Paris, Nov 02: France today denied a report in a pan-Arab newspaper that an envoy of President Jacques Chirac has been secretly shuttling to Baghdad in a bid to persuade Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to soften his policies and avert a US strike. "French authorities categorically deny this report from the daily Asharq al-Awsat," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
"No French envoy tasked with such a mission to Saddam Hussein has gone to Iraq." Asharq al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned London-based daily, reported today that an envoy of Chirac has been "regularly visiting Iraq for some time" to urge Saddam to soften his domestic and foreign policies in order to avert US military action against his regime.
The paper, quoting "authorized French sources", said the general amnesty recently granted by Saddam to all prisoners was a fruit of that effort. It identified the French troubleshooter as a senior foreign ministry official named Pierre Delval, as transliterated from Arabic. Bureau Report