Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Tahiti march despite French defence minister cancelling visit

Posted at 04:58 on 16 December, 2009 UTC

The French defence minister, Herve Morin, has cancelled this week’s planned visit to French Polynesia, citing the need to attend next week’s cabinet meeting.

Mr Morin was due to arrive in Tahiti in three days and be the first defence minister in 20 years to visit the former nuclear weapons test site of Moruroa.

He says he will make the visit early next year but no date has been set.

The cancellation comes just days after the territory’s biggest church and the Moruroa e tatou nuclear test veterans organisation called for a march this weekend to coincide with the planned visit.

The group’s Roland Oldham says the march will still go ahead.

“We have reached the stage where have had enough with a whole lot of things and the issues of nuclear is of course a very important issues. Everybody is fed up with a whole lot of things.”

Roland Oldham