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France cannot send troops to Iraq in current conditions: Chirac
Paris, July 15: French President Jacques Chirac said today that Paris could not consider sending troops to Iraq under existing conditions, according to his aides.
Paris, July 15: French President Jacques Chirac said today that Paris could not consider sending troops to Iraq under existing conditions, according to his aides.
French participation in a multinational force in Iraq "is not conceivable within the current framework," Chirac's spokeswoman Catherine Colonna quoted him as saying during
talks with visiting Czech President Vaclav Klaus.
His statement confirmed a statement made last week by Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin, who said France would only join a multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq if it were under a UN mandate. De Villepin's comments came after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he had asked France and Germany to join a coalition of countries that would share the cost and responsibility of the ongoing military occupation in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Croatia intends to join an international peacekeeping operation in Iraq by sending a special forces unit that will be placed under US command, the defence ministry said today.
Ministry spokesman Davor Denkovski said in Zagreb that the unit made up of about 60 military personnel would be deployed towards the end of the year, subject to parliamentary approval.
A report from Vilnius said Lithuania has no intention of recalling its peacekeepers from Iraq over extremist threats and will not alter plans to send another group of military personnel to the region. "These threats do not change the country's policy and they do not change our plans," defence minister Linas Linkevicius said today.
Bureau Report
His statement confirmed a statement made last week by Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin, who said France would only join a multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq if it were under a UN mandate. De Villepin's comments came after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he had asked France and Germany to join a coalition of countries that would share the cost and responsibility of the ongoing military occupation in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Croatia intends to join an international peacekeeping operation in Iraq by sending a special forces unit that will be placed under US command, the defence ministry said today.
Ministry spokesman Davor Denkovski said in Zagreb that the unit made up of about 60 military personnel would be deployed towards the end of the year, subject to parliamentary approval.
A report from Vilnius said Lithuania has no intention of recalling its peacekeepers from Iraq over extremist threats and will not alter plans to send another group of military personnel to the region. "These threats do not change the country's policy and they do not change our plans," defence minister Linas Linkevicius said today.
Bureau Report