Date : 20/01/2012
PARIS, Jan 20 (KUNA) -- The French Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a
military option to resolve the Syrian crisis was "not valid" and was not a
scenario being examined.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero indicated that France was in full
support of the Arab League plan to end the crisis but both Foreign Minister
Alain Juppe and his spokesman excluded military intervention or the deployment
of Arab forces in Syria as has been proposed by Qatar.
"We are in direct dialogue with Qatar, which is playing a major role in
mobilising the Arab League to put an end to the repression in Syria," Valero
remarked.
"For France, the military option is not valid," he stressed.
Juppe had told the regional press earlier that a military intervention in
Syria was not "a scenario" being looked at.
But France intends to remain active in denouncing the situation in Syria,
the spokesman added, noting earlier statements to the diplomatic corps by
President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"France will not shut up faced with the Syrian scandal," Valero quoted
Sarkozy as telling diplomats.
The French official repeated his government's position that "the conditions
in which the (Arab League) observer mission is taking place are not
satisfactory. Syria is not respecting the commitments it made relative to the
Arab League".
He said France would continue to pursue a "substantial resolution" in the
UN Security Council on Syria and wants the Arab League to submit its
forthcoming report on the observer mission to the Security Council. (End)
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