France Says Time to Help Iraq End Violence

Tue Nov 23, 5:09 AM ET
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - France told an international conference on Iraq Tuesday it was time to put aside differences over the U.S.-led invasion and help the country put an end to violence.
"We all know what positions our different countries held in the period that led to the current situation developing. But today we must turn to the future. France, and Europe, are ready to do so," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said.
"We have a collective duty to put an end to instability in Iraq," he said in a speech prepared for delivery at the conference in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. An official English translation was obtained by Reuters.
France and Germany were the most prominent critics of the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein last year, and have refused to send forces there to help restore peace.
Barnier said the conference should call on the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government to hold a meeting of Iraqi political groups as soon as possible before the elections.
"Such a meeting would ensure high voter turn out across Iraq," he said. France had wanted Iraqi political forces, including those not represented in the U.S.-backed government, to meet on the sidelines of the Sharm el-Sheikh conference. But that idea was rejected by Baghdad.