Chirac backs Algerian repression

President Jacques Chirac of France had already spoken of the "absolute urgency" that Israelis and Palestinians return to the negotiating table. In Algiers on Saturday, he reminded journalists that more than 200 Israelis and 800 Palestinians have been killed in the past year.

"How did we ever get to such a point?" Mr Chirac asked. But his appeals took on new meaning yesterday, after at least 26 people were killed in attacks in Israel.

"There has been far too much bloodshed, far too many dead," Mr Chirac told a press conference in the royal palace in Rabat yesterday. Although he condemned the attacks "without reservation", the French leader warned that "violence always leads to more violence." Israelis and Palestinians must understand that "there is no way out except dialogue."

The three heads of state Mr Chirac visited - President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika of Algeria and King Mohamed VI of Morocco - were "on exactly the same wavelength" as him regarding "the struggle against terrorism", Mr Chirac said. "All means are valid to eradicate this curse," he added, marking a turning point in French foreign policy by siding emphatically with the governments of Tunisia and Algeria in their repression of fundamentalists.

Mr Ben Ali has imprisoned hundreds of political opponents, both Islamist and secular. But, Mr Chirac said, "we naturally support and respect the position of Tunisia in its struggle against terrorism. Its rejection of intolerance and religious fundamentalism is exemplary. If everyone had the same attitude, there would probably have been far fewer human rights abuses."

Mr Chirac's praise for the Ben Ali regime will surprise human rights groups. The Tunisian president, who seized power in a blood-less coup 14 years ago, freed the civil rights campaigner, Dr Moncef Marzouki, from house arrest in honour of Mr Chirac's visit. But Mr Mohamed Moadda, another opposition leader, is going blind in a Tunisian prison.

Mr Chirac said repeatedly that he saw no reason why the "war against terrorism" should be extended to Iraq. He said that France "refuses to equate terrorism with Islam, which is a religion of charity and peace" and appealed for "a dialogue of civilisations" instead of a "clash of civilisations". Mr Chirac is the most popular western leader in the Arab world, as shown yet again by his walk through Bab el-Oued, the Algiers neighbourhood that was devastated by a mudslide on November 10th.

Nearly 1,000 Algerians died in the catastrophe. Mr Bouteflika had been booed by his own people when he visited the site, but Mr Chirac was cheered by crowds as he blew kisses to women and children on balconies and hoisted babies to embrace them. Among cries of "Vive Chirac", young people also shouted: "Misery, misery" and "Give us visas. Give us visas."