Record · Twentieth century · Oceania · 1985

A formal and unqualified apology, US$7 million, three years on Hao

By the Our Earth's History editorial team · Researched and written with AI assistance, checked against the sources below · How we make it

Published 2026-09-22

the black stern of a ship moored at a wharf, with fishing nets on the quay and a crane beyond — The Rainbow Warrior at a wharf in Auckland in 1985, the year she was sunk. Ot / CC BY-SA 4.0. Source

TL;DR — On July 6, 1986 the UN Secretary-General ordered France to apologize, pay New Zealand US$7 million and keep two DGSE agents on Hao for three years. Both agents left early.

The ruling of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on July 6, 1986 opened with a statement of fact: “On 10 July 1985 a civilian vessel, the Rainbow Warrior, not flying the New Zealand flag, was sunk at its moorings in Auckland Harbor, New Zealand, as a result of extensive damage caused by two high explosive devices. One person, a Netherlands citizen, Mr. Fernando Pereira, was killed as a result of this action; he drowned when the ship sank.” The ship was Greenpeace’s. The ruling fixed what France owed: a formal apology, US$7 million to New Zealand, and three years on the atoll of Hao in French Polynesia for Major Alain Mafart and Captain Dominique Prieur. France paid the first two. On April 30, 1990 an arbitral tribunal found that by flying both officers home early, France had committed “a material and continuing breach” of its obligations.

Quick facts

When: July 10, 1985 (sinking at Marsden Wharf, Auckland) · July 12 (two DGSE agents arrested) · September 22 (French communiqué) · November 22 (ten-year sentences) · July 6, 1986 (Secretary-General's ruling) · July 23, 1986 (transfer to Hao) · October 2, 1987 (Greenpeace arbitration award, Geneva) · December 1987 (scuttling at Matauri Bay) · April 30, 1990 (arbitral award, New York)
Where: Marsden Wharf, Auckland Harbor, New Zealand; Paris; the atoll of Hao, French Polynesia; Geneva; Matauri Bay, Northland; New York
Who: Fernando Pereira, Greenpeace photographer, a Netherlands citizen; Major Alain Mafart and Captain Dominique Prieur of the DGSE; Prime Minister Laurent Fabius; President François Mitterrand; the Secretary-General of the United Nations; Eduardo Jiménez de Aréchaga, Sir Kenneth Keith and Jean-Denis Bredin
Outcome: France apologized, paid New Zealand US$7 million and transferred the two officers to Hao on July 23, 1986. Mafart was flown out on December 13, 1987 and Prieur on May 5–6, 1988; on April 30, 1990 the tribunal declared "a material and continuing breach" and recommended a US$2 million fund

Mafart and Prieur, arrested July 12

Greenpeace’s fact file on the sinking describes the night at Marsden Wharf: the first blast “just before midnight” on July 10, 1985; Pereira, the ship’s photographer, going below for his cameras; the second explosion, and the ship down in minutes with him inside. The ship was to lead a flotilla from Auckland to the French test site at Moruroa. The ruling records that “On 12 July, two agents of the French Directorate General of External Security (DGSE) were interviewed by the New Zealand Police and subsequently arrested and prosecuted.” They had traveled on forged Swiss passports as a honeymooning couple named Turenge. New Zealand’s memorandum names them as Major Alain Mafart and Captain Dominique Prieur. On November 4 they pleaded guilty “to charges of manslaughter and wilful damage to a ship by means of an explosive,” and on November 22, 1985, each was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

September 22, 1985: "Ils ont agi sur ordre"

On August 8 Prime Minister Laurent Fabius asked President François Mitterrand for an inquiry by “une personnalité incontestable”; it went to Bernard Tricot, whose report, by Greenpeace’s chronology, cleared the French authorities. On September 20, by the same chronology, Defense Minister Charles Hernu resigned and Pierre Lacoste, the head of the DGSE, was dismissed. Two days later Fabius issued a communiqué: “Ce sont des agents de la DGSE qui ont coulé ce bateau. Ils ont agi sur ordre. Cette vérité a été cachée au Conseiller d’Etat Tricot.” Agents of the DGSE sank that boat; they acted on orders; that truth was hidden from Tricot. The communiqué did not say who gave the orders. Pierre Gleizes, a Greenpeace photographer, wrote in 2025 that Mitterrand ordered the operation, citing Lacoste’s 1997 memoir; the ruling and the 1990 award make no such finding.

