Paris - A book published on Wednesday accuses French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner of using his position as head of a public health organization to carry out high-paying consulting activities in Africa for private companies.

The book, "The World According to K," by journalist Pierre Pean, alleges that from 2002 to 2007 Kouchner represented two private health consulting firms in Africa while at the same time heading the association Esther, the aim of which was to increase international hospital cooperation.

Paris - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was quoted Wednesday as saying that he had made a mistake in asking President Nicolas Sarkozy to create a ministry for human rights.

"I think I was wrong to ask for a junior minister for human rights. It's a mistake. Because there is a permanent contradiction between human rights and a nation's foreign policy, even in France," Kouchner said in an interview published in the daily Le Parisien on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Marseille - New rules of military engagement are necessary for the 17,000 UN peacekeeping troops stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday in Marseille.

"The rules of engagement now are very restrictive," Kouchner said ahead of an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in the southern French city of Marseille. "We can not have soldiers there who are not allowed to shoot. I'm not saying we should make war. But we should be able to carry out defensive missions."

Paris - The French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband are shortly to travel to the threatened Congolese city of Goma.

Cairo - France has invited Egypt to join the countries that would make up the Group of fourteen (G14), a proposed extension of the Group of eight (G8) leading industrial nations, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in Cairo on Saturday.

"It is our wish and hope that the G8 will expand as fast as possible, with you in particular," Kouchner was quoted by Egypt's state Middle East News Agency as saying at the presidential palace.