‘Lies continue!’ Macron refuses to apologise after French nuclear tests ravage 110k people
Emmanuel Macron portrait smashed by protestors in Poitiers
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The French President said his country owes a debt to the Polynesians following decades of fury and accusations of a cover-up over the impact of exposure to radiation. There have been high rates of cancer in people living in the Pacific islands following France’s 30-year nuclear programme. Mr Macron made the admission on a trip to the region, ending his three-day visit to the capital Papeete on the island of Tahiti.
He said: “The nation owes a debt to French Polynesia.
“This debt is for having hosted these tests, particularly those between 1966 and 1974, which it cannot be said were clean.”
The French President added: “I think it’s true that we wouldn’t have carried out these same tests in la Creuse or in Brittany.
“We did it here in Polynesia because it was far away, lost in the middle of the Pacific.”
He vowed to ensure “truth and transparency” after he had heard demands for cancer victims to be better compensated.
So far, just 63 people have received compensation over the explosion to radiation caused by the testing.
But an investigation from the French website Disclose estimates that up to 110,000 people were affected.
Pro-independence politicians were left unimpressed by Mr Macron’s unsympathetic words.
Campaigners and victims groups also vented their fury over the lack of apology.
Auguste Uebe-Carlson, a priest that runs the 193 Association – named after the number of tests carried out – said: “There is no progress in this speech, just demagoguery.
“The state’s lies continue.”
When developing its nuclear weapons programme, France carried out its first 17 tests in the Sahara desert in Algeria.
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But between 1966 and 1996, it carried out 193 nuclear tests in French Polynesia, on the atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa.
Mr Macron has gone further than his predecessors in recognising French failings in its overseas territories and former colonies.
But speaking in Papeete, he defended former leader Charles de Gaule’s decision to build France’s nuclear deterrent.
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Mr Macron said the move was “important, visionary, courageous” and said his nuclear arsenal is more important than ever “in the face of dangerous nations”.
He today vowed to take change of cleaning up contaminated areas, open government archives and create a permanent mediator between France and the communities affected by the testing.
Ten years after the first compensation claims were completed, local authorities say only 186 cases have been settled out of 416.
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