France opts for bigger role in Iraq

France opts for bigger role in Iraq

Correspondents in Baghdad | August 22, 2007

FRENCH Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said yesterday his country would support broader international moves to reconcile Iraq's bitterly divided communities, claiming Paris wanted to play a bigger role in future UN-led moves to defuse the crisis.

Speaking at a news conference in Baghdad after talks with Iraq President Jalal Talabani, Mr Kouchner set the tone for a shift in French policy in Iraq, saying the US could not solve Iraq's problems on its own. "France is ready to play a role in the fight against the violence," he said.

"Everyone knows the Americans cannot bring this country out of difficulty all alone."

Describing as unacceptable the bitter sectarian bloodshed that had claimed thousands of lives in the past 18 months, he added: "We want to be at the side of this large and important country at the birth of its democracy."

Mr Kouchner's surprise visit to Baghdad has been seen as an important step, signifying the willingness of France under new President Nicolas Sarkozy to work with the US in the Middle East. The move by Paris is one of the more encouraging developments of the past months.

His visit was the first by a French official to the war-torn country since the US-led invasion of March 2003, which Paris vehemently opposed.

He has met Iraq's top officials, but so far no American generals.

After meeting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Mr Kouchner held a hectic schedule of meetings, including with Mr Talabani and his Sunni and Shia vice-presidents, Tareq al-Hashemi and Adel Abdel Mahdi.

While he did not elaborate on the role he expected France to play, Mr Kouchner indicated this may evolve through support for UN efforts in Iraq.

"One part of the fight against violence and the restoration of peace and democracy in the country lies with the United Nations. France approves this path and we will assist in this direction," he said.

Mr Kouchner stressed that his visit was mainly to listen to leaders of the various communities. "At the moment there is some indication there is some support from all the communities, from the Sunnis to the Shi'ites, that they want to enlarge the United Nations mandate," he said. "My visit is not enough -- but it may be the beginning of something. If it is, I'll be back."

His trip, shortly after Mr Sarkozy made a fence-building visit to the US, will be seen as a sign France wants to re-establish a role as a world power after being left on the sidelines of recent conflicts.

Mr Kouchner's visit shows that Mr Sarkozy intends to put clear distance between himself and his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, who broadcast to the world his satisfaction at having foreseen the US predicament in Iraq.

Since Mr Sarkozy's election, Washington and Paris have begun co-operating on Iran, Lebanon and Syria; Mr Kouchner's visit offers the hope of extending that to Iraq.

His intervention comes as relations between Britain and the US have soured over the British pullout from Basra. As Britain plans its withdrawal from Iraq, the US needs a new partner and France is well placed to step into that gap.

Support for the US from Central and Eastern European countries, and at the start for the invasion of Iraq from Italy and Spain, isolated Mr Chirac in his anti-Americanism, with then German chancellor Gerhard Schroder. Both have been replaced by pro-US leaders.

AFP, The Times, AP

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