President Jacques Chirac urged Iraqi militants on Sunday to release two French journalists they were holding in Iraq and sent Foreign Minister Michel Barnier to the region to help seek their freedom.
Arabic TV channel Al Jazeera reported on Saturday that the Islamic Army in Iraq had kidnapped journalists Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot and demanded that France revoke its ban on headscarves in state schools within 48 hours.
"Today, the whole nation is united because the life of two Frenchmen is at stake," Chirac said in a short televised address after a day of hectic government consultations in Paris.
"Backed up by this national unity, I solemnly call for the release of Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot. Everything is being done and everything will be done in the coming hours and days to achieve this." Apart from the two lives at stake, the hostage crisis also concerned the freedom of expression, a basic value of the French republic, Chirac added.
Barnier would leave for the Middle East immediately, he added. Aides said the minister would visit several countries but did not identify them.
Chesnot of Radio France International and Malbrunot, who writes for the dailies Le Figaro and Ouest France, disappeared eight days ago on their way from Baghdad to Najaf.
Earlier on Sunday, France's government and leaders of its five-million-strong Muslim minority urged the militants to free the journalists.