(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-20 10:35

BAGHDAD -- French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Baghdad on Sunday on the first visit by a top French official to Iraq since the beginning of the war in 2003 which France vigorously opposed.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (front R) talks on the phone upon his arrival at Baghdad International Airport August 19, 2007. [AFP]

Kouchner's arrival in Baghdad coincided with President Nicolas Sarkozy's return from a holiday in the United States which was seen as an effort to improve relations with US President George W. Bush after a bitter fallout over the war.

Kouchner, invited to Baghdad by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, told a news conference he was on a listening visit and had not come to present any diplomatic initiative.

"I want to listen to the people ... We have to understand this country, we have to understand what's going on between the Shiites and the Sunnis, not only in Iraq," he said.

Kouchner told the joint news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari that there was no military solution in Iraq and there had to be a political one.

"Now we have to face the reality, including the American view ... but this is an Iraqi problem and it must be solved by the Iraqis," Kouchner said.

Kouchner said he was to meet representatives of all of Iraq's different communities and members of the government over the next two days.

Kouchner's visit came amid talks between Iraq's political leaders to try to revive national reconciliation efforts and repair the fractured unity government.

Former French President Jacques Chirac and his then foreign minister Dominique de Villepin were at the forefront of international opposition to the war.

Ahmadinejad visit?

Sarkozy, elected in May, has sought to improve relations, saying he wanted France to be a friend of the United States. He paid an informal visit to the Bush family estate during his US holiday where they chatted over burgers and hotdogs.

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