France Becomes Latest to Reopen Embassy in Iraq
France has reestablished diplomatic ties with Iraq, hoisting its tricolor flag over the French Embassy in Baghdad on Monday for the first time in 13 years.
The French government opposed the U.S.-led invasion that overthrew President Saddam Hussein but wants to play an active part in Iraq’s political and economic reconstruction after decades of oppression and war.
France and Iraq planned to exchange ambassadors soon, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Hussein broke off relations in 1991 after France joined the coalition that ousted invading Iraqi troops from Kuwait. French companies such as oil giant Total and infrastructure builder Suez had billions of dollars of business in Iraq at the time.
French President Jacques Chirac has turned down U.S. requests for military help in quelling an anti-American insurgency that now threatens the new interim Iraqi government. But France has said it is willing to help train Iraqi security forces and forgive some of Iraq’s debt to help the country regain its economic footing.
The ambassadors of four European countries -- the Netherlands, Romania, Britain and Italy -- presented their credentials to Iraq’s president last week, and the U.S. has a new embassy in Baghdad.
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