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   Chirac comments on kidnapping of French

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Topic: Chirac comments on kidnapping of French (Read 126 times)

david
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Chirac comments on kidnapping of French
« on: Aug 29^th, 2004, 2:28pm »

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PARIS - President Jacques Chirac dispatched his foreign minister to the Middle East on Sunday to work for the release of two French reporters abducted in Iraq (news - web sites), vowing to spare no effort to free them from kidnappers demanding the France scrap its ban on Islamic head scarves in state schools.

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Chirac appealed to the kidnappers with an implicit reminder that France opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. But he did not directly respond to their reported demand that the ban on head scarves and other religious apparel be overturned within 48 hours.

"France ensures equality, the respect and protection of the free practicing of all religions," a solemn-looking Chirac said in a televised address. "These values of respect and tolerance inspire our actions everywhere in the world ... They also inspired France's policy in Iraq."

The kidnapping proved false the notion that France's opposition to the Iraq war and its generally pro-Arab policies may to some extent have inoculated it from Islamic terrorism.

The militants claiming to hold Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot described the headscarf law as "an aggression on the Islamic religion and personal freedoms," according to the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera.

The station showed a brief tape on Saturday of the journalists saying they were in captivity the first word on their fate since they disappeared more than a week ago. Chesnot works for Radio France-Internationale and Radio France and Malbrunot for RTL radio and the dailies Le Figaro and Ouest-France.

Chirac said Foreign Minister Michel Barnier was rushing to the Middle East "to develop the necessary contacts there and coordinate our representatives' efforts" to win the reporters' release.

"Everything is being done and everything will be done in the hours and days to come," said Chirac. He said France has no fresh information about the reporters.

"The whole nation is gathered together, because what's at stake is the lives of two French people, the defense of freedom of expression, and also the values of our Republic," the president said.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin indicated that France is using its contacts in the Arab world to seek the men's release. He met ministers and Chirac on Sunday to coordinate the government's response.

The headscarf law, which will take effect when school resumes this week following the summer break, forbids public school students from wearing "conspicuous" signs showing their religious affiliation. While that includes Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, French authorities made clear that the measure was aimed at removing Islamic head scarves from classrooms.

The law was adopted in March with overwhelming support from lawmakers from across the political spectrum. But it sparked protests by Muslims in France and abroad, with many saying Islam was being unfairly targeted.

But French Muslim leaders who opposed the law were strong in their condemnation of the kidnapping and urged the government Sunday not to capitulate. Some also expressed fears, however, of a backlash for the 5 million-strong Muslim community, western Europe's biggest.

"We must not negotiate. It is blackmail which the Muslims of France reject. It is blackmail which does not serve the Muslim cause and which unfortunately holds the Muslim community hostage," said Lhaj Thami Breze, president of the powerful Union of Islamic Organizations of France.

"The head scarf issue is a solely French affair and we do not accept foreign interference," he added.

Earlier Sunday, Chirac's interior minister defended the law.

"It is not directed at anyone but aims on the contrary at preserving everybody's freedom. It plays a role in the cohesion of our country." said Dominique de Villepin, flanked by Muslim leaders he met with to show a united front in the face of the kidnapping.

"We want everyone to know that secularism in our country does not divide the French but unites them," he added. "French people of all origins, of all religions or all faiths, are united behind our compatriots Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot. Together, we ask for their release."

There was also condemnation in the Middle East of the kidnapping.

"This is not the way to solve problems. Such actions will only increase the enemies of the head scarf in France," said Sheik Maher Hammoud, a hard-line Sunni Muslim cleric in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon. He said the reporters should be freed "immediately."

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