PARIS: France’s spat with the US ambassador to Paris took another turn Tuesday with the French foreign minister saying the top US diplomat in France must respond to a summons and won’t have access to French government officials until he complies.
French authorities had summoned Ambassador Charles Kushner — the father of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner — for a meeting on Monday evening over comments from the Trump administration that France objected to. French diplomats said Kushner did not show up.
Speaking Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot described the failure to attend the meeting as “a surprise” that flew in the face of diplomatic protocol and will dent Charles Kushner’s ability to serve as an ambassador.
“It will, naturally, affect his capacity to exercise his mission in our country,” Barrot said, speaking to public broadcaster France Info.
He said that Kushner “is bringing difficulties on himself. Because for an ambassador to be able to do his job he needs access to members of the government. That’s the basics.”
“When these explanations have taken place, then the US ambassador in France will, naturally, regain access to members of the French government,” the minister said.
The US Embassy did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment on Monday and a follow-up request on Tuesday morning also got no immediate reply.
France’s foreign ministry had summoned Kushner over Trump administration tweets relating to the beating death in France of a far-right activist, Quentin Deranque. The 23-year-old student, described as a fervent nationalist, was beaten by a group of people earlier this month in the city of Lyon, in fighting that erupted between far-left and far-right activists. He later died of brain injuries.
In a post last week on X, the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau said “violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety.”
The US Embassy in Paris posted the same statement, in French.
Barrot said France needs to discuss the comments with Kushner.
“We must have an explanation with him,” Barrot said. “We don’t accept that foreign countries can come and interfere, invite themselves, into the national political debate.”
French Foreign Minister urges US ambassador to explain no-show
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French Foreign Minister urges US ambassador to explain no-show
M23 rebel spokesperson killed in Congo army drone strike, officials say
- M23 controls large swathes of North and South Kivu provinces
- The attack happened near Rubaya, in North Kivu
DAKAR: The military spokesperson for the M23 rebel group, Willy Ngoma, was killed in an army drone strike in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, a regional diplomat, a senior rebel official and a Western adviser to the government said.
The killing comes as Qatar-mediated ceasefire efforts continue, with Kinshasa and M23 having signed agreements in Doha to establish a joint ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism involving Qatar, the United States and the African Union as observers.
M23, which the United Nations says is backed by Rwanda, controls large swathes of North and South Kivu provinces after a rapid offensive last year in which the rebels seized the strategic cities of Goma and Bukavu.
The attack happened near Rubaya, in North Kivu, at around 3 a.m. (0100 GMT), and came after several days of sustained drone attacks on the area by the Congolese army, the senior M23 official told Reuters.
Rubaya is a strategic coltan-mining hub that produces around 15 percent of the world’s supply, making it a key financial stronghold for the M23 rebels. A spokesperson for the Congolese presidency declined to comment and a spokesperson for Congo’s army did not immediately respond.
