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Kouchner brings together rival Lebanese leaders
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Kouchner brings together rival Lebanese leaders
Some rival Lebanese leaders met face-to-face for the first time in months during a lunch at the French embassy in Beirut yesterday, the only tangible result of a 3-day mediation visit by France?s foreign minister.
Bernard Kouchner said the lunch, which he hosted, signaled a new phase in French efforts to resolve Lebanon?s 8-month-old political crisis and the start of dialogue between the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition.
?In Lebanon, this is a triumph because we succeeded in gathering all these people together,? he told reporters at Beirut?s airport at the end of his visit.
He said the leaders had engaged with each other but much more needed to be done before a breakthrough was possible. He said he might return to Beirut in the second half of August.
?We are hopeful that there will be progress ... It is not a lost cause,? he said. Kouchner reiterated his fears that Lebanon could plunge into a new civil war if the crippling crisis was not resolved through negotiations soon.
The lunch was attended by all the key leaders of the majority coalition except Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.The main Shi?ite Muslim opposition leaders, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, were also absent, but all three sent representatives.
The main opposition leader to attended was Michel Aoun, a Christian former army general who spent the 1990s in exile in France.
Lebanese political sources had expected little from his trip because of the complexities of the crisis and the external links of local players with Syria, Iran and the United States.
Lebanon plunged into political deadlock in November when all five Shi?ite ministers and one Christian quit Siniora?s cabinet over the opposition?s demands for veto power.
Many fear that Lebanon could plunge into civil strife if no successor is elected before Lahoud?s term ends on November 24.
Nadim LADKI
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