Speaking at a conference in Paris, Juppe said France was concerned by violence in Yemen and Syria, and warned that the situation in Syria could escalate if President Bashar Al-Assad does not enact urgent reforms.

“(In) Yemen and Syria the situation is extremely worrying,” Juppe said at the conference, entitled “The Arab Spring” and bringing together French ambassadors to the Arab world, Arab ambassadors in France and academics.

“These countries must realize that there is no path other than dialogue that brings a clear answer to the aspirations of their people that need to express themselves with complete freedom,” Juppe said.

Many of the Middle Eastern and North African countries that have seen a wave of unrest since December are former French colonies, and Paris has played a prominent role in international diplomacy as change sweeps through the Arab world.

France has spearheaded the West’s air campaign in Libya. Outside the Middle East, it also intervened militarily in Ivory Coast this month at the United Nations’ request, helping to oust former President Laurent Gbagbo.

France, Britain and the United States said this week that the Libya air war — authorized by the United Nations to protect civilians — would not end until Qaddafi leaves power.

Juppe said Libyan civilians could not be protected as long as Qaddafi remains, but this did not mean that toppling leaders had become an aim of French foreign policy.

“Our policy is not to lead to changes in regime,” he said.
 

Protests in Syria reached the capital Damascus on Friday for the first time. Asked if the situation could escalate in Syria, Juppe told reporters: “There is a risk. The only way to prevent it is to reform. There is a need to go further in Syria.”

He spoke before Assad announced plans to lift the country’s emergency law, in place for 48 years.

Earlier on Saturday, Juppe also endorsed reforms announced by Algeria as a step in the right direction.

“President (Abdelaziz) Bouteflika announced a number of reforms ...all of this is going in the right direction,” Juppe told reporters. Bouteflika promised on Friday to ensure free elections, amend the constitution and end the jailing of journalists — moves aimed at preventing local unrest turning into a national uprising.

Algeria, one of the biggest suppliers of natural gas to the European Union, has seen a wave of strikes and protests over the past few months, though they have yet to coalesce into the kind of uprising that toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

France is home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim minority, numbering about five million. Many come from its former colony Algeria and still have close ties to the country which fought a bitter war for independence from 1954-62.