Last update - 00:00 29/07/2007
French FM calls for Iran and Syria to help stabilize Lebanon
By DPA
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Sunday in Cairo that Iran and Syria should be pressured to help secure stability in Lebanon.
"The Lebanese crisis is difficult and complicated, and with exterior influences, it has become one of the most difficult problems in the world," he said during a stop in Egypt to brief Arab foreign ministers about his talks in Lebanon.
He stressed that "pressure is needed ... meaning that Syria and Iran must not exercise influence that could lead to war," he said in a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.
Earlier Sunday, Kouchner ended a two-day visit to Lebanon without achieving tangible progress, though he managed to gather representatives of Lebanon's feuding factions around the same table during a luncheon in Beirut.
"The simple fact that thanks to our efforts ... Lebanese from all communities are talking together - something they haven't done for nine months - is a small progress," Kouchner said. "France is doing what it can, but it cannot solve the problem in the place of the Lebanese."
He said that Iran and Syria are among countries already involved, "which could have a very negative effect on what is going to happen in Lebanon."
Kouncher's efforts to solve the Lebanese political situation coincided with a similar visit by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, who arrived Sunday in Lebanon.
"I am happy to pursue the efforts exerted by France to resolve the crisis," Moratinos told reporters after meeting briefly with Kouchner at the Beirut airport.
Moratinos met later with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora.
On Monday, Moratinos is scheduled to meet with more Lebanese leaders and is to inspect Spanish's troops who are deployed with the United Nation's peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
The resignation in November 2006 of six pro-Syrian cabinet
ministers including five Shiites sparked Lebanon's worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.
If Lebanese political leaders fail to resolve their differences in the coming weeks, observers fear a power vacuum or even the creation of rival governments, which could spark more violence.
The Hezbollah-led opposition has demanded establishment of a national unity government in which the opposition would have veto powers.
The anti-Syrian majority has rejected the demand and insisted that the opposition should stop blocking parliamentary sessions to allow the quorum required for presidential elections to replace pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud by a November 25 deadline.