World Notes FRANCE

Christmas came early this year for Alain Mafart, one of two French intelligence agents convicted in the 1985 sinking of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, New Zealand. A Greenpeace photographer died in the blast. Mafart, who was to be confined to the French atoll of Hao until 1989, was flown to Paris on Dec. 14 to be treated for a stomach disorder. French officials say they will decide what to do with Mafart after medical tests are completed.

New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange called Mafart's evacuation a "blatant and outrageous breach" of an agreement between the two countries. A New Zealand court had earlier sentenced Mafart and Dominique Prieur, the other convicted agent, to ten years in prison after they pleaded guilty to involvement in the bombing of the ship. The two were released into French custody on condition that they not return to mainland France for at least three years. French Premier Jacques Chirac claimed that the agreement had allowed an "automatic return to France" if either agent became ill.