French government redoubles its diplomatic efforts to save hostages in Iraq

Producer: Bharati Jagdish
First broadcast: 31 August 04, Radio Singapore International

France redoubled its diplomatic efforts today to save two French journalists who have been held hostage in Iraq.

French President Jacques Chirac travelled to Russia for talks with his anti-Iraq war allies, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, while French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier was in Jordan.

Meanwhile the militants in Iraq claiming to be from a group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq, have given Paris another 24 hours, till late Tuesday, to scrap a controversial ban on Islamic headscarves in public schools.

French officials have expressed shock over the fact that militants have targeted their citizens in spite of France's opposition to the Iraq war.

For more on this, Bharati Jagdish (BJ) spoke to political analyst, Dr Brian Farrell (BF) from the National University of Singapore.

BF: "Their agenda is to take advantage of the anarchy reigning in Iraq and to push whatever particular issue is annoying them and in this case, it's hard not to think that they're just expressing general frustration and lashing out at what is seen by these people as a serious friction between Western and Islamic civilisations. I don't see any other way to explain it. Not only did France not participate in the invasion of Iraq, it vigorously led the opposition to the invasion. If anything, France should be seen, as apparently it is by some prominent people in the Middle East, as anything but an American ally in any kind of perceived confrontation with the Islamic world."

BJ: What strategy should the French government employ as a next step?

BF: "The very next step to take for the French government really has to be that they find a way to bring this to a resolution without giving in to these demands. If they do what the Philippine government did and give in to these demands which are being imposed on them literally at the point of a gun, then they give up their sovereignty, then the French state no longer has the sovereign freedom to make its own laws and to make its own decisions about its own public rules and regulations. I think the French have to try pressure, make threats, perhaps consider some sort of a rescue mission, cultivate the contacts they have in the Islamic world who do applaud the French for the stand they took against American policy last year. They'll have to see if these people have any influence with these militants and can bring some pressure to bear. It's an extremely tricky situation."

BJ: Some analysts say that the fact that you can be against a war and yet be targeted by militants because of your domestic policies shows that countries should effect a paradigm shift in the way Islam-related issues are addressed, though perhaps not at this point where they would be seen as giving in to the militants, but perhaps in the future. What's your perspective on this?

BF: "I think the issue is a great deal more complicated than that. I saw during the 1990s, on several occasions, coalitions of major Western powers, led by the United States, putting their own people in harm's way and using military force to save, protect and rescue beleaguered Muslim minorities which were being bullied aggressively by their non-Muslim neighbours, such as in for instance, Bosnia and Kosovo. I saw a coalition led by Western powers, but including Islamic powers, jump to the rescue of a Muslim state which had been invaded in a naked act of aggression by another. Kuwait, for instance. I think this is a great deal more complicated. I don't agree with those who are picking up guns and kidnapping people in Iraq that this is a straightforward conflict between Islam and the West. I don't accept that at all."

BJ: Now, this incident has actually led to French Muslim leaders, who were previously very outspoken against the law to ban headscarves in public schools, actually getting behind the policy now and distancing themselves from the terrorists. Do you therefore expect this incident to have a positive impact on the domestic landscape in France?

BF: "I think it's too early to tell whether this will have any kind of a positive effect on relations between the Muslim community in France and the rest of the French people but I do think this is a very positive sign. Here are responsible, sensible people disowning these acts of terrorism and insisting that no positive change that's of benefit to the community-at-large can come terrorism or from people being held hostage by force. I can only applaud that kind of statement and hope that it does indeed help to make improvements in the political situation in France."

BJ: France is trying to seek help from Middle Eastern countries to secure the release of the hostages. What's your sense about how the Islamic world is perceiving this situation?

BF: "I've heard a lot of condemnation from the Islamic leaders against this act, saying that it's wrong period and secondly, it's especially wrong to attack French civilians in this way if the issue is supposed to be discontent with American policy and with the occupation of Iraq. But it's clearly not. This kind of anarchy in Iraq has now opened Pandora's box and everybody with a gun and a grievance is out to make headway."