AS a plan to bomb the Paris Metro before Sunday’s European elections was uncovered yesterday by Italian police, a senior French judicial official warned that the nation was a constant target of the al-Qaeda movement. He said this was due to the terrorist movement having deemed the French Government an "accomplice" in the perpetration of alleged crimes by certain Arab governments friendly with France. The official said France had made itself a target for terrorist activities by maintaining a strong stand against movements like al-Qaeda. France’s support for the Algerian Government had also made it a target for acts of terrorism by the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, he added.
One of France’s best anti-terrorist initiatives has been the establishment of the five-member anti-terrorism court to actively investigate and prosecute terrorists. The judges’ powers include, among others, authorising police to probe the activities of specific individuals and instal eavesdropping devices in premises occupied by suspected terrorists. "France is a leading target for terrorists today and always targeted by the Al Qaedah movement. The fight against terrorism is a priority for us," he told a group of journalists from 12 Asian nations here to study the dynamics of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). The official, who requested anonymity, said the differences between the French and American positions on the Iraq war had not made any difference to the terrorists. "The French position on the Iraq war only had a short term political effect," he said. According to the official, French anti-terrorism authorities were well-prepared to face the terrorist threat because of the sharing of intelligence with similar authorities around the world. He said France had advanced tremendously in the fight against terrorism since the early 1990s, when it failed to take adequate measures to prepare for threats posed by terrorists. |