Visit to France by Yukiya Amano, Director General of the IAEA
Crackdown in Syria/ Summoning of Syria’s ambassador in Paris
Libya/ Technical meeting of the Contact Group in Doha (April 27)
Visit to France by Yukiya Amano, Director General of the IAEA
Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is conducting an official visit to France from April 27 to 28, 2011.
On this occasion he will meet President Sarkozy and the Ministre d’Etat, as well as the Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing, the Minister for Industry, Energy and the Digital Economy and officials from the French nuclear industry.
In the tragic context of the Fukushima disaster, the meetings will allow us to address the key issue of responsible development of civil nuclear energy. France intends to support the efforts of the IAEA to encourage the highest level of nuclear safety throughout the world, notably in anticipation of the ministerial conference that the Agency will hold in Vienna from June 20 to 24.
The proliferation crises will also be included on the agenda of these meetings. The Iranian nuclear program is continuing to progress in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. Similarly, the lack of cooperation with the IAEA on the part of Syria and North Korea is affecting the non-proliferation regime.
Crackdown in Syria/ Summoning of Syria’s ambassador in Paris
France, within the framework of a diplomatic initiative coordinated together with the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy, summoned Syria’s ambassador in Paris to the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs on April 27.
The Ministre d’Etat’s Cabinet Director, Hervé Ladsous, reiterated to her our firm condemnation of the escalating crackdown against the population by the Syrian authorities, marked recently by the arrival of tanks in Deraa. As President Sarkozy said yesterday, the violence that has been used against peaceful demonstrators, which has left hundreds of people dead, is unacceptable.
We underlined the Syrian authorities’ obligation to comply with the international commitments to which Syria has subscribed with respect to human rights, particularly the right to demonstrate peacefully. We renewed our appeal for the release of all prisoners of conscience, notably those detained for having participated in the demonstrations.
We reaffirmed to Mrs. Chakkour that the Syrian authorities must respond to the legitimate aspirations of their people through reforms, and not through the use of the armed forces.
Yesterday you mentioned strong UN and EU measures to respond to the crackdown in Syria. Can you give us details about the planned measures? […]
I also want to remind you that France is demanding that strong measures be adopted in order to halt the use of force against the population. Given the escalating violence, notably in Deraa, we have a duty to convey a clear message to the Syrian authorities. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, expressed yesterday at the Security Council his “growing concern” regarding the bloody crackdown against the demonstrators in Syria. The Security Council will meet – notably on our initiative – this afternoon in order to address the situation in Syria.
As President Sarkozy stated yesterday, France stands alongside the Arab people in their aspiration for democracy and freedom.
[…]
Libya/ Technical meeting of the Contact Group in Doha (April 27)
France will participate today in Doha in a meeting of the Contact Group on Libya at the senior official level devoted to the implementation of a temporary financial mechanism aimed at lending support to the National Transitional Council.
France is in favor of this mechanism, the principle of which was agreed upon during the meeting of the Contact Group in Doha on April 13.
It aims to support the legitimate demands of the Libyan people by meeting their basic needs, in accordance with UNSCR 1973.
France will be represented at this meeting by the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and by the Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry.