IRAQ: FRENCH DIPLOMATS CONTINUE TALKS WITH SUNNI CLERICS TO PUSH FOR RELEASE OF FRENCH HOSTAGES HELD IN IRAQ

Record ID: 646559

  • Title: IRAQ: FRENCH DIPLOMATS CONTINUE TALKS WITH SUNNI CLERICS TO PUSH FOR RELEASE OF FRENCH HOSTAGES HELD IN IRAQ
  • Date: 7th September 2004
  • Summary: (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 7, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. EXTERIOR UMM KORA MOSQUE, HEADQUARTERS OF MUSLIM CLERICS ASSOCIATION 0.03 2. FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY SPECIAL ENVOY, HUBERT COLIN DE VERDIERE, WALKING UP TO MOSQUE 0.10 3. DE VERDIERE WALKING WITH FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ BERNARD BAJOLET (BRIGHT IN BLUE SUIT) / DE VERDIERE AND BAJOLET GREETING UNIDENTIFIED SUNNI CLERIC/ ENTERING FOR MEETING 0.33 4. ABDUL SALAM HUBAISI, SPOKESMAN FOR MUSLIM CLERICS ASSOCIATION ENTERING AND GREETING DE VERDIERE AND BAJOLET 0.54 5. CLOSE OF HUBAISI TALKING TO VERDIERE 0.58 6. WIDE OF MEETING 1.07 (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 7, 2004) (REUTERS) 7. VARIOUS OF DE VERDIERE AND BAJOLET WALKING WITH CLERICS THROUGH UMM KORA MOSQUE COMPLEX FOLLOWING MEETING (2 SHOTS) 1.26 8. SOUNDBITE (French) DE VERDIERE SAYING: "We are maintaining contact with the Ulema (Muslim clerics committee) which is very useful. We know the efforts made by the clerics regarding the freeing of our citizens and their driver. It is thus very necessary to maintain contact between the clerics and us. Thank you." 1.53 9. EXTERIOR MOSQUE/ PAN TO DE VERDIERE AND BAJOLET WALKING WITH CLERICS 2.12 10. DE VERDIERE AND BAJOLET GETTING INTO CAR / DE VERDIERE AND BAJOLET GETTING INTO CAR 2.30 11. CAR DRIVING OFF 2.32 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA1NU64SGGMY5U5YFBWYZWV18SH
  • Story Text: French delegation continues talks with Sunni clerics
    in Baghdad on the release of two French journalists after a
    statement posted on the internet sets new demands.



    French diplomats on Tuesday (September 7, 2004) continued
    meetings with Sunni clerics to push for the release of two
    French journalists held hostage in Iraq.

    French ambassador to Iraq, Bernard Bajolet and foreign
    ministry special envoy Hubert Colin de Verdiere left the
    Umm al-Qura mosque, headquarters of the Muslim Clerics
    Association following the meeting.

    "We are maintaining contact with the Muslim clerics
    committee," de Verdiere told reporters. "We know the
    efforts made by the clerics regarding the freeing of our
    citizens and their driver. It is thus very necessary to
    maintain contact between the clerics and us," he said.

    The Muslim Clerics Association was formed after Saddam
    Hussein was toppled to regroup the country's Sunni
    minority. It has intervened to help secure the release of
    journalists who have been kidnapped in Iraq after the U.S.

    invasion last year.

    But hopes that the men might soon be freed gave way to
    expressions of doubt and concern after a statement setting
    out new demands for their release was posted on an Internet
    site.

    The statement, posted on an Internet site on Monday
    (September 6) and demanding a $5 million ransom for the two
    journalists within 48 hours, met with widespread scepticism
    in the French media and a call for "maximum discretion"
    from officials.

    Morning radio reports stressed that Foreign Minister
    Michel Barnier's latest statement, "I think a possibility
    of a positive outcome exists" was his most cautious yet
    about the fate of journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges
    Malbrunot.

    "As the days pass by, doubt is creeping in," the daily Le
    Telegramm
    e in the Atlantic port of Brest wrote in an
    editorial that questioned France's strategy of relying on
    its opposition to the Iraq war to win favour with the
    hostage takers.

    The Internet statement, made in the name of the Islamic
    Army in Iraq which was holding the hostages, said the
    militants had planned to release the men but attacks by
    United States troops in the area had prevented them from
    doing so.

    Video tapes in the name of the Islamic Army in Iraq
    have been sent to the Arabic television station Al Jazeera
    showing the two men since they were seized on Aug. 20.

    Monday's statement also called for a truce with al
    Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a promise of no military
    and commercial dealings with Iraq, demands which appeared
    to be directed at France.

    The statement said the group would accept just one of
    its demands being met and warned against any attempt to
    attack it.

    "We warn you not to bombard us as you did on the
    day when we intended to deliver (the hostages) to you," it
    said.

    France was stunned by the kidnappings because it had
    opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq and has not sent troops to
    the country.

    Paris promptly mobilised unprecedented support from
    Arab capitals and Islamic groups to pile pressure on the
    militants. It was so optimistic about the success of this
    strategy that ministers said last weekend the men's release
    was imminent.

    Chesnot is a reporter for Radio France Internationale
    and Malbrunot writes for the dailies Le Figaro and Ouest
    France.

    Scores of hostages from many countries have been seized
    in the past five months in a guerrilla campaign to
    undermine Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government. More than
    20 have been killed.
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