War of Roses

Squelching a revolt gently

It was the gentlest military strike in modern history. In three Puma helicopters and two Hercules C-130 transports, a combined force of 230 British marines and French paratroopers swooped down on the sleepy New Hebrides island of Espiritu Santo. They were armed and ready for combat. But the invading force was greeted with garlands of roses and the curious gaze of 1,000 of the island's anything-but-hostile inhabitants.

Thus ended, for the moment anyway, a bow-and-arrow rebellion that had nettled London and Paris during eight weeks of fruitless negotiations with Rebel Leader Jimmy Stevens,* a Eurasian and former bulldozer driver who declared the island independent of the New Hebrides central government of Chief Minister Walter Lini and renamed Espiritu Santo "Vemarana." The revolt embarrassed Britain and France, which have governed the New Hebrides as a joint colonial condominium for 74 years, particularly since the island chain was due to gain full independence this week.

London and Paris were thus prompted to mount the first joint Franco-British military effort since the Suez crisis of 1956. Warned of the troops' imminent arrival, Stevens declared that they were coming at his request. At week's end, the French said that the Central Government had come to a tentative agreement with the now more amenable rebels.

*Stevens' name originated with a grandfather who was a Scottish sea captain.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.