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France has no proof that Syria tested chemical weapons
Paris, Apr 15: Paris has seen no proof to back up US accusations that Syria conducted chemical weapons tests in the past year, France`s European affairs minister Noelle Lenoir said today.
Paris, Apr 15: Paris has seen no proof to back up US
accusations that Syria conducted chemical weapons tests in
the past year, France's European affairs minister Noelle
Lenoir said today.
"We don't have any proof," Lenoir told French Cable
Network I-Television when asked about US defense secretary
Donald Rumsfeld's claims that Damascus had tested chemical
weapons in the past 15 months.
"The situation around the world is dangerous enough,
without our targetting one country or another on the question
of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Lenoir
said.
Washington has stepped up the pressure on Syria in recent
days, accusing it of harboring weapons of mass destruction,
sponsoring terrorist groups and providing safe haven to
members of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's regime.
Syria has denied it has any banned weapons.
French foreign minister Dominique de Villepn yesterday
called for restraint and moderation following the us
accusations, saying dialogue was the only way to resolve
problems in the middle east as a whole.
"Do not let us underestimate the fact that this region today -- whether at government or popular level -- is experiencing a very deep feeling of unease, frustration, sometimes even humiliation," de Villepin said at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
Bureau Report