there would be no extradition request since the case was closed.{{Cite news |first=Martin |last=Kay |title=French frogman slips the net; Paper identifies bomber, but PM says the case will remain closed |publisher=The Dominion Post |pages=A1 |date=2 October 2006}}

In September 2015, TVNZ's Sunday programme tracked down Jean-Luc Kister, one of the two bombers. Kister, who retired from the DGSE in about 2000, admitted his lead role and feelings of responsibility for the lethal attack. He also pointed to the French President, as commander of the armed forces and intelligence services assigned the operation. Reporter John Hudson, who spent two days with Kister in France, said that Kister "wanted an opportunity to talk about his role in the bombing... It has been on his conscience for 30 years. He said to us, 'secret agents don't talk', but he is talking. I think he wanted to be understood." Kister considered the mission "a big, big failure".{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=11508594 |title=Rainbow Warrior bomber finally unmasked |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=6 September 2015 |access-date=6 September 2015 |author=Taylor, Phil |archive-date=19 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919151651/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=11508594 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |title=New Zealand Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior bomber apologises |work=BBC News |date=6 September 2015 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34168078 |access-date=7 September 2015 |archive-date=6 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906200448/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34168078 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Neuman |first=Susan |date=6 September 2015 |title=French Agent Apologizes For Blowing Up Greenpeace Ship In 1985 |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/06/438036449/french-agent-apologizes-for-blowing-up-greenpeace-ship-in-1985 |newspaper=NPR |access-date=8 September 2015 |archive-date=7 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907233515/http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/06/438036449/french-agent-apologizes-for-blowing-up-greenpeace-ship-in-1985 |url-status=live }}

File:Rainbow Warrior Memorial.jpg

Built between the years 1988 and 1990, a memorial for the Rainbow Warrior was created by New Zealand sculptor Chris Booth. The memorial was erected in Matauri Bay in Northland, New Zealand. It was commissioned by Ngati Kura and New Zealand China Clays.{{Cite web |title=Rainbow Warrior memorial |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/rainbow-warrior-memorial |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |language=en |archive-date=27 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027024234/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/rainbow-warrior-memorial |url-status=live }}

The sinking, and subsequent investigation, was the subject of several films, including The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy (1988) and The Rainbow Warrior (1993).

Murder in the Pacific is a three-part documentary about the sinking, directed by Chloe Campbell. It was broadcast on BBC2 in March 2023.{{cite news |last=Nicholson |first=Rebecca |title=Murder in the Pacific review – the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior boat makes for thrilling, urgent TV |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/mar/02/in-the-pacific-review-the-bombing-of-the-rainbow-warrior-boat-makes-for-thrilling-urgent-tv |access-date=27 April 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=2 March 2023 |archive-date=24 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424130022/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/mar/02/in-the-pacific-review-the-bombing-of-the-rainbow-warrior-boat-makes-for-thrilling-urgent-tv |url-status=live }}

The 1985 song "Hercules" by the Australian band Midnight Oil is about the sinking. The 1989 song "Little Fighter", by the Danish/American band White Lion, is about the sinking. It is also referenced in the 2004 song "Walkampf" by German punk band Die Toten Hosen. In 2005, a supergroup of New Zealand musicians and artists recorded a cover of Anchor Me, by the New Zealand rock band The Mutton Birds, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the bombing. The song peaked at No. 3 in the New Zealand singles chart.

{{subject bar|auto=y|d=y|Environment|France|New Zealand|1980s}}

• {{annotated link|Foreign espionage in New Zealand}}
• {{annotated link|Legend of the Rainbow Warriors}}
• {{annotated link|New Zealand nuclear-free zone}}
• {{annotated link|Rainbow Warrior Case}}
• {{annotated link|The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy|The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy}} (1988)
• {{annotated link|The Rainbow Warrior (film)|The Rainbow Warrior (film)}}
• {{annotated link|Xavier Maniguet}}

{{Notelist}}{{Reflist|30em}}

• Michael King, Death of the Rainbow Warrior (Penguin Books, 1986). {{ISBN|0-14-009738-4}}
• David Robie, Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior (Philadelphia: New Society Press, 1987). {{ISBN|0-86571-114-3}}
• The Sunday Times Insight Team, Rainbow Warrior: The French Attempt to Sink Greenpeace (London: Century Hutchinson Ltd, 1986). {{ISBN|0-09-164360-0}}
• {{cite book |last=Wright |first=Gerry |title=Rainbow Warrior Salvage |date=2012 |publisher=Gerry Wright |location=Auckland |isbn=9780473227500 |edition=1st}}

• [https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/nuclear-free-new-zealand/rainbow-warrior Sinking the Rainbow Warrior], NZHistory – impact on New Zealand's international relations.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050722190319/https://www.greenpeace.org.au/rainbow_warrior/bombing_of_1985/intro.html greenpeace.org.au]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050718074414/http://www.police.govt.nz/operation/wharf/ New Zealand police history]
• [https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/french-connections---1985/2832032 "French Connections"] Transcript of the 1985 investigation by the Australian programme Four Corners.
• [http://www.journeyman.tv/61045/documentaries/the-rainbow-warrior.html 2010 documentary "The Rainbow Warrior"], 41 minutes, produced by TVNZ, distributed by Journeyman Pictures
• [https://www.journeyman.tv/film/6559/rainbow-warrior-bomber 2015 news report "Rainbow Warrior Bomber"], 21 minutes, based around an exclusived interview with Colonel Jean Luc Kister, a French intelligence agent who planted two bombs on the Rainbow Warrior. Produced by TVNZ, distributed by Journeyman Pictures
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=gjpyJuJF6sEC&q=Rainbow+Warrior Detail text and letter from NZ PM D. Lange regarding incident in 'Sailing The Dream' at Google Books]

Films (all are productions for television):

• {{IMDb title|qid=Q17014870|id=tt0098164|title=The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy}} (Australia 1989)
• {{IMDb title|qid=Q569218|id=tt0105216|title=The Rainbow Warrior}} (New Zealand 1992)
• {{IMDb title|qid=Q130342766|id=tt2777894|title=The Boat and the Bomb}} (United Kingdom and Netherlands 2005)
• {{IMDb title|qid=Q130342769|id=tt0483229|title=L' Affaire du Rainbow Warrior}} (France 2006, concentrating on the experience of French journalists)
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/blowing-up-paradise.shtml Blowing Up Paradise] 2006 BBC Documentary movie by Ben Lewis about French Atomic Testing in Pacific and associated murder of Rainbow Warrior Greenpeace activist by French Secret Service.

{{Greenpeace |state=expanded}}

{{David Lange|state=collapsed}}

{{1985 shipwrecks}}{{Terrorism in New Zealand}}{{Underwater diving|hisdiv}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rainbow Warrior}}

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