French PM calls crisis meeting

2004-08-31 07:30

Paris - Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin will preside over a ministerial crisis meeting on Tuesday after an ultimatum on two French hostages held in Iraq was extended by 24 hours, a source close to him said.

The meeting, to be held at 11:30 at the prime minister's office, was to be attended by Education Minister Francois Fillon, Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin, Communications Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres and government spokesperson Jean-Francois Cope.

24-hour ultimatium

Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, who is on a diplomatic swing through the Middle East in a bid to obtain the release of the two journalists, will be represented by his aide Pierre Vimont.

The French journalists held hostage by Islamist captors in Iraq were shown in a video on Al-Jazeera TV Monday urging the French government to revoke a ban on Islamic headscarves and warning that their lives were at stake.

The appeal by Radio France correspondent Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot of Le Figaro newspaper, who also called on their compatriots to demonstrate against the ban, came as Al-Jazeera reported that their captors had extended by 24 hours an ultimatum to Paris, which expired late on Monday.

The offices of both Barnier and Raffarin refused to comment on Monday night on the latest developments, saying only that they were closely monitoring the situation, which has left France in a state of shock.

- AFP