RISKING a split with the Conservative government, French President Francois Mitterrand said in an interview with Austrian media, that France and other atomic powers should refrain from breaking the moratorium on nuclear weapons testing.

The Conservative government is under strong pressure from its parliamentarians and the defence establishment to reverse the unilateral moratorium imposed in April 1992, on testing in the south Pacific.

And, just a day after Mitterrand's announcement, French defence minister Francois Leotard said France would have to conduct more nuclear tests before signing a comprehensive test ban treaty.