PARIS, Sept 8 (AFP) - France remains cautiously optimistic about the possible release of two journalists held hostage in Iraq, a government spokesman said Wednesday after a ministerial meeting on the crisis.
"We are still in the same mindset -- confident and cautious at the same time," government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope told reporters after the meeting.
"We are of course very active, working on the ground and in the region, with our main concern being the safety of our two countrymen," Cope added.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin met with his top ministers for about an hour to discuss the latest efforts to secure the release of Radio France journalist Christian Chesnot and Le Figaro reporter Georges Malbrunot.
Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin, Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres and Education Minister Francois Fillon attended the meeting.
Chesnot, Malbrunot and their Syrian driver were kidnapped in Iraq on August 20 by the so-called Islamic Army in Iraq.
The shadowy group demanded that Paris rescind its ban on the wearing of Islamic headscarves and other "conspicuous" religious insignia in state schools, but the law went into effect last Thursday as planned.
On Monday, a statement purportedly from the kidnappers was posted on an Islamist website, giving France 48 hours to accept three new conditions for the journalists' release -- agreeing to a recent truce offer by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, payment of five million dollars in ransom and a pledge not to get involved in Iraq.
Barnier said Tuesday during a visit to the Albanian capital Tirana that he was convinced it was "still possible" to secure the release of the two journalists.
The French foreign minister travelled to the Middle East last week in a bid to save the two newsmen but returned to Paris on Saturday with no news of any release date.