PARIS, Feb 21: President Jacques Chirac on Friday reaffirmed France’s opposition to following a “military route” to resolve the crisis over Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction.

“As things stand today, everything points to the need for (disarmament) to be achieved through peaceful means... and not by a military route,” he told a press conference at the end of the Franco-African summit.

Chirac hailed a joint declaration issued Thursday by the summit gathering 52 African countries and France which called for the continuation of UN weapons inspections in Iraq, saying “There is an alternative to war.”

The French president said the unanimous statement was “in full conformity, identical” with the French position on the Iraq crisis.—AFP