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The French authorities have strengthened security control around the Alpine town of Evian, on the French-Swiss border, where top leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized countries are scheduled to meet on June1-3 for the 2003 G8 summit.
To protect leaders attending the summit and assure security, the French authorities have sealed off Evian and have established a 30-kilometer buffer zone around the resort center on picturesque Lake Geneva.
About 15,000 French security personnel, including 11,000 army troops, will patrol the area where the summit will be held.
Gilles Leclair, chief of the Unit of Coordination for Fighting Terrorism under the French Interior Ministry, told Xinhua recently that French intelligence and security services have made a carefuljudgment of the present anti-terror situation and strengthened the collection and analysis of information on terrorist moves.
After May 30, all 7,500 residents of Evian would have to bear a special badge whenever they moved in the city and neighboring areas, Leclair said.
According to Leclair, French authorities have applied border controls, which will be effective through June 4, by closing some border crossings with neighboring Switzerland. Border crossings that remained open would be made very secure, he said. Main routesin to Geneva would remain open for the 60,000-70,000 people who live in France but work in Switzerland, despite the tightened security control.
When the G8 summit is in session, trains running through Evian will stop short of the area and schools will be closed because school buses will be unable to get through.
Most parts of Lake Geneva will be closed to sailors. Fishermen have been told to keep a distance from Evian. Planes will be diverted and boats forbidden to sail during the meeting.
Leclair said that while tackling potential Al-Qaeda moves, the French authorities were also keeping close watch on the separatist-minded armed group, Basque Homeland and Freedom (ETA) -- western Europe's most active guerrilla group. ETA has killed more than 830 people in bombings and shootings since 1968 in its drive for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France.
In strengthening security control, the French authorities have placed military planes equipped with radar warning systems, helicopters and two surface-to-air Crotale missile batteries on standby to provide security for the summit, according to French official sources.
On Monday, the French military tested pilotless drones reconnaissance planes south of the summit site, which will be used for security protection for the summit. The drones are often used to track human movements on the ground.
Although primarily intended for the G8, a total of 27 heads of state or government as well as leaders from major international organizations are expected to attend the meeting.
Many delegations will fly into and stay in hotels in neighboring Switzerland, leaving organizers with the hard job of striving to arrange security in both countries. On the Swiss side,at least 10,000 police and soldiers will be mobilized to provide security in coordination with the French.
The nearby Swiss city of Lausanne will host leaders of China, Brazil and Mexico as well as leaders of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Leaders from Britain, Canada, France,Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States are due to arrive at the airport of Geneva and then will be helicoptered directly to Evian, apparently to avoid disruption caused by protest demonstrations on the ground.
During the meeting, demonstrators will be allowed to hold peaceful protests as long as they keep a reasonable distance from the summit site and do not disrupt the meeting.
Well-informed sources said that tens of thousands of demonstrators were planning to hold anti-globalization and anti-America protests close to the summit site during the meeting. Geneva would be the starting place for part of the protests planned for June 1.
French officials have said France wishes to avoid what happened at Genoa, Italy, where the 2001 G8 summit was marked by violence and the fatal police shooting of an anti-globalization activist. They told Xinhua that French police, of course, would not act in the way Italian police did.
The annual G8 summit brings together the leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia for discussion of broad political and economic issues in the developed world.
This year, the summit agenda preferred by France will also include globalization, the environment, debt relief, anti-terrorism and aid to Africa.
(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2003)
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