PARIS, 7 March 2003 — French MP Didier Julia, a member of the ruling UMP (Union pour une majorite populaire) party has confirmed that his mission to Iraq was official. This suggests that Julia, a close ally of Jacques Chirac, was carrying a message to Saddam Hussein on behalf of the French president. On Wednesday Julia said he had been able to hold talks with a number of high-ranking Iraqi officials but refused to confirm that he had met with President Saddam Hussein.
Last September, Julia took part in a much-publicized parliamentary mission to Iraq, where he and two other high-ranking UMP deputies met with Vice Prime Minister Tareq Aziz.
Julia also said his discussions with Iraqi authorities included the effects of a possible war on Iraq’s rich cultural and archaeological heritage, which was already significantly damaged during the 1991 Gulf War.
Countering unofficial accusations by the French government that he did not possess an order of mission provided by either the Foreign Ministry or the French Presidency for his trip to Baghdad, Julia let it be known that he had been to Baghdad on business “of an official nature.” He said: “Those who say that I was not in Iraq on an official mission do not know what they’re talking about.”
His visit is a further example of a system of parallel diplomacy being used by the French president, who has found the traditional diplomatic channels to be cumbersome and time-consuming. In recent weeks he has increasingly contacted his principal international interlocutors by telephone — among them President Bush, Prime Minister Blair and apparently Saddam Hussein himself. He has also made growing use of personal emissaries when he does not want to risk having his communications read by or diverted to the secret services of other countries.
