- Title: FRANCE: TWO FRENCH AIR FORCE PILOTS FREED IN FORMER YUGOSLAVIA RETURN TO FRANCE
- Date: 12th December 1995
- Summary: VILLACOUBLAY AIR BASE, FRANCE (DECEMBER 12, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV PLANE TAXIING ON TARMAC 0.11 2. SV FRENCH PRESIDENT JACQUES CHIRAC WAITING FOR PILOTS TO COME OUT 0.25 3. SV FRENCH PILOTS CAPTAIN FREDERIC CHIFFOT AND LIEUTENANT JOSE SOUVIGNET LEAVE PLANE AND ARE GREETED BY CHIRAC 1.01 4. SV CHIRAC, CHIFFOT AND SOUVIGNET WALK BACK TO AIRPORT BUILDING 1.32 5. SV CHIFFOT AND SOUVIGNET INTO CAR 2.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 27th December 1995 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VILLACOUBLAY, FRANCE
- City:
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA79L8JIAKHSTRQUBTGW0NX5VDB
- Story Text: Two French airmen shot down and held captive by the Bosnian Serbs for more than 100 days flew home to an emotional heroes' welcome on Tuesday (December 12), clearing the way for a peace ceremony to end the Bosnian war.
French President Jacques Chirac and Defence Minister Charles Millon greeted Captain Frederic Chiffot and Lieutenant Jose Souvignet at an air base west of Paris after they touched down.
Flown from Serbia in the plane of the French armed forces chief of staff, both men looked tired but happy.
After they stepped off the plane, they were taken to their families who had long feared they might be dead.
Both men were later driven into Paris for a medical check-up.
Chiffot and Souvignet, who had not been seen in public since their Mirage 2000 was blasted out of the sky near the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale, were handed over to France's armed forces chief at the Bosnian-Serbian border earlier on Tuesday.
They were flown from the border town of Zvornik to Belgrade and then on to the French capital.
Their return, following French threats of action against their captors, clears the way for the signing of a peace treaty in Paris on Thursday which will formally end the war in Bosnia.
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