The new French administration of President Francois Mitterrand will probably refuse to sign a new contract for the reconstruction of the Iraqi nuclear plant bombed Sunday by Israeli planes. Reliable French sources said that “France will deplore the attack but refuse to renew either the former contracts or the actual work.”
Before his election, Mitterrand said that, had he been in power, France would not have approved the Franco-Iraqi nuclear agreements signed under President Valery Giscard D’Estaing. Since Mitterrand’s election, May 10, leading members of his administration have reiterated this view while stressing, however, that France will honor all of the previous administration’s contracts and commitments. Many observers here believe that the Israeli raid has actually helped Mitterrand out of a thorny situation.
Negotiations between France and Iraq were started in 1975 when the then French Premier, Jacques Chirac, paid an official visit to Baghdad. Chirac and Iraq’s “strong man,” Saddam Hussein, agreed to exchange oil for nuclear know-how. In 1976, the official agreement providing for the construction of the “Osirik” reactor was signed and in 1980 an additional agreement provided for French delivery of 72 kilograms of 93 percent enriched uranium which the French said was too poor to be used for military purposes. But Israel claimed the uranium could be processed for the construction of nuclear weapons.
Nearly 200 French scientists and technicians were employed on the site where work was accelerated in 1979 at Iraq’s request.
Israel protested on repeated occasions against the reactor and drew Europe’s attention to its view that any help given Iraq could result in the destruction of Israel’s cities with enormous loss of life. Several attempts were made to try to slow down progress of construction which the world press attributed to Israeli agents.
On June 14, an Egyptian scientist who held a senior post on the “Osirik” project was murdered in Paris on holiday. Several months later, on Sept. 30, 1980, two unidentified Phantom jets fired missiles at the main reactor in the Baghdad suburb
of Tamuz. They did little damage to the reactor. A delegation representing the Representative Council of French Jewish Organizations, (CRIF) met with Mitterrand on the eve of the May 7 Presidential elections, and asked him point-blank for his views on the subject. Mitterrand gave an evasive reply though many Jewish leaders interpreted his answer as some sort of pledge. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported at the time that Mitterrand had given no commitment whatsoever.
A few days after his election, France’s newly appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs Claude Cheysson, clearly stressed that the new administration will honor all past contracts and commitments. It was probably Cheysson’s declaration, later approved by Mitterrand himself, which triggered the Israeli raid. According to scientific sources, Italy, Brazil and Portugal had also helped in the construction of the reactor and its equipment.
France’s new administration today condemned in no uncertain terms the Israeli Air Force raid against the Iraqi nuclear reactor. Premier Pierre Mauroy said the raid was “a very grave matter which can only further increase tensions in the area. We condemn it and regret it.”
The French Premier refused to say whether France would replace the destroyed equipment saying that this issue will have to be studied in the light of the new administration’s wish to honor past commitments and its basic philosophy of opposing arms sales and nuclear proliferation.
Mauroy in reply to reporters’ questions, indicated that President Francois Mitterrand’s visit to Israel might have to be reconsidered. When asked if the President will visit Israel, as he has promised, Mauroy replied, “such an important raid obviously will have unpredictable results.” Mitterrand was expected to visit Israel next fall.
Mauroy also refused to say whether France will consider sanctions against Israel. But repeated several times with increasing emphasis “we can only condemn this sort of action.”
Mauroy stressed in his reply that the reactor was “exclusively a research center” and added that the site had recently been inspected by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Commission. The Premier would not say whether the center could produce a nuclear weapon nor whether France was planning to ship to Iraq this summer an additional quantity of enriched uranium. He said “this question is now pointless” and reiterated once again his government’s condemnation.
French officials later said the new administration will continue to condemn the raid and also show its displeasure to Israel but will probably not renew the former contracts nor replace the destroyed equipment. Egyptian Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali described the Israeli raid as “a grave act liable to seriously endanger the region’s peace.” The Egyptian Foreign Minister was further quoted by French Radio as saying that the raid “is further escalating an already highly dangerous situation.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
