Paris insists no ransom paid

2004-12-22 15:56

Paris - The French government insisted on Wednesday it had paid no ransom to free two journalists kidnapped by insurgents in Iraq, but refused to divulge details of the efforts that led to their release.

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin told a group of political leaders that there was "neither a demand nor a payment" of a ransom for the release of Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot".

Chesnot and Malbrunot were released on Tuesday by an insurgent group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq.

They were kidnapped south of Baghdad on August 20 and held for four months despite the French government's affirmation that it was working diligently and discreetly to free the pair.

When the Islamic Army in Iraq released the men, it issued a statement to Al-Jazeera television saying it did so

"because they were proven not to spy for US forces

in response to appeals and demands from Islamic institutions and bodies and

in appreciation of the French government's stand on the Iraq issue and the two journalists' stand on the Palestinian cause".

'Discreet'

Francois Bayrou, head of the UDF faction allied to the UMP, said: "I see a difference between what a prime minister can say and what he is obliged to keep discreet or secret.

"I think it legitimate, even prudent, to keep a certain number of things hidden."

For his part, Raffarin made no public comment on the subject of a ransom, saying only that France's "friendship of the Iraqi people" contributed to the journalists' release.

President Jacques Chirac, in a televised address on Wednesday, was equally vague.

Virtually nothing has been made public of what role, if any, French officials played in Chesnot and Malbrunot's release.

The last known attempt at a negotiated release was in September when an Arabic-speaking MP in the UMP, Didier Julia, embarked on an unofficial mission to Syria and Iraq.

Chirac and the rest of the ruling party disowned his effort when it came up empty-handed, but subsequent news reports said it may have been a ransom drop gone wrong.

'124-day mystery'

In the meantime, the French media speculated on the murkiness surrounding their release.

The left-of-centre daily Liberation focused on what its front-page headline called "The 124-day mystery".

While stressing that "all's well that ends well," the newspaper said the affair had been surrounded by "diplomatic entanglement, repeated blunders and a cacophony that cast doubt on the government's ability to untangle the crisis".

Le Figaro, the conservative newspaper for which Malbrunot worked, said "vast areas of shadow" remained over the conditions of the journalists' liberation, particularly concerning the role played by the pro-American authorities in Baghdad, the Syrians and the Iranians.

The popular Le Parisien said that once the celebrations were over, the time for questions would arrive - particularly over whether a ransom was paid for the release.

- AFP