Brussels, 16/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The French president, François Hollande, called, on Monday 16 November, for a United Nations Security Council resolution to be adopted - a resolution that would show a common determination to combat terrorism further to the attacks in Paris that left at least 132 dead and over 300 wounded.
In his speech before the French parliament meeting in congress, Hollande said he had “asked the UN Security Council to meet as soon as possible to adopt a resolution presenting a common position” against the Islamic State organisation. “We are confronted by an organisation, Da'esh, (which has) a territorial base, financial resources and military capability. Since the beginning of the year, that organisation has struck Paris, Denmark, Tunisia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Libya”, he pointed out. He announced that he would be meeting the American and Russian presidents in coming days. “All those who can really combat this terrorist army must come together as part of a large and single coalition”, the French president added.
“There will be no respite and no truce”, he promised, going on to insist on the need to be “pitiless” and saying that it was not a question of “containing” but of “destroying” that organisation. France continued bombing Da'esh during the night of 15 and 16 November by attacking its stronghold in Syria, Raqqa. Hollande announced that France would step up its operations in Syria and that strikes would continue “in coming weeks”.
Earlier that day, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and several foreign ministers meeting in Brussels at the Council of the EU, called for action to combat Da'esh. It is necessary to “make sure that (...) what happened in Paris (...) gives us (...) and all the international community a new sense of urgency. We need to find a way of effectively putting an end to the war in Syria and not only fight but also defeat Da'esh once and for all”, Mogherini said. She went on to add: “Our daily work of all the ministers, of all the European institutions, is already centred on fighting Da'esh with all possible means, not only in Syria and in Iraq but everywhere where Da'esh is spreading”.
Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn took the view that “there is a common enemy whether in Syria, Iraq or Libya - and that enemy is Da'esh”. It is also, he said, the enemy of European values and of the values of France. Asselborn went on to explain that it was necessary to do everything to focus on the fight against Da'esh with “full democratic, but also military force”. “That is what France is doing and that is what we must support”, he added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)