French President Jacques Chirac held talks Sunday with Morocco's king on the last leg of a north African tour aimed at bolstering global efforts against terrorism and encouraging negotiations in the Middle East.
The French leader met with King Mohammed VI after arriving late Saturday from Algeria, the first visit there in 12 years of a French head of state
In Algiers, Chirac visited a working-class district ravaged by flash floods last month, pledging continued French support to families who lost loved ones. More than 750 people died in the floods and mudslides.
The French president used the visit to raise concerns over the escalating conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
"It's high time reason took over again on both sides," Chirac said Saturday, noting a ratio of 800 Palestinians to 200 Isreali dead in the 14-month Palestinian uprising.
The comments came before a surge in bloodshed in Israel, where at least 16 people were killed and 40 injured Sunday in a suicide bomb attack on a bus in the northern town of Haifa.
Late Saturday, at least 10 Israelis were killed when two Palestinian suicide bombers detonated explosives in a popular nightlife district in west Jerusalem.
Earlier Saturday, Chirac toured neighbouring Tunisia in an effort to drum up support for the US-led campaign against Islamic extremists in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
In Tunis, Chirac played down the risk of the war in Afghanistan escalating to other countries in the region such as Iraq.
Chirac acknowledged that there had been concern about Iraq's possible role in terrorism, but indicated that a strike against Iraq was "not on the agenda at present." – Rabat (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
