FRANCE HAS said it will send two flights of medical aid to the opposition-held city of Benghazi to help ease the pressure on hospitals in eastern Libya.
With President Nicolas Sarkozy keen to repair France’s image in the Arab world after his government’s clumsy handling of the Tunisian revolt, Paris has sought to position itself as a leading western voice in support of the Libyan rebels.
Prime Minister François Fillon said the decision to dispatch two aircraft carrying doctors, nurses, medicine and medical equipment was “the beginning of a massive operation of humanitarian support for the population of the liberated territories”.
He said France was “at the forefront” of the decision to impose sanctions on Muammar Gadafy’s regime, referring to early French calls for EU-wide action.
Mr Fillon linked the aid to concerns that the upheaval in north Africa could cause a sharp rise in the flow of migrants to southern Europe.
“We cannot ignore that there will be large migratory movements,” Mr Fillon added. “The best way to avoid them is to help Tunisia succeed, to help Egypt succeed, to make sure the situation in Libya stabilises quickly.”
France’s move came after a day after Mr Sarkozy announced a reshuffle of senior ministers to repair the damage done to French diplomacy by its poor handling of the Arab revolts.
Former prime minister Alain Juppé was appointed foreign minister after the resignation of Michèle Alliot-Marie, whose credibility was undermined by controversy over her handing of the Tunisian uprising.
Tensions between the foreign ministry and the Élysée Palace surfaced again last week when a group of serving and retired diplomats published a scathing attack on Mr Sarkozy’s foreign policy, blaming an “amateurish” and “impulsive” approach for France having lost its voice on the global stage.
In what will be seen as a concession to Mr Juppé, Mr Sarkozy’s chief of staff and close collaborator Claude Guéant is to leave the Élysée Palace to become interior minister.
Mr Guéant’s heavy involvement in foreign policy has been a long-standing grievance at the Quai d’Orsay, the home of the foreign ministry in Paris. Mr Guéant is to be replaced by Mr Sarkozy’s current senior economic adviser, Xavier Musca.
Commenting on the reshuffle – the 10th of Mr Sarkozy’s presidency – Mr Fillon said Ms Alliot-Marie’s departure was “a strategic act” taken in light of events in the Arab world. “It was not a moral decision, it was a political decision,” he said.
“France’s voice was no longer audible because Michèle Alliot-Marie had become the object of an unfair campaign.”
Ms Alliot-Marie, a veteran Gaullist with nine years’ experience in cabinet, was lampooned for offering the know-how of France’s security forces to Tunisia just days before former president Zine al- Abidine Ben Ali fled the country.
She was further damaged by revelations that, as the protests raged in the former French protectorate in late December, she travelled across Tunisia on a private jet belonging to a local businessman with alleged links to the authoritarian regime.