FRENCH REACTION: The United Nations must oversee the reconstruction of Iraq, the French Foreign Minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin, said yesterday, staking out a position against Washington's views on rebuilding the country.
"The UN must steer the process. More importantly, the UN must be at the heart of the reconstruction and administration of Iraq," Mr de Villepin said in a speech in London.
"The legitimacy of our action depends on it," he told the prestigious International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS). As nations look forward to the post-war era in Iraq, the United States is initially expected to set up a form of military administration for the country, with only a limited role for the United Nations.
This is at odds with the position of France, but Mr de Villepin said Paris was ready to mend the rift with the US.
"These times of great changes call for a renewed close and trusting relationship with the United States. France is ready," Mr de Villepin said. "Because they share common values, the United States and France will re-establish close co-operation in complete solidarity."
The French minister restated French objections to the war, however, saying "our choices were not made against one country or another but in the name of a certain kind of collective responsibility and of a world vision." He said current "challenges demand that we work together more than ever before to find a political settlement to the Middle East crisis . . . we can only have lasting peace if it is justice-based." - (AFP)