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Fillon (l) and Sarkozy in Brussels. (Photo: The Council of the European Union)

France ignored human rights in Maghreb, cables show

by Andrew Rettman, Brussels,

Top-level French visits to Tunisia in the run-up to the revolution routinely ignored human rights concerns for the sake of security and commercial interests, a fresh cache of US cables hows.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on his first trip to Tunisia after being elected in 2007 confined all his remarks on human rights to a private chat with the recently-ousted Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and declined to meet with civil society. "Ben Ali and his cohorts ... were probably relieved to have g...

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.

Fillon (l) and Sarkozy in Brussels. (Photo: The Council of the European Union)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.

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