France Stops Mercenaries from Flying into Madagascar

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 20, 2002

France Stops Mercenaries from Flying into Madagascar

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France has stopped a group of French mercenaries from being sent to the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar where armed fights are going on between two rivaling camps for power, the French Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.

"As soon as we heard that a private plane carrying passengers with suspect intentions was heading for Madagascar, we took the appropriate steps to interrupt this flight in liaison with the African authorities concerned by the path of the plane," said Bernard Valero, deputy spokesman of the French ministry.

The plane headed back to France with its passengers, he said.

"France strongly condemns such actions. France can not tolerateits territory being used for operations of this sort," he added.

The aircraft, which had arrived in Tanzania on Tuesday with about a dozen alleged mercenaries who were reportedly hired to fight in Madagascar, took off from Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaamto return to Paris, Agence France-Presse reported.

"France reaffirms its determination to support the efforts of African leaders to find a political, peaceful, African solution tothe situation in Madagascar with a view to the meeting in Addis Ababa on June 21," the French spokesman added.

Earlier on Wednesday, France said it noted with satisfaction that Madagascar's current president Marc Ravalomanana has agreed to key points in the Dakar II peace plan and urged both Ravalomanana and former ruler Didier Ratsiraka to work together for the country's rehabilitation.

Ratsiraka, who is now in Paris for a private stay, plans to return home at the end of the week.

Ratsiraka refused to accept the rule by Madagascar's constitutional court that Ravalomanana had won last December's presidential election. Supporters from the two camps were in a virtual civil war over past months.

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