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WWI-HISTORY-CENTENARY-DIPLOMACY LEAD
World leaders mark 100 years since WWI Armistice in Paris
PARIS, Nov 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – World leaders gathered under driving rain
in Paris on Sunday to lead global commemorations marking 100 years since the
end of World War I, at a time of growing nationalism and diplomatic tensions.
Around 70 leaders including US and Russian Presidents Donald Trump and
Vladimir Putin marked the centenary of the 1918 Armistice in the French
capital at 11am local time (1000 GMT).
After church bells rang out across France, the leaders sat together at the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe for a memorial that
included classical music and the reading aloud of letters by WWI soldiers.
French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a near 20-minute speech that
called on his fellow leaders not to forget the lessons of the past and the
hopes of people worldwide for peace.
“Ruining this hope with a fascination for withdrawal, violence or
domination would be a mistake for which future generations would rightly find
us responsible,” Macron told them.
He added: “Let us build our hopes rather than playing our fears against
each other.”
The service concluded with the bugle call that was played at 11am on
November 11, 1918 to signal the end of fighting on the Western Front.
Ceremonies in New Zealand, Australia, India, Hong Kong and Myanmar began a
day of memorial events around the world for a conflict that involved millions
of troops from colonised countries in Asia and Africa.
The leaders of Commonwealth nations — whose forces were deployed under
British command 100 years ago — also sounded a message of peace and hope for
the world in the new century.
“This was a war in which India was not directly involved yet our soldiers
fought world over, just for the cause of peace,” Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi said on Twitter.
“For our tomorrows, they gave their today,” Australian Prime Minister
Scott Morrison told people gathered at a ceremony in Canberra.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and Prince Charles, standing in for
Queen Elizabeth, attended a separate remembrance event in London where
thousands of well-wishers also paid their respects to fallen soldiers.
Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who on Saturday poignantly
visited the forest clearing in northeastern France where the Armistice was
signed, had signalled beforehand that they intended to use the Paris ceremony
to warn about the modern-day danger of nationalism.
“This day is not just about remembering, but should be about a call to
action,” Merkel said on Saturday.
Merkel will give the opening address alongside UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres at a peace conference in Paris following the memorial
service on the Champs-Elysees.
The Paris Peace Forum, conceived by Macron, is intended to highlight the
importance of international institutions in helping resolve conflicts, avert
wars and spread prosperity.
“The aim of the forum is to show that there are lots of forces in the
international system — states, NGOs, foundations, intellectuals, companies –
– who believe we need a world of rules, an open world and a multilateral
world,” chief organiser Justin Vaisse told AFP.
– Tensions lurk –
Despite the show of unity at the Arc de Triomphe, tensions lurk beneath
the surface.
Trump, whose hardline nationalism has badly shaken the Western alliance,
arrived in Paris on Friday criticising host Macron for being “insulting”.
Trump took umbrage at a recent interview in which Macron talked about the
need for a European army and listed the US along with Russia and China as
potential threats to national security.
The “America First” leader, who faced criticism on Saturday for cancelling
a trip to an American cemetery because of rainy weather, will snub the Peace
Forum.
Other attendees of the memorial service and Forum included Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Canadian premier Justin Trudeau and Israel’s
Benyamin Netanyahu, as well as Putin.
Sunday’s ceremony was deliberately international and cross-cultural.
The French-born Chinese-American cellist Yo-yo Ma, West African singer
Angelique Kidjo and a European youth orchestra with a Russian conductor all
performed. police were on duty to ensure maximum security in a city
repeatedly targeted by jihadists since 2015.
Despite these measures, a protester from the radical feminist group Femen
managed to jump over a barricade and got within metres of Trump’s motorcade
as he made his way up the Champs-Elysees.
She was hauled away by security along with two others who were stopped on
the edge of the famous avenue.
About 70 current-day nations were involved in WWI, which had six empires
and colonial powers at its heart: Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany,
Russia and the Ottoman Empire.
Around 10 million soldiers are estimated to have been killed during the
fighting and more than double that number wounded.
Between five and 10 million civilians are estimated to have been killed.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1822 hrs