This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001573 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY; BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU; AF/PA; 
EUR/WE /P/SP; D/C (MCCOO); EUR/PA; INR/P; INR/EUC; PM; OSC ISA 
FOR ILN; NEA; WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE; DOC FOR ITA/EUR/FR 
AND PASS USTR/PA; USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA; 
ROME/PA; USVIENNA FOR USDEL OSCE. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Milosevic Death - 
Sudan - Dubai Port Deal 
PARIS - Monday, March 13, 2006 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Milosevic Death 
Sudan 
Dubai Port Deal 
 
(B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
The electronic and print press over the weekend and today was 
largely devoted to Prime Minister Villepin's contested youth 
employment plan that sparked demonstrations and a sit-in at 
the Sorbonne University. French police forced the evacuation 
of the University building around 4 a.m. on Saturday morning. 
Popular right-of-center Aujourd'hui en France on Sunday 
headlined: "Villepin Alone Against Everybody." Calling the 
situation a "crisis," the subhead said: "the evacuation of 
hundreds of students who occupied the Sorbonne hasn't reduced 
the youths determination to oppose the CPE. 
 
The death of dictator Slobodan Milosevic: "Deprives his 
Victims of Justice" according to the headline in Catholic La 
Croix. 
Front pages of two Sunday papers, right-of-center Le Journal 
Du Dimanche ("Death of a Tyrant") and popular right-of-center 
Aujourd'hui en France ("Death of a War Criminal") announced 
Slobodan Milosevic's death in his cell at The Hague where he 
was on trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. 
Monday's right-of-center Le Figaro says that Milosevic's 
death: "disrupts the process of normalization in the Balkans." 
This death also casts doubts on the Tribunal that is devoted 
to trying Former Yugoslavian war criminals. Le Figaro notes "a 
lot of people die in the jails of this tribunal. and in 
Belgrade several dailies were calling Milosevic's death an 
assassination." (See Part C) 
 
The inauguration of Chilean president Michelle Bachelet is 
widely reported in Monday's press with mention of Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice's presence representing the U.S. while 
Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie represented France at 
the inauguration. Monday's Liberation notes that Bolivian 
president Evo Morales, who met with Secretary of State Rice on 
the margins of the inauguration, presented her with a guitar 
decorated with coca leaves. 
 
"Africans Call the UN into Darfur," says Sunday left-of-center 
Le Monde's front page, noting that three years have passed 
since the outbreak of civil war in Darfur, and the 
international community has not been able to pull the region 
out of looming catastrophe. The article notes that the U.S. 
has pressed for NATO troops to carry out the UN peacekeeping 
mission - a move that Sudanese leaders view as letting a 
Trojan horse from Washington on their soil. Gilles Delafon, a 
regular columnist in Le Journal du Dimanche, writes "This 
time, Africa seems to have decided to assume its 
responsibilities.  After months of procrastination, the 
African Union has agreed to transfer control of its forces to 
the UN. He notes that: "It is obvious that France, present in 
the area with its military base in Chad, will have a major 
role to play, and also, more generally, so will Europe." (See 
Part C) 
 
Sunday's Le Monde, in an article entitled, "Congressional 
Opposition Puts President Bush in a Delicate Position vis-- 
vis his Arab Allies," quotes the Washington Post about the 
Dubai Ports World crisis.  The Arab world got a clear message 
from the debate over this deal:  "No matter how much your 
country cooperates with the U.S., Americans may still not be 
able to distinguish you from al-Qaeda." (See Part C) 
 
Catholic La Croix carries a report on the two-day long 
conference in Istanbul on the Kurdish issue. Foreign affairs 
editorialist for La Croix Jean-Christophe Ploquin notes: "The 
situation in Iraq has given the Kurds the world over a 
formidable impetus. Thanks namely to the quasi-state that has 
been formed in the northern part of the country under the 
protection of the U.S. It has benefited from exceptional 
development. This new geopolitical reality is linked to the 
American presence in Iraq. Instability could erupt again if 
the U.S. soldiers were to withdraw." 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Milosevic Death 
 
"Lesser Evil" 
Gerard Dupuy writes in left-of-center Liberation (03/13): "The 
brutal demise of Milosevic marks the end of a life of 
violence. His death is a source of frustration for his critics 
and an inexhaustible source of paranoid theories for his 
supporters. In his day, Milosevic's reprehensible plans could 
be carried out because of the passivity of the Europeans and 
it was only the American military machine that was able to 
stop him." 
 
 
"Milosevic's Death Without a Trial Poisons the Future of 
Serbia" 
Foreign Affairs specialist for right-of-center Le Figaro 
Isabelle Lasserre comments (03/13): "Slobodan Milosevic's 
premature death may exacerbate Serbian nationalism and add 
weight to the supporters of Belgrade's revisionist theories. 
Unable to be tried, Milosevic will remain for his supporters a 
hero who tried to save the Serbs from their numerous enemies. 
Without a trial there can be no justice for the victims who in 
Croatia, Bosnia or Kosovo were subjected to the brutal 
repression of Milosevic's regime. A lot depends on how the 
funeral will be handled. If the former Serbian president is a 
given a funeral fit for a tsar. the nationalists will try to 
present Milosevic as yet another victim of the West." 
 
Sudan 
 
"The UN Finally Comes to the Rescue of Darfur" 
Gilles Delafon in weekly right-of-center Le Journal du 
Dimanche (03/12): "The person who is responsible for the 
catastrophe is Sudanese president Omar al-Bachir. Up until 
recently he could count on the dubious indulgence of his 
peers. But pressure has continued to increase thanks namely to 
the U.S. and more particularly to President George Bush who 
has shown his determination not to have a repeat of what took 
place in Rwanda." 
 
Dubai Port Deal 
 
"The Republican Majority Distances Itself From a Weakened 
George W. Bush" 
Economic right-of-center Les Echos' New York correspondent 
David Barroux (03/13): "In order to increase their chances of 
success during the mid-term elections, elected Democrat and 
Republican officials no longer hesitate to completely ignore 
the position of the President who is as unpopular as was 
Richard Nixon in his time. Bogged down in Iraq, George W. Bush 
no longer has any authority over his own troops. and he no 
longer appears able to set out an agenda of any kind." 
STAPLETON