.French foreign minister arrives in Iraq
NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AP) - The French foreign minister arrived Saturday in the southern city of Nasiriyah for his second visit to Iraq in less than a year as Paris seeks to rebuild ties with the war-torn nation.
Bernard Kouchner was met by the Shiite vice president and the provincial governor after landing at a U.S. base in the city the morning after the base was hit by a rocket or mortar attack.
Kouchner, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Aziz Kadhim Alwan, the governor of Dhi Qar province that includes Nasiriyah, then toured the nearby ancient ruins of the biblical city of Ur.
"This visit ... is a message of peace and cooperation and a chance to discuss any future French contribution to rebuilding Iraq," Kouchner told reporters through an Arabic translator.
He planned to travel to the Kurdish city of Irbil in northern Iraq to open a French consulate in the semiautonomous region, the French Foreign Ministry said.
He was meeting with senior Iraqi officials and representatives of civil society, the ministry said in a statement.
"It will be a chance for the minister to express to the Iraqis the availability of France to work with all Iraqis to promote national reconciliation," the ministry said, adding Kouchner also would express solidarity with Iraqis, particularly in the health field.
Kouchner, a physician, is the co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, and a former U.N. administrator for Kosovo.
He said four Iraqi children would travel to France to undergo cardiac surgeries.
On Aug. 19, Kouchner became the first senior French official to visit Iraq since the war started, saying Paris - which had been one of the fiercest critics of the U.S.-led invasion - wanted to "turn the page" and look to the future.
Nasiriyah, a predominantly Shiite city about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, saw fierce clashes during recent fighting between militias and U.S.-Iraqi forces.
The situation has calmed since anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr declared a truce, but sporadic violence continues. The Imam Ali base where Kouchner landed was hit by rockets or mortar shells at about 8:30 p.m. Friday, but no casualties were reported, the U.S. military said.
Kouchner was in Iraq a day after visiting Jordan to sign an agreement to help the Arab kingdom develop its nuclear energy program for peaceful purposes.
In Jordan, he also announced France will try to take in about 500 Iraqi Christian refugees "because of the oppression of some Christians in Iraq."
MyWay
You know Armageddon must be around the corner if we end up being able to depend more on the French than the Brits..
Bernard Kouchner was met by the Shiite vice president and the provincial governor after landing at a U.S. base in the city the morning after the base was hit by a rocket or mortar attack.
Kouchner, Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Aziz Kadhim Alwan, the governor of Dhi Qar province that includes Nasiriyah, then toured the nearby ancient ruins of the biblical city of Ur.
"This visit ... is a message of peace and cooperation and a chance to discuss any future French contribution to rebuilding Iraq," Kouchner told reporters through an Arabic translator.
He planned to travel to the Kurdish city of Irbil in northern Iraq to open a French consulate in the semiautonomous region, the French Foreign Ministry said.
He was meeting with senior Iraqi officials and representatives of civil society, the ministry said in a statement.
"It will be a chance for the minister to express to the Iraqis the availability of France to work with all Iraqis to promote national reconciliation," the ministry said, adding Kouchner also would express solidarity with Iraqis, particularly in the health field.
Kouchner, a physician, is the co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, and a former U.N. administrator for Kosovo.
He said four Iraqi children would travel to France to undergo cardiac surgeries.
On Aug. 19, Kouchner became the first senior French official to visit Iraq since the war started, saying Paris - which had been one of the fiercest critics of the U.S.-led invasion - wanted to "turn the page" and look to the future.
Nasiriyah, a predominantly Shiite city about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, saw fierce clashes during recent fighting between militias and U.S.-Iraqi forces.
The situation has calmed since anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr declared a truce, but sporadic violence continues. The Imam Ali base where Kouchner landed was hit by rockets or mortar shells at about 8:30 p.m. Friday, but no casualties were reported, the U.S. military said.
Kouchner was in Iraq a day after visiting Jordan to sign an agreement to help the Arab kingdom develop its nuclear energy program for peaceful purposes.
In Jordan, he also announced France will try to take in about 500 Iraqi Christian refugees "because of the oppression of some Christians in Iraq."
MyWay
You know Armageddon must be around the corner if we end up being able to depend more on the French than the Brits..
posted by madtom at 3:10 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home