U.S. officials are investigating reports that an American civilian has been kidnapped in the Iraqi city of Basra.

Iraqi police said a U.S. civilian and two Iraqis were abducted in the northern part of the city, according to Voices of Iraq, an independent news agency.

The report said the three were taken while travelling to Basra from the province of Maysan.

A British military spokesperson said a Western employee of a private security company had been abducted, but gave no further details.

"We're aware of the reports and are trying to determine the status and welfare of the individual in question," said U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor.

French PM slams Iraq war

Reports of the abduction came as French President Jacques Chirac said the American-led invasion of Iraq has destabilized the entire region.

"As France feared and warned, the war in Iraq set off upheavals whose effects have not yet been fully played out," he said in a speech to diplomats in Paris.

"This adventure exacerbated the divisions between communities and shook the very integrity of Iraq. It weakened the stability of the whole region where every country is now worried about its security."

Chirac, who warned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "crystallizes" all the conflicts in the region, called for an international summit on Mideast stability.

"Let us propose within the Quartet an international conference of a new type which, without presuming to dictate the terms of a settlement to the parties, would bring the guarantees to which they aspire," he said.

"I firmly believe there can be a real impetus for negotiation."

With files from the Associated Press