French minister ‘committed’ to her job

AFP/Kuwait

Alliot-Marie: refused to comment on rumours

Under-fire French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said yesterday that she is fully committed to her job, declining comment on reports of her imminent sacking.

Speaking in Kuwait, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of independence, Alliot-Marie stated: "You can see clearly – I am working; I am 100% committed as far as being foreign minister.”

"I will not comment on rumours from Paris,” she added in remarks to journalists accompanying her, according to a member of her entourage.

On Friday, two senior cabinet ministers said that Alliot-Marie would leave the government today or tomorrow.

"Michele Alliot-Marie will leave the government this weekend or on Monday. She should be replaced by Alain Juppe,” according to one of the ministers, saying that the situation was "untenable” for President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government.

The other unnamed minister put Alliot-Marie’s future exit down to Sarkozy’s plunging support in opinion polls.

"Michele Alliot-Marie has fallen and dragged everyone with her. This must be stopped,” he said.

Alliot-Marie has become embroiled in scandals over her controversial links to Tunisia, where she took a holiday during its popular uprising.

Her family has also admitted to buying a stake in a company from a businessman friend in Tunisia in late December, during the deadly protests that deposed authoritarian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

An aide to Alliot-Marie later admitted that the minister had spoken to Ben Ali by telephone, despite the minister’s earlier attempts to play down her contact with his regime.

Just days before Ben Ali’s fall, she shocked Tunisian democrats by suggesting France could help train Tunisia’s hated police force to better enable it to control the popular uprising against his rule.

Yesterday, a minister told AFP on condition of anonymity that Alliot-Marie will tender her resignation today after returning from an official visit to Kuwait.