Egypt said it could not allow the Clemenceau -- whose final destination is an Indian scrapyard -- to enter the Suez canal without the documents requested under the Basel convention banning the export of toxic waste.

"In line with international law, transit through the Suez canal of ships posing a health and environmental threat requires specific documents," the Egyptian ministry of environment said in a statement.

But the French defence ministry said it provided all necessary documents and stressed that the Clemenceau did not fall under the Basel convention.

"We have provided the requested documents, including those showing the agreement with the Indian port of Gujarat to receive the Clemenceau, and we are waiting for a response from Egypt," Jean-Francois Bureau told AFP.

Paris has argued that the ship -- a former pride of the French navy -- could not be considered scrap and submitted new documents to prove that the Clemenceau's voyage to India does not fall under the 1989 Basel convention.

In an additional document, "the French authorities explained the expected technical conditions for the ship's passage through the Suez Canal, as Egypt fears that the slowness of the Clemenceau (22,000 tonnes) will hinder traffic" in the canal, Bureau said.

The asbestos insulation of the 265-metre (875-foot) warship has provoked controversy over the health of Indian workers who will dismantle it at the Shree Ram Scrap Vessel breakers' yard in Gujarat.

Critics accuse Paris of dumping its toxic waste on the Third World.

Two Greenpeace protestors who had boarded the carrier on Thursday were released overnight by the French navy and were due to arrive in Cyprus in the afternoon, Greenpeace spokesman Martin Besieux told AFP.

Greenpeace has been fighting to block the ship's transfer for months, arguing that Indian shipyard workers will be at risk of asbestos poisoning.

According to the French government, the vessel is carrying 45 tonnes of asbestos insulation. According to the firm that helped partially decontaminate it before the trip, the amount is between 500 and 1,000 tonnes.

According to a source close to the negotiations over the fate of the Clemenceau, the office of President Hosni Mubarak asked to take over the file, which threatened to strain relations with France.

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