French parliamentary deputy Didier Julia will reportedly arrive in Paris on Sunday to criticism for failing to accomplish his unofficial mission to free the two French journalists held hostage in Iraq.

French television LCI reported on Sunday morning that Julia was expected to come back to Paris in the day, but he did not take the plane he booked and nobody can tell where he is.

Julia, 70, arrived in Beirut on Thursday evening and was then driven to Damascus, where he and his assistant Philippe Brett made a series of claims about the imminent release of the two French hostages.

Le Figaro's George Malbrunot and Radio France correspondent Christian Chesnot, as well as their Syrian driver and interpreter, Mohammed al-Jundi, have been held since Aug. 20 by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq.

French Justice Minister Dominique Perben on French radio Europe1 later on Sunday accused Julia of lacking responsibility, saying "Overall the effect has been negative and that is very regrettable. It is a lack of a sense of responsibility of this gentleman."

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin called in a statement for "a sense of responsibility by everyone" and noted that "all private initiatives" could generate "a threat for our fellow countrymen."

French President Chirac blamed Saturday the unofficial mission as "interference".

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told journalists on Saturday in Rome that all the progress made by the French government was interrupted on Sept. 28 by the parallel steps taken by Julia's group. He hoped "the parallel steps undertaken by a group in Iraq will not have consequences for the safety (of the men) and that they will not delay the moment of their release," LCI television reported.
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 4, 2004)