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French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie on Sunday ruled out the dipatch of French troops to Iraq although she said Paris could help train Iraqi soldiers in neighbouring countries. "The political and legal conditions have not been met and today we are not considering this at all," Alliot-Marie told reporters on the plane from Abu Dhabi to the southern Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba, at the start of a two-day visit. She was responding to whether France would send troops to Iraq as part of the reconstruction drive once the United Nations is given a bigger role and power is transferred from the US-led coalition to an interim Iraqi authority. Alliot-Marie reiterated, however, France's readiness to help rebuild the Iraqi army outside Iraq. "There are in the region several countries which could serve as a site for such a training," she said. Jordan is helping to train Iraqi police and soldiers on its territory. Alliot-Marie stressed that she had not discussed the issue with her interlocutors during visits to Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates which preceded Jordan. "We believe that we must go to a new phase that will open the way to the reconstruction of Iraq," she said, adding that the UN must play a bigger role in the future. "Then we could begin to consider if the conditions are met to take part in the reconstruction of Iraq," she said, such as training Iraqi police and soldiers. On Saturday Alliot-Marie told a press conference in Muscat that French conditions included a rapid transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis by the June 30 target date set by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority. "France strongly insists that sovereignty must be transferred as quickly as possible to the Iraqis and thus totally supports achieving this by June 30," she said. "Nothing would be possible without a transfer of responsibility to the United Nations and without a transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. "When these conditions are met, France is ready to take part in rebuilding Iraq, if the Iraqi government so asks." France opposed the US-led war last year to oust Saddam Hussein and his regime. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links
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