France and weapons of mass destruction
France is said to have an arsenal of 500 nuclear weapons stockpiled in 1999. [1]The weapons are part of the national Force de frappe.
In 1972, Greenpeace managed to delay nuclear tests by several weeks with its ship present close to the testing zone. The skipper, David McTaggart, was beaten and severely injured by French military officers. Later, the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was bombed by French Intelligence in Auckland, New Zealand. One crew member, Fernando Pereira of Spain, was killed. Two members of French Intelligence were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in New Zealand. President Chirac's decision to run a nuclear test series at Mururoa in 1996, just one year before a test ban was to be signed, caused worldwide protest.
France denies having chemical weapons, ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1995, and acceded to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1984.
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