Date : 05/04/2003
France has legal, political, friendship commitment to defending Kuwait
BY Saad AL-Ali
PARIS, April 5 (KUNA) -- France has the political and legal commitment
based on the "strong friendship" to defend kuwait against any threat from
Iraq, a member of the french senate said on Saturday.
In an exclusive interview with KUNA, Yvon Collin, a senate member and head
of the Kuwaiti-French friendship group at the Senate, said France would stand
for the defense of Kuwait in case of a threat like it did when it took part in
the liberation of Kuwait.
"France will not hesitate from exercising its commitment to defending
Kuwait once there is an attack on Kuwait from Iraq," he said.
"Like in the last gulf war when France did not hesitate from exercising
its commitment in standing side by side with the allies, this time, France
will not be in distance from the people of Kuwait if there any form of a
threat.
"Our country has relations of friendship with Kuwait and, therefore, the
security of Kuwait is of paramount concern to France," he said.
From the political side, Collin said that Both France and Kuwait have a
military cooperation agreement, signed in 1993, which France, he said, is
totally committed to.
He added that the strong plitical relations linking France with "its
friend" would make Paris even more committed to the security of Kuwait in
particular, and the stability of the region as a whole.
France, which Kuwait has a military cooperation agreement with
along with the four members of the UN Security Counil, has came out of its
silence and made clear after the start of the war that it remained committed
and in "solidarity" with Kuwait after the missile attacks on Kuwait from Iraq.
Kuwait is sending envoys to a number of world capital as well as the
capitals of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council inclusding
Paris, to explain Kuwait's view and policy in regard to the US-led war in Iraq.
Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah, Kuwait's state Minister for foreign affairs, is
due to meet with top french officials in paris on Tuesday.
In addition to the political commitment based on the friendship, Collin
said legally, France is alsao committed to the security of Kuwait.
"The french position that is clearly based on respecting the international
law meant that it backs the security of Kuwait in case of a threat," he said.
Collin made clear that one should not link France's position, clearly made
against the logic of war in Iraq, with the Security of Kuwait.
"These are two separate issues," he said.
He said France's policy stemmed from its belief that the war would further
destablize the middle east as a whole and would cause more suffering to the
iraqi people.
"France believes that continuation of diplomatic efforts remains the best
and the most correct tool in dealing with Iraq," he said
But Collin, familiar with issues in the arab region, strongly
rejected the reports suggesting that the french policy was a kind of support
for the regime in Iraq, saying the government, officials, and people of France
unanimously agree Saddam's regime is dangerous and should be gone.
He said the government and the people of France were well aware of the
atrocities execrised by the regime in Baghdad against its own people.
Collin stressed from his stand point, he believd that Saddam Hussein's
regime, with the long list of human rights violation as well as violation of
UN requirements, "must go."
"The massacre in Halabja, the tortures, kidnapping and killings as well as
oppression against opposition would all let us believe that he is a great
dictator."
"In addition to the long list adds his violation of agreements endorsed by
the UN Security Council. This regime deserves to leave," he said.
But Collin, who himself is opposed to war, said this military operation
would create problems in the future.
Such problems, he said, would not be linked to the war, but rather would be
linked to what he called "lack of coordination between governments in the
region with their own people."
"What we see is arab (people) solidarity with Iraq. This clearly tell us
that there is no coordination between the people and the governments and this
imbalance would create problems in the future," he said. (end)
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