Bouvier “is not in Lebanon but still in Syria,” a management source at Le Figaro newspaper told AFP. “It is wrong to say she is ‘safe and sound in Lebanon,'” the source said.
On its website, the newspaper also noted that “the French embassy in Beirut has indicated it is not able to confirm rumours about the journalist’s evacuation to Lebanon.”
Sarkozy meanwhile backtracked on an earlier confirmation that Bouvier had been evacuated, saying: “It is not confirmed that she is now safe in Lebanon.”
“Communications are very difficult,” Sarkozy said, adding that the situation was “unclear” and “complicated”.
“I would not want to tell you incorrect things. We are working on the evacuation” of Bouvier, Sarkozy told journalists on the campaign trail.
“I cannot say anything, I am sorry, the situation is extremely complicated,” he said.
Sarkozy earlier had confirmed reports that Bouvier had arrived in Lebanon from the besieged Syrian city of Homs, saying he was “very happy” that “this nightmare has come to an end.”
A Lebanese official also told AFP earlier that Bouvier had arrived overnight in Lebanon from Homs, where she and British photographer Paul Conroy were injured in a rocket attack last week that killed two other Western reporters.
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