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Daily Press Briefing Statements made by [Please note that only the original French text issued by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be considered official.]
KUWAIT/ENLARGED MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE OF IRAQ’S NEIGHBORS
The minister of foreign and European affairs will be in Kuwait on April 21 and 22 to take part in the third enlarged ministerial conference of Iraq’s neighbors which is being held at the invitation of the Kuwaiti government and the Iraqi government.
France attaches great importance to the process of Iraq’s neighbors and the dynamic of regional dialogue. It considers the support of the regional countries, when they show a sincere wish to contribute to Iraq’s stability and reconstruction, absolutely essential.
The crisis in Iraq is a source of considerable risk for the Middle East and, beyond the region, for the international community as a whole. In the face of the attacks that have continued the bloodshed in Iraq over the past few weeks, we call for Iraqis to reject violence as an ordinary way of life and to unite to find ways to reconciliation, peace and security.
During his visit Bernard Kouchner will also meet with his Kuwaiti counterpart, Sheikh Sabah al Salem al-Sabah.
Q - Are Syria and Iran going to be invited to the parallel meeting on Lebanon?
Contacts are being held on this with all the countries concerned. The minister will be making a statement on the spot.
(…)
Q - Will the countries you listed be present or not?
We’re having contacts with all the neighboring countries to see if we can go forward with this meeting on Lebanon. It’s a question which it is very important to have talks on in order to break the deadlock over the presidential election. We’re pursuing the contacts. Nothing has been finalized.
France is very concerned about the violent incidents which occurred in Bujumbura last night.
It calls on all the parties and in the first place the rebels of the Palipehutu-FNL movement to respect the cease-fire concluded September 7, 2006, and asks them to resume negotiations without further delay in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation so as to overcome the obstacles we’ve seen over the past several months.
France reiterates its support for the action carried out by the South African facilitation and political direction, and remains determined to support all the efforts to build peace in Burundi on a permanent basis.
We welcome the Security Council’s adoption yesterday of a presidential statement giving the Council’s full support to Mr. Cristofias and Mr. Talat and the process they decided to revive at their March 21 meeting.
We hope that this process will lead to the resumption of negotiations on a comprehensive settlement under UN auspices.
France firmly supports the efforts of the two communities and the UN secretary-general to bring about a reunification of Cyprus in the context of a bi-zone, bi-communal federation.
We have just learned of the deaths this morning of two soldiers with the Dutch army, one of whom is the son of the Dutch chief of staff. They were killed when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle injuring two other Dutch soldiers as well.
France wishes to salute the commitment of the Dutch forces in Afghanistan, and we offer our sincere condolences to the Dutch authorities. Our thoughts go out to the victims’ families. France will remain committed to Afghanistan, alongside the Netherlands and all our other allies.
Q - A question about Mauritania where we learned that two foreigners were wounded when they were fired on by the Mauritanian military. I’d like to know if you know the nationality of the two and what their activity is.
We were informed of the incident. The casualties were two foreign nationals, not French, and a French technical cooperation volunteer. The latter was wounded slightly and is receiving all necessary consular and medical assistance.
Q - Can you tell us more about the technical cooperation?
We engage in technical cooperation with many countries, and the Frenchman who was wounded is a volunteer assisting in technical cooperation in Mauritania. I don’t know if he’s a solider.
Q - Two days ago a car rammed the door of the French embassy in Nouakchott. Yesterday, late in the evening, there was sustained firing from the presidential guard on a French volunteer. In the wake of these incidents, do you have a particular assessment of the security situation in Mauritania?
You’re right that two days ago a vehicle rammed the entrance to the French embassy. In that case and in the incident we were just discussing, according to our information, it was just accidental, and we’re not going to draw specific conclusions with respect to security. For the rest, I refer you to our website travel advisory, “Conseil aux Voyageurs.” There are no changes from this point of view.
Q - Final approval has just been given to reforming the Bosnian police. Do you have any comment?
We welcome the final adoption by parliament in Bosnia-Herzegovina of the first two bills on police reform. Police reform is one of the conditions for signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the European Union and Bosnia-Herzegovina. We hope, now that this stage has been crossed, the agreement can be signed. It is an essential stage for the construction of a stable and democratic Bosnia-Herzegovina.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the efficient action of the European Special Representative, Miroslav Lajcak.
(….)./.
Embassy of France, April 18, 2008
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