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Villepin cancels tour to discuss Iraq

PARIS: French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin has cancelled a two-day tour of Moscow, Berlin, Madrid and Rome this week to discuss the Iraq conflict because of scheduling problems, his office said on Monday.

Villepin had been due to meet his counterparts in the Russian and German capitals on Monday before heading to Spain and Italy on Tuesday for similar talks.

"All his visits this week have been cancelled. It was realised his diary was too full given current events," said a Foreign Ministry aide, adding that Villepin would meet German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Paris on Monday evening.

The aide, who did not want to be identified, gave no other reasons for the last-minute cancellation of the trip, which was only announced on Friday.

Russia and Germany backed France's anti-war stance in the UN Security Council. Spain and Italy were more in line with the US insistence that force should be used to disarm Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein, without UN endorsement if necessary.-Reuters