Say what you will about French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, but the guy’s got two things going for him:
Mr Kouchner then requested that the UN be given access to the civilians trapped with the Tigers.
When the Defence Secretary responded that it was not safe for anyone to enter the area, Mr Kouchner volunteered to go himself.
“A smiling Rajapaksa told the French Foreign Minister that the LTTE was so desperate that he, too, would be taken hostage,” the report said.
“I don’t mind that risk,” said Mr Kouchner, who co-founded the medical aid agency, Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders).
Kouchner’s a grandstander by nature, and sometimes he forgets the time and place for it. But when he gets it right, it’s pretty entertaining.