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French hostages: Hopes dwindle
09/09/2004 15:59 - (SA)
Paris - The French prime minister briefed senior politicians on Thursday about efforts to free two hostages in Iraq, and a participant in the meeting said officials' confidence in a release is waning.
"They are less confident than they were 10 days ago," said the politician, who asked not to be identified by name. "My feeling is that it is more uncertain."
Government ministers last week raised hopes that the release of reporters Christian Chesnot et Georges Malbrunot might be imminent.
But officials have since grown more cautious, saying efforts to free the men continue but that saying too much could endanger their lives.
Government spokesperson Jean-Francois Cope said on Thursday all avenues were being explored, but otherwise remained tightlipped.
"The approach we have adopted since the start of the crisis gave us the feeling that a certain number of elements were going in the right direction," he said on LCI television. "But at the same time we are cautious and will remain so until the end of this terrible
crisis."
"No contact, no element, no sign is neglected," he said. But he added: "Iraq's situation today is extremely difficult."
At the government's request, politicians briefed by Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin gave no details about the efforts undertaken to free Chesnot et Malbrunot, missing since August 20.
"We shouldn't relax our efforts and, above all, our national unity just because time is ticking by," said Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande.
Others at the 75-minute meeting included leaders from the Communist Party, the centrist UDF party and the ruling conservative UMP party, as well as the presidents of the lower and upper houses
of parliament. Five of Raffarin's ministers also attended.
The reporters disappeared on a trip to the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. Militants claiming to hold the men demanded that France revoke a law banning Islamic headscarves from state schools. But the law went into effect as planned last week. - AP
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