France rejoices in hostages’ freedom
President Jacques Chirac and prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin were waiting at a military airport outside the capital to greet Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot one day after they were freed by Iraqi militants.
Government officials said no ransom was paid.
But the harmony threatened to be short-lived as opposition politicians geared up to ask why France failed to get them released earlier despite its traditional pro-Arab policies and outspoken opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Family and friends rushed out into the rain to greet Radio France Internationale reporter Chesnot, aged 37, and Le Figaro’s Malbrunot, aged 41, as they left the executive jet. Both gave their mothers long embraces before greeting the other well-wishers.
Both looked healthy but thinner than before.
Mr Chirac interrupted a Christmas holiday in Morocco to return to Paris to address the nation and greet the men.
“We owe their release to the mobilisation and unity of all the French people, to whom I want to pay homage,” Mr Chirac said in the television address during the day.
The seizure of the two men in Iraq on August 20 had deeply shocked the French people and prompted a major publicity campaign which ensured their plight was not forgotten.
Details of their release were sketchy but, briefing party leaders, Mr Raffarin said the conservative government had not bought the men’s freedom.
“The prime minister said a number of things, notably that no ransom had been demanded and none was paid, and that the negotiations had always been conducted with intermediaries,” said Francois Bayrou, leader of the centre-right UDF party.
Opposition groups hailed the release but said the government must eventually explain its handling of the crisis.
France’s close ties with the Arab world and its opposition to George Bush over the war in Iraq may have helped secure the journalists’ release, but Mr Chirac is sure to face questions about why it took so long.
“We must ask for explanations about all stages of their detention,” said Francois Hollande, leader of the opposition Socialist Party. “Now their freedom has been secured, informing parliament about all the conditions of how the discussions have unfolded since August is the least thing that can be done.”
