Sarkozy laments shooting at military barracks--

Sarkozy laments shooting at military barracks

2008-07-03 18:03:51 [ Big Normal Small ] 　Comment

PARIS, July 3 (Xinhua) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy has described a shooting incident that occurred during a public military demonstration in Carcassonne, southern France, as "profoundly unacceptable" and "deeply appalling," according to official sources.

"He indicated that what he discovered over there was profoundly unacceptable," French government spokesman Luc Chatel told a press briefing on Wednesday at the end of a cabinet meeting.

"First because it is hard to imagine that live bullets can be found in the gun of a soldier brought to carry out such a maneuver," said spokesman.

"There are principles of education that require us not to direct a weapon at either the public or crowd... the president told ministers that it was a terrifying idea," said Chatel who quoted the head of state as having described the whole saga as "very appalling."

In addition, the head of state indicated that he "was fully aware of the decisions that had been proposed, namely the decision to resign by Chief of Staff of the land army, and that he found it rather healthy that the army chief was assuming the consequences of the tragedy," according to Chatel.

French ground forces commander Gen. Bruno Cuche tendered his resignation Tuesday following the unfortunate incident that left scores of spectators nursing various degrees of injuries, some of them serious, according to hospital reports.

"It's a very serious matter," the president of the republic was quoted as saying, describing the events surrounding the tragedy "as a direct result of major malfunctions within the ground forces..."

"The head of state said that it was not unusual that the responsibility is not only limited to this unfortunate soldier who fired into the crowd," said a senior cabinet minister who attended the meeting.

Further, the government spokesman told reporters that there was "absolutely no sense" of misunderstanding between the government and the army owing to the president's restructuring and implementing far-reaching reform on the defense sector in line with the recently published White Paper.

"This reform has been welcomed, more than ever before, by the entire army and I think that our armed forces will appreciate the fact that the political wing of the government is fulfilling its responsibilities to the French people," said Chatel.

Meanwhile, the Wednesday cabinet meeting appointed Gen. Elrick Irastorza, 57, to the position of the Chief of Staff of the Army.

As an experienced human resource manager, the appointment of Irastorza is coming at a critical moment when the government is planning to institute key reforms, not the least a significant personnel reduction, according to analysts.

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