France hopes silence will win hostages' freedom

The French government remains hopeful about the fate of two its nationals held hostage in Iraq but does not want to jeopardise their release by talking about it too much, an official said today.

“We still want to believe that their liberation will come as soon as possible,” Culture and Communications Minster Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said.

But, he added, “We have to be very cautious.”

Journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot disappeared 17 days ago on a trip to the southern Iraqi city of Najaf.

Intense negotiations by French diplomats and overwhelming support from the Arab world and France’s own large Muslim community raised hopes last week for the journalists’ imminent release.

Asked for details about what was holding it up, Donnedieu de Vabres said: “The situation is not simple.”

“You understand that I am weighing my words very carefully because we do not want to do anything to compromise the outcome we are waiting for,” he said.

An internet statement purportedly from a group holding the French men today demanded a €4.1m ransom for them and gave a 48 hour deadline to come up with the cash. It was not known if the site was genuine or a hoax.

After a week in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Michel Barnier returned to France at the weekend.

He gave no details of the efforts underway to resolve the crisis but said his trip helped boost contacts with “political and religious personalities.”

“We have serious reasons to believe that they are both in good health and that a favourable outcome is possible,” Barnier said after talks with President Jacques Chirac yesterday.

France has rallied friends and allies across the Arab and Muslim world as part of its effort to win the reporters’ release.

Paris refused to bow to a demand from militants claiming to hold the two men to revoke a French law banning Islamic head scarves from state schools. The law went into effect as planned last week.