LISBON, Portugal (Reuters) - Greenpeace activists Friday ended a 90- hour protest chained to the masts of a ship after Portugal agreed to help clamp down on illegal tropical timber trade, the environmental watchdog said.

The four protesters had boarded the Cypriot-registered Aegis Monday night to try to stop the vessel unloading a cargo of timber from Cameroon, where illegal logging of rare timber was commonplace, Greenpeace forest campaigner Tim Birch said.

The Aegis managed to dock and unload the timber at the northern Portuguese port of Leixoes, but the government ordered it to remain in customs sheds until tests could show whether the cargo included endangered timber.

``More than 2,000 logs have been unloaded, so we've just finished bearing witness to an environmental crime,'' Birch said.

The international watchdog estimates only 20 percent of the world's ancient forests are left, and that number is falling.

The protest was called off after the prime minister's cabinet office promised high-level meetings with environmental groups on how to combat imports of endangered timber.

A spokesman said the environment ministry awaited the outcome of tests on the origin of the Aegis' cargo. If the timber were shown to be endangered the ship's charterers would be fined and the logs destroyed.

A parallel Greenpeace protest continued across the border in Spain aimed at drawing attention to another shipment of timber from Cameroon, Birch said.

Greenpeace was delivering evidence to the Spanish government that the timber on board the Maltese-flagged Ranger I came from companies operating illegally in the central African nation.

Spanish police had dislodged and arrested four protesters in a dinghy attached to the anchor chain of the Ranger I, which then managed to dock in Villagarcia de Arosa, in Spain's northwest Galicia region.

But more protesters had chained themselves to the ship's masts and dockside cranes to prevent the Ranger I unloading.

Birch said Greenpeace would continue similar protests elsewhere in Europe to put pressure for government leaders to take firmer action to protect rainforests at a G-8 meeting set to begin in Okinawa, Japan, on July 21.

ITEM #2 
Title:  Greenpeace protests rare timber trade in Portugal 
Source:  Copyright 2000, Reuters News Service
Date: July 11, 2000
By: Martin Roberts

Four Greenpeace activists chained themselves to the masts of a ship in Portugal today to protest against a cargo of timber from an endangered African rain forest, the international environmental watchdog said.

Greenpeace forest campaigner Tim Birch said the cargo came from Cameroon where illegal logging was widespread and threatened to destroy one of the world's last remaining pristine rain forests.

"All timber on this vessel has come from wanton destruction of the Cameroon rain forest. We want the Portuguese government to take action to prevent these imports," Birch told Reuters.

"Globally now we have 20 percent of ancient forest left around the planet. Time is running out to save these forests," he said.

He was speaking in the port of Leixoes, about 210 miles north of Lisbon, where the protest was staged.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres promised an investigation into whether the shipment contained illegally cut wood.

"If illegality were to exist ... . I think there should not be any complacency on our part toward this illegality, if this is true. I will ask the appropriate authorities to verify whether this is true," Guterres told journalists.

Birch said the activists chained to the masts of the Cypriot- registered Aegis were prepared to remain there for days while the vessel traveled to other ports of call in the Netherlands and Germany.

"They're very, very experienced climbers and they've done this regularly. They know what's involved and they're very committed," Birch added.

The activists boarded the Aegis late Monday as it was about to dock in Leixoes, unfurled a banner saying "Stop African rain forest crime" and renamed the vessel by painting "African forest crime" on its port side, he said.

Another three activists from Greenpeace and the Portuguese environmental group Quercus chained themselves to a moveable bridge at the entry to Leixoes harbor, but were arrested and due to face charges today. Error: Unable to read footer file.