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| Europe |
| French officials criticize Gaddafi ahead of visit |
| 2007-12-10 |
| France's top human rights official strongly criticized Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ahead of his arrival on an official visit on Monday, saying France was not a "doormat" on which he could wipe off the blood of his crimes. Secretary of State for Human Rights Rama Yade, a member of the centre-right government, said in a newspaper interview published on Monday that the timing of Gaddafi's visit was particularly bad as he was arriving on World Human Rights Day. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner defended Yade's comments ahead of the visit by Gaddafi, his first to France in 34 years as ties with Western countries who have long accused him of backing terrorism have warmed since Tripoli scrapped its weapons of mass destruction program in 2003. "I am resigned to hosting him. It was a necessity ... because being a human rights activist but currently foreign minister is a contradiction I encounter daily with many countries," Kouchner said in a radio interview. "France is not just a trade balance," Yade told the daily Le Parisien, adding that France should not only sign business deals with Gaddafi but also demand "guarantees" from him on human rights in his country during his five-day visit. "Colonel Gaddafi must understand that our country is not a doormat on which a leader, terrorist or not, can come and wipe the blood of his crimes off his feet. France should not receive this kiss of death," she said. The visit would be indecent if it boiled down to signing contracts, said Yade, whose youth, gender and Senegalese origins have made her a symbol of the new generation of politicians President Nicolas Sarkozy says he wants to promote. Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said in a newspaper interview last week that Libya would buy more than 3 billion euros ($4.37 billion) worth of Airbus planes plus a nuclear power station and was looking to acquire military hardware too. Yade later appeared to temper her criticism of the trip on France Info radio, saying she was not opposed to the visit but was "reserved" about the choice of World Human Rights Day. But her comments, and criticism of Sarkozy's decision not to take her on a recent visit to China, were a rare outburst from a junior minister who has kept a relatively low profile since entering government six months ago. Rantburgers like anonymous5089, who know something about France, have been reminding us about French friends of Western civilization for some time. It's good to see that Sarkozy's government ensures that the MSM will be featuring some of them now. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 "Colonel Gaddafi must understand that our country is not a doormat on which a leader, terrorist or not, can come and wipe the blood of his crimes off his feet. France should not receive this kiss of death," she said. Of course that's really exactly what they're doing, but you're not supposed to notice. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-12-10 14:47 |