The ruling of July 6, 1986

New Zealand’s embassy in Paris had called the operation “a serious derogation from New Zealand sovereignty” in a note of September 6, 1985. France argued that the officers had “acted under military orders”; New Zealand’s memorandum answered that “‘Superior orders’ is not a defence in New Zealand law.” On June 19, 1986 both governments agreed to a binding ruling by the Secretary-General. New Zealand asked for more than US$9 million; France offered less than US$4 million.

The ruling took each head in turn. “New Zealand seeks an apology. France is prepared to give one. My ruling is that the Prime Minister of France should convey to the Prime Minister of New Zealand a formal and unqualified apology for the attack, contrary to international law, on the Rainbow Warrior by French service agents which took place on 10 July 1985.” Then: “My ruling is that the French Government should pay the sum of US $7 million to the Government of New Zealand as compensation for all the damage it has suffered.” The officers were to go to “a French military facility on an isolated island outside of Europe for a period of three years,” and “They should be prohibited from leaving the island for any reason, except with the mutual consent of the two Governments.” The island was Hao. A further clause barred France from opposing New Zealand butter imports into Britain of 77,000 tonnes in 1987 and 75,000 tonnes in 1988. The officers reached Hao on July 23, 1986.

Geneva, October 2, 1987, and Matauri Bay

On December 19, 1985 France and the Stichting Greenpeace Council agreed that liability would not be contested and that a three-member tribunal would fix damages; Greenpeace’s fact file records that on October 2, 1987 that tribunal, sitting in Geneva, ordered France to pay Greenpeace US$8.1 million. In December 1987 the Rainbow Warrior was scuttled at Matauri Bay, at 34°58.5’S 173°56.0’E, where Ngāti Kura, the tangata whenua of the bay, had offered a final resting place; Greenpeace calls the wreck a “living memorial.” At the bay stands the sculptor Chris Booth’s “Rainbow Warrior Memorial, stone, steel, bronze,” made in 1988–1990 for Ngāti Kura hapū.

A stone arch sculpture on a grassy hilltop overlooking a bay and offshore islands — Chris Booth's Rainbow Warrior Memorial on the headland at Matauri Bay, Northland, New Zealand, above the ship's resting place, photographed in 2009. Gadfium / Public domain. Source

"A material and continuing breach"

Mafart left Hao first. The 1990 award sets out the sequence: on December 7, 1987 the base commander reported that Mafart could not be treated on the island; on December 11 Paris asked Wellington’s consent, and on December 13, while New Zealand was still asking to send its own doctor, France flew him to Paris. Prieur followed. On May 3, 1988 France reported that she was six weeks pregnant; on May 5 it added that her father was dying, and at 11:30 that night she left Hao without waiting for a New Zealand doctor. The prime minister of that spring, Chirac, said in an interview on September 27, 1989: “Because it was the last days of my Government, I decided to bring Mrs. Prieur, who was pregnant, back from the Pacific atoll where she was stationed.”

The tribunal of Eduardo Jiménez de Aréchaga, Sir Kenneth Keith and Jean-Denis Bredin ruled in New York on April 30, 1990. A majority found no breach in Mafart’s removal on December 13. The decision then “declares that the French Republic committed a material and continuing breach of its obligations to New Zealand by failing to order the return of Major Mafart to the island of Hao as from 12 February 1988” and “declares that as a consequence the French Republic committed a material breach of its obligations to New Zealand by removing Captain Prieur from the island of Hao on 5 and 6 May 1988.” Because the Hao obligation “ended on 22 July 1989,” the tribunal declined to order their return. Its last point “recommends that the Governments of the French Republic and of New Zealand set up a fund to promote close and friendly relations between the citizens of the two countries, and that the Government of the French Republic make an initial contribution equivalent to $US 2 million to that fund.”

