Original source URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060825/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictun_060825161111 France, Germany take aim at Syria by Amer Ouali Fri Aug 25, 12:11 PM ET France, supported by Germany, has severely criticised Syria for its role in the Middle East and Lebanon, saying it will have nothing to do with a government whose leadership "does not inspire confidence." "Syria is an old country, an old civilization, a country that counts and which exists, which must be respected," French President Jacques Chirac told a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris Friday. But he added: "It is true that, currently, the behaviour of its leaders does not automatically inspire confidence." The president said he agreed with Merkel's assessment that Damascus lacked "a constructive attitude" toward the UN resolution on Lebanon. "Germany is not ready to have contacts at any level and under any conditions," Merkel said. Damascus is accused of supplying Shiite militant group Hezbollah with arms across their common border. It has threatened to close the border if an international peacekeeping force is deployed along the frontier. And last week Syrian President Bashar al-Assad described Israel as "an enemy", prompting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to cancel a trip to Damascus. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy also hit out at Syria, saying Damascus should not be allowed to use the current crisis in the region as a way of sidestepping its credibility problems. "Syria should not be allowed to re-enter the international community via the Israeli-Lebanon conflict and shy away from the enquiry" into the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. France, together with the United States, was the author of UN resolution 1559 which preceded the April 2005 withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon and which called for the dismantling of militia groups operating within Lebanon. "This is a country whose leaders have been singled out by the international commission of enquiry, which is the subject of a resolution agreed unanimously by the Security Council, number 1595, which aims to determine who exactly killed a certain number of political figures, well-known public figures, members of parliament and former prime minister Rafiq Hariri," Douste-Blazy said. He added that Syria "plays an important role with regard to Hezbollah." Damascus is widely accused of funneling Iranian arms to the Shiite militia. Syria denies any involvement or responsibility in Hariri's death but has come under intense international pressure to cooperate with the enquiry. But not everyone agreed with the wisdom of shutting Syria out. "It makes no sense to involve Syria" in attempts to end the crisis in the region, former ambassador and regional specialist Eric Rouleau said. Other European governments such as Spain have called for a dialogue with Damascus. UN chief Kofi Annan was due to embark later this week on a major Middle East trip that will include stops in Lebanon and Israel --- and likely Syria and Iran. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Questions or Comments Privacy Policy -Terms of Service - Copyright/IP Policy - Ad Feedback -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.••• Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Blogs: cyberjournal forum http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Achieving real democracy http://harmonization.blogspot.com/ for readers of ETM http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/ Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/ Blogger made easy http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html
