Brussels, 21/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - The French President, François Hollande, has taken stock of France's positions and actions in the bloody conflicts throughout the Middle East and in Ukraine. Given this conjunction of crises, the international situation is “the most serious we have seen since 2001”, he said in an interview with the daily newspaper Le Monde, published on Thursday 21 August (our translation throughout).
He stated that with the Islamic State (IS), the international community is not dealing with an international organisation, such as Al Qaeda, but with a “quasi-terrorist state”. This makes it impossible to discuss the possibility of an intervention. He argued in favour of a “global strategy” against IS, which is “structured, has at its disposal considerable funding and highly sophisticated weaponry and constitutes a threat to countries such as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon”, the French President explained. “I plan to propose a conference on security in Iraq and the fight against the Islamic State to our partners very soon”, he announced.
The day before, the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, told the national parliament that it was too early to set a date for this conference, as it would be “complicated to arrange”. “We aim to bring together the members of the United Nations Security Council and all the countries in the region affected” by the conflict, he said.
On the subject of the conflict in the Middle East, Hollande called for a demilitarisation of Gaza and a lifting of the blockade. “France can be useful with Europe on the lifting of the Rafah blockade. France will be taking part in the conference for the reconstruction of Gaza, it will make this very clear: Gaza should be neither an open-air prison nor an armed base”, he explained. “Otherwise, the same causes will produce the same effects”. The French President also stressed that all possible efforts should be made to ensure that negotiations resume between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, “to seek an outcome”. “If it fails, the international community will have to take its responsibilities”, he added.
The President also lamented the lack of action by the international community in Syria. “The international community bears great responsibility in Syria. If, two years ago, there had been action to set in train a transition, we would not have had the Islamic State. If, one year ago, the major powers had reacted to the use (by the Syrian regime: Ed) of chemical weaponry, we would not have been faced with this terrible choice between a dictator and a terrorist group, when the rebels deserve our full support”, he explained. The United States laid down the use of chemical weapons as a red line for intervention, but failed to apply this. And for the first time, the President officially confirmed that France had supplied the Syrian moderate rebels with arms, “materials which comply with European commitments”.
On the crisis in Ukraine, Hollande highlighted the need for “determination, dialogue” with Russia. “Europe cannot accept the territorial integrity of a country being called into question”, he said, adding that the sanctions against Russia were “necessary”, and that others would follow if nothing changed. Hollande said that he had warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on 12 August, that if there was no rapid end to the crisis, “it would be expensive for the Russians, both economically and politically”. On the sale of Mistrals to Russia, Hollande once again repeated that the level of current sanctions against Moscow did not prohibit this. “It was the Europeans who made that decision, not France. If there should be greater tensions and no way of finding an outcome, we would have to discuss the matter. But as things stand, that is not the case”, he said.
The sanctions against Russia are decided upon unanimously at European level. (CG)