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Security fears risk overshadowing Paris climate summit
By Catherine HOURS, Mari�tte Le Roux
Paris (AFP) Nov 16, 2015


Off-duty US troops banned from Paris after attacks
Washington (AFP) Nov 16, 2015 - The US military banned off-duty personnel from the French capital Paris on Monday as a security measure following last week's devastating militant attacks.

A statement from US European Command said the ban applies to all military personnel and their families as well as civilian Defense Department employees and contractors.

Personnel that want to travel unofficially to parts of France outside a 50-kilometer (32-mile) radius of Paris must seek approval from a senior officer.

"This is a precautionary measure to keep our personnel and families safe in light of the recent attacks," the EUCOM statement said.

"This is also an effort to help minimize tourist traffic at the borders in France, and particularly in Paris, as the French authorities continue their investigation."

No time limit was set on the ban.

The ban does not apply to personnel such as military attaches or Marine guards assigned to diplomatic posts in France, nor to those transiting through airports.

On Friday, a group of suspected Islamist militants attacked civilian targets in Paris, killing 129 people outside a stadium and in bars and at a concert.

France's President Francois Hollande has imposed a state of emergency across France and launched air strikes in Syria as part of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State group.

Paris is a popular destination for US tourists, including US military personnel on leave from European bases and the NATO headquarters in nearby Belgium.

In August, two off-duty US servicemen helped overpower an Islamist gunman who boarded a Paris-bound train in Belgium and attempted to murder the passengers.

Security fears in the wake of Friday's brutal slaying of 129 people in Paris threaten to overshadow a crunch climate summit to be launched by 120 world leaders in the French capital on November 30.

France's government has said it will not "give in" to terrorism and insists that the long-anticipated conference will go ahead, tasked with no less than producing a plan to rescue Earth's climate.

But Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Monday that "without a doubt" concerts and other gatherings of a "festive" nature would be cancelled.

The UN climate conference, for which about 40,000 delegates, journalists, observers, NGOs and other participants are accredited, will be "limited to negotiation", said Valls -- excluding certain planned side-events.

US President Barack Obama has said he still intends to attend the summit, and Valls said none of the 120-odd heads of state or government who accepted invitations to the opening had asked for a postponement.

"All want to be there. To do otherwise would, I believe, be to yield to terrorism," said Valls, who on Sunday called the gathering "an essential meeting for humanity."

But the violent events of the weekend, claimed by Islamic State jihadists, have thrown into doubt a mass rally in central Paris planned for November 29, on the summit's eve, and another on December 12, the day after the meeting is scheduled to close.

Coalition Climate 21, the civil society grouping organising the marches, met in Paris Monday to decide how to proceed.

"The tragedy in Paris has only strengthened our resolve," it said in a statement on Monday evening.

"This movement for climate justice has always also been a movement for peace -- a way for people around the world to come together, no matter their background or religion, and fight to protect our common home."

But no final decision has been taken, and the coalition said it would meet French authorities in the coming days to discuss "how we can move forward with the (November 29) march."

"We fully share their (the authorities') concerns about public safety -- just as we fully oppose any unnecessary crackdowns on civil liberties," said the statement.

Valls said the safety of demonstrators was paramount, and security forces would have to "concentrate on the essential" -- the conference itself.

This threatened a series of exhibitions, concerts and other gatherings organised around the city to beat the drum for urgent climate action.

In the midst of a national state of emergency and massive anti-terror deployment, it might be hard to free up the 5,000-odd police and military police required to secure the November 29 rally, a security source told AFP.

The march is meant to start at Place de la Republique square, very close to the scene of Friday's restaurant and bar shootings.

- Security 'reinforced' -

Before the coordinated wave of attacks carried out by three groups of gunmen and suicide bombers on Friday night, it had been announced that 1,500 police, military police and firefighters, more than 100 UN guards and 300 private security agents would secure Le Bourget outside Paris where the conference will be hosted.

On Sunday, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said security would be further "reinforced".

Dubbed COP21 -- for the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN's climate convention -- the gathering aims to deliver the first truly global agreement on reining in greenhouse gas emissions blamed for dangerous levels of climate change.

"Of course COP21 proceeds as planned. Even more so now," tweeted UN climate chief Christiana Figueres.

The conference is meant to crown six years of tough negotiations after talks broke down during the previous attempt at clinching a global deal, in Copenhagen in 2009.

Even before the attacks, France had reintroduced border checks as it tightened security ahead of the summit.

burs-mlr/ach


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