Brussels, 03/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Although in mid-March French President François Hollande called for the arms embargo to be lifted for the Syrian opposition (see EUROPE 10807), his foreign affairs minister, Laurent Fabius, proved much more cautious on Wednesday 3 April, saying that Paris has still not decided its position. “We have to give a reply at the end of May. Until then I can't today tell you yes or no”, he stated on BFM-TV/RMC. “Very accurate work needs to be done to see who we have in front of us”, he said, reiterating that he does not want arms reaching “extremists from the opposition”.
Fabius reiterated that a negotiating meeting would take place in London “next week” - a meeting at which France wants the president of the Syrian National Coalition, Moaz al-Khatib, to be present, as well as the prime minister, Ghassan Hitto, and the chief of staff of the Free Syrian Army, Selim Idriss. “We will have these speakers in front of us to give us an idea about 'Can we have confidence? Can a political solution be found?'”, he said.
On 28 March, Hollande had employed a moderate tone on the issue of lifting the embargo. During a televised speech, he had said that Paris would not deliver arms “while there is uncertainty about there being total control of the situation by the opposition” and about the arms being “used by the legitimate opposition and divorced from all terrorist influence” (our translation throughout). During the European Council, Hollande had said that he had guarantees on the ground for the supply of arms. This is a statement that Fabius did not confirm at the Gymnich meeting, saying that such guarantees are effectively needed (see EUROPE 10807 and 10808). (CG/transl.fl)