Chirac uses New Year speech to hint French troops may go to Iraq

FRENCH president Jacques Chirac yesterday gave his clearest indication yet that French troops could be involved in military action in Iraq, when he called on his troops to be prepared for deployment.

In a New Year’s message to his country’s armed forces, he warned soldiers to stand ready for "anything that may happen" in the year ahead. In what appeared to be a clear reference to Iraq he added: "Alas, other [theatres] could open up" in addition to the Ivory Coast, a former French colony where a 2,500-strong French peacekeeping force is already serving.

Earlier in the day, the French defence minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, said that while the French army was not making specific preparations for an eventual war in Iraq, "the French army is ready to fulfil its obligations when necessary".

However, Mr Chirac also reiterated his strong opposition to any unilateral action by the United States against Iraq, warning Washington any potential decision to use force must be agreed by the United Nations Security Council and stressing that war was a last resort. "Reject resolutely the temptation of unilateral action," he told diplomats at a ceremony celebrating the New Year, referring to the United States. "Let us avoid positions that would mar the legitimacy of our action. Let us continue to place our full confidence in the United Nations inspectors."

However, he also warned Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein that he risked a "war of unimaginable consequences" if he did not seize this "last chance to disarm in peace".

Observers took Mr Chirac’s remarks as the beginning of an effort to massage public opinion in case military action does take place and French soldiers are called to serve alongside American troops.

France took over the presidency of the Security Council for one month on 1 January.

Over the past months as Britain has enthusiastically backed Mr Bush’s anti-Saddam rhetoric, Mr Chirac has pursued a staunchly independent French line, refusing to bow to the pressures from Washington and insisting that UN resolutions are obeyed.

This springs not from the French president’s former love affair with Iraq, which dates back to the early 1970s, but with concerns over the new US doctrine of preventive unilateral intervention.

Mr Chirac is also concerned about the priorities of US anti-terrorist action in general in its so-called "war against the axis of evil", particularly as no formal link has been established between the regime in Baghdad and al-Qaeda.

But Mr Chirac is coming under increasing pressure from business and military leaders to move closer to Washington’s view that Saddam Hussein has broken his promises to destroy arms stocks.

Paris is impatient to profit from long-standing drilling contracts that have been held up by UN sanctions and appears to be nervous about the economic consequences if the US and Britain go it alone and then do a deal on oil reserves with a new regime.