Key facts

The Rainbow Warrior was sunk at its moorings in Auckland Harbor on July 10, 1985 by “two high explosive devices”; Fernando Pereira, a Netherlands citizen, drowned (Secretary-General’s ruling, July 6, 1986).
Two DGSE agents were interviewed and arrested on July 12, 1985; New Zealand’s memorandum names them as Major Alain Mafart and Captain Dominique Prieur (ruling and annexed memoranda).
On November 4, 1985 the two pleaded guilty to manslaughter and wilful damage to a ship by means of an explosive; on November 22 each received ten years (ruling and New Zealand memorandum).
Fabius asked Mitterrand on August 8, 1985 for an inquiry by “une personnalité incontestable”; on September 22 his communiqué stated “Ce sont des agents de la DGSE qui ont coulé ce bateau. Ils ont agi sur ordre.” (Annexes D and A).
The ruling of July 6, 1986 ordered “a formal and unqualified apology,” US$7 million to New Zealand, and three years for the two officers on Hao, with no departure “except with the mutual consent of the two Governments.”
The officers reached Hao on July 23, 1986; Mafart was flown to Paris on December 13, 1987 and Prieur on May 5–6, 1988 (award of April 30, 1990).
On October 2, 1987 an arbitration tribunal in Geneva ordered France to pay Greenpeace US$8.1 million (Greenpeace Aotearoa fact file).
The award of April 30, 1990 declared “a material and continuing breach,” held that the obligation to keep the officers on Hao ended on July 22, 1989, and recommended a fund with an initial French contribution of US$2 million (Reports of International Arbitral Awards, vol. XX).

FAQ

What did the UN Secretary-General's ruling of July 6, 1986 require of France?

A formal and unqualified apology from the prime minister of France to the prime minister of New Zealand, payment of US$7 million to the government of New Zealand, and the transfer of Major Mafart and Captain Prieur to a French military facility on Hao for three years, with no departure except by mutual consent of the two governments. France was also barred from opposing set quantities of New Zealand butter imports into Britain in 1987 and 1988.

Why did the 1990 tribunal find France in breach over Hao?

France flew Mafart to Paris on December 13, 1987 and Prieur on May 5–6, 1988, and never returned either to the island. The tribunal found a material and continuing breach in the failure to order Mafart back from February 12, 1988, and a material breach in removing Prieur on May 5–6, 1988. It held that the Hao obligation had ended on July 22, 1989 and did not order their return.

Where is the Rainbow Warrior now?

The ship was scuttled in December 1987 at Matauri Bay in Northland, New Zealand, at 34°58.5'S 173°56.0'E, on ground offered by Ngāti Kura. The wreck is a dive site and a fish sanctuary, and a stone, steel and bronze memorial by Chris Booth, made in 1988–1990, stands at the bay.

Sources

Cite this article

APA: Our Earth's History. (2026, September 22). A formal and unqualified apology, US$7 million, three years on Hao. Our Earth's History. https://ourearthshistory.com/oceania/contemporary/rainbow-warrior-july-10-1985-un-ruling-hao-atoll/
Chicago: Our Earth's History. “A formal and unqualified apology, US$7 million, three years on Hao.” Our Earth's History, September 22, 2026. https://ourearthshistory.com/oceania/contemporary/rainbow-warrior-july-10-1985-un-ruling-hao-atoll/.
MLA: “A formal and unqualified apology, US$7 million, three years on Hao.” Our Earth's History, 22 Sep. 2026, https://ourearthshistory.com/oceania/contemporary/rainbow-warrior-july-10-1985-un-ruling-hao-atoll/.

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