France, June 25 -- Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin has launched his own political party Humanist France, two years before the country's presidential election is set to take place. The centre-right veteran politician is reknowned for his anti-war stance.

De Villepin, 71, was prime minister of France under ex-president Jacques Chirac between 2005 and 2007 and also the late leader's foreign minister between 2002 and 2004.

The conservative politician made his mark on the global stage as Chirac's head of diplomacy, delivering an impassioned speech at a UN Security Council meeting in 2003 in which he set outFrance's opposition to a US-ledIraq warand warned of the "incalculable consequences" of military action in the region....