Posted on 12/24/2004 8:51:48 AM PST by Mo1
France says too early to confirm reporter kidnapped in Iraq
www.chinaview.cn 2005-01-11 22:36:52
PARIS, Jan. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier on Tuesday said he could not confirm the kidnapping in Iraq of missing French reporter Florence Aubenas and her assistant.
"As I talk to you, I cannot speak of a kidnapping. We're trying to find them. We're mobilized, we're seeking information, we've made all the right contacts," Barnier said in an interview with French radio station RMC.
Aubenas, 43, and her Iraqi assistant Hussein Hanun al-Saadi were last seen at their Baghdad hotel on Jan. 5 and have not been heard from since.
The French minister warned reporters working in Iraq against the risk of being taken hostage.
French President Jacques Chirac also advised Friday journalists to stay out of Iraq.
Aubenas went missing shortly after the release on Dec. 21 of two French journalists -- Christian Chesnot, 37, of Radio France Internationale and Georges Malbrunot, 41, of Le Figaro -- who were kidnapped on Aug. 20 south of Baghdad by a group calling itself the "Islamic Army of Iraq." Enditem
____________________________________________________________
Paris hunts French reporter missing in Iraq
PARIS, Jan 10 (AFP) - French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said Monday that Paris was doing everything possible to find a newspaper journalist who went missing in Iraq along with her translator five days ago.
"We know about her courage. We are currently compiling all the information needed in order to bring about the happy ending we all want and are hoping for," Raffarin told reporters attending a New Year's reception.
Florence Aubenas, a senior correspondent for the left-leaning French daily Liberation, has not been seen or heard from since last Wednesday, when she left her Baghdad hotel with translator Hussein Hanun al-Saadi.
Late in the day, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said he still had no conclusive information about the reasons for the disappearance of the 43-year-old Aubenas.
"We still don't know for sure what the reasons are for this disappearance, and we're following up with all possible verifications and searches," Barnier told a press conference.
Earlier, France's ambassador to Iraq, Bernard Bajolet, said he had asked for the help of one of the main Iraqi Sunni organizations which had been instrumental in winning the release of two other French journalists last month.
Bajolet told reporters in Baghdad after talks with the head of the Committee of Muslim Scholars, Sheikh Hareth Al-Dari, that the group had assured him it would attempt to find Aubenas.
"I have hardly had the time to thank the Committee for its invaluable assistance in the release of the hostages Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot and I have come again to ask again for their help in freeing a French journalist," Bajolet said, referring to the two reporters who were held hostage by Iraqi insurgents for four months.
"They promised to do everything to find her."
Committee spokesman Omar Ragheb confirmed his group would try to help.
"We promised to do all we could to find her but we still do not know anything about the identity of the kidnappers. We will do everything we can," he said.
A group of masked gunmen in Iraq has claimed that a "female journalist and the person with her" are in good health, but did not specifically identify the journalist as Aubenas.
On Friday, French President Jacques Chirac warned journalists to stay out of Iraq, saying their safety could not be ensured - a concern echoed by Raffarin on Monday.
"My duty as prime minister is to warn of the extreme chaos of a country in which insecurity has created an extremely dangerous situation," he said.
Raffarin said he had asked Barnier to meet this week with top media executives to discuss working conditions in danger zones, and the necessary precautions to be taken.
The International Parliament of Writers, an association committed to the defence of writers under persecution, asked that Aubenas and Saadi be released immediately, saying they considered Aubenas as one of their own.
The statement published in Liberation was signed by three winners of the Nobel prize for literature: Austria's Elfriede Jelinek, Egypt's Naguib Mahfouz and Nigeria's Wole Soyinka.
A group of Arab journalists also appealed for Aubenas's release, calling her an "example of the independent journalist who dares to say what she sees, without any consideration for political or partisan interests".
The news of Aubenas's disappearance comes just three weeks after the release of Chesnot and Malbrunot.
Chesnot works for Radio France Itnernationale, which announced Monday that it would not be sending any correspondents to Iraq "until further notice".
____________________________________________________________
Freep mail incoming.
*chin in hand, musing look*
What?
Why is everyone looking at me like that?
I didn't do anything to no cow to make it sleep with tha fishes.
You talkin bout me?
HuH?
Poor Darks.
*Smooch*
.
*SSssssh!*
The job on the farm went off well... the crow barks at midnight.
LOL!
Thanks!
snowmobiling?
Nope. Something about a dead cow washing up on a San Francisco beach.
It does pay to be gone from the thread....
:-)
Alright!
Alright..
Tha cow squealed to the pigs about what tha bunnies were doin'
It had ta be silenced.
Tha horse said so.
Man, we have some really NASTY weather passing through FAST! Yikes!
Severe Weather Statement National Weather Service Little Rock AR 844 PM CST Wed Jan 12 2005
... A Severe Thunderstorm Warning Continues For Marion And Baxter Counties Until 900 PM...
At 844 PM CST... National Weather Service Doppler Radar Continued To Indicate Severe Thunderstorms From 3 Miles Southeast Of Oakland To 8 Miles East Of Yellville. These Thunderstorms Were Moving Northeast At 55 Mph.
Locations Still In The Path Of These Storms Include Mountain Home And Clarkridge.
The Storms Will Produce 50 To 60 Mph Winds. At Flippin... Winds Gusted To 56 Mph.
People In The Path Of The Storms Need To Find A Place Of Safety Now!
Hopefully it will pass by as fast as it came in. I was watching the movement on radar. It was just a little while ago that it was in the far norteastern corner of the state. It sounds bad out there.
Rest well, chicken.
Lots done with the day's away.
More cheers.
Nice ConTrails...errh...chemtrails there.
Our snow is melting fast. It's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow then get down to zero.......
First global warming....then the ice age. No matter what it's Bush's fault......Obvious....
Temperature's dropped 10 degrees here in the past hour or so. It's down to 54. By tomorrow night, it is supposed to be in the low 20's.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.