France's Sarkozy says still plans Benghazi trip
Fri, 27 May 2011 14:15 GMT
DEAUVILLE, France, May 27 (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday he still planned to visit the eastern Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi, preferably in a joint visit with his British counterpart David Cameron.
Sarkozy, who along with Cameron has been at the forefront of the West's military campaign in Libya, said he hoped it could be a proper working visit, although no date had yet been set.
Rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil invited Sarkozy to visit Benghazi in April during a visit to Paris to meet the French president -- the first Western leader to formally support the rebel opposition trying to oust Muammar Gaddafi from power.
"We will go, Alain Juppe and I, to Benghazi when the time is right, but we want it to be a working visit," Sarkozy said, referring to his foreign minister.
"It should be a Franco-British initiative, it would be awkward to do it separately. It's still on the table but for various reasons we haven't fixed the date yet.
Cameron did not say whether he agreed on the idea of a joint trip, replying to journalists who asked him about it by laughing and saying: "President Sarkozy is always full of good ideas."
Sarkozy was speaking at a news conference at the end of the Group of Eight's annual summit in the northern French seaside town of Deauville, where the Libya crisis and the West's two-month military intervention there was high on the agenda.
President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia's G8 partners had suggested Moscow take a mediation role in Libya, although officials from other delegations at Deauville played down that idea.
Leave a comment:
IMPORTANT: Your comment will not appear immediately as we vet all messages before publication. We don't publish comments that are racist or otherwise offensive. Nor do we publish comments that advertise products or services. Please keep your comment concise and do not write in capitals.
Post a Comment
Post a Comment