Statements made by the Ministry of Foreign and European Spokesperson (Paris, April 9, 2009)

France / Panama / United States
Madagascar

France / Panama / United States

Q - Do you have any details on Manuel Noriega’s extradition to France, after a U.S. court issued that ruling ?

France asked for Manuel Noriega’s extradition so that he could serve a criminal sentence handed down in absentia in France.

It is impossible to say when he will be extradited to our country because the ruling issued by the Federal Appeals Court in Atlanta could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court within 90 days./.

Madagascar

Q - Yesterday, the African Union called on its partners to refrain from any action liable to bolster the illegal regime in Madagascar. Given that France hasn’t suspended its aid to the regime in place, do you think this call concerns it in particular?

Like the African Union, we have clearly condemned the “extra-constitutional” conditions in which power has changed hands in Madagascar.

We share with the African Union the desire for a rapid return to constitutional order through a transitional process based on a consensus of all the parties, reached through the widest possible national dialogue and holding of elections in the shortest time possible.

With the international community, and particularly the African Union, we are ready and willing to support such a consensual process, the only one whereby Madagascar can put an end to the crisis.

We take the view that this position, shared by the whole international community, must be accompanied by a necessary solidarity with the Malagasy people badly hit by this political crisis.

Like other partners of Madagascar, including the European Union, France has not halted its already ongoing cooperation programs, particularly its humanitarian and food aid, so as not to increase even further the suffering of the Malagasy people./.