PARIS - France said on Saturday it was "extremely concerned" by the ongoing violence in Yemen and Syria but stressed that its Middle East policy was not aimed at removing governments in the region.
Speaking at a conference in Paris, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said dialogue was the only option for resolving the region's problems. He said France would stand firm against acts of excessive human rights abuses in the Arab world and use all means available to it to stop them.
France has spearheaded the West's response to the crisis in Libya and also intervened in Ivory Coast last week at the UN's request to speed up the ouster of former strongman Laurent Gbagbo.
