France Praises Syrian Role; Criticizes Aoun
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has lauded Syria for not "interfering" in Lebanon”s internal affairs while criticizing MP Michel Aoun for setting "impossible" preconditions that are hindering the formation of a government.
He was speaking at a press conference Friday on the sidelines of the 17th conference for French ambassadors.
Koucnher said that Syrian President Bashar Assad "repeated three times that he was not insisting on veto power or on supporting Hizbullah."
He pointed to Syria”s "new diplomatic approach and its openness to Saudi Arabia and Iraq, prior recent accusations." However, he added, this "does not mean the absolute absence of Syrian interference in the formation process in Lebanon."
On Iran, Kouchner did not rule out "a negative Iranian interference" pointing to "the continuous flow of Iranian weapons to Hizbullah which possesses 15,000 missiles."
He accused Iran of "continuing to support extremists groups" in reference to Hizbullah, Hamas and other.
"It is not surprising that a government shape-up is taking so long," he said of Iran”s interference, adding that a formation could take "several months."
For his part, President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a "government of national unity as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, official French sources told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that a government is expected to see the light by end of Ramadan.