LEBANON: France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is on his seventh visit to Lebanon this year to help the Lebanese government finalise a deal on electing a new president

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Member of Parliament Saad Hariri in Beirut on Wednesday (December 5). He is there to help foster a deal on electing the country's army chief as president. Berri said in remarks published on Wednesday that the army chief will be elected the country's next president. A leading member of the opposition, Berri said rival Lebanese leaders had agreed on the candidature of General Michel Suleiman, even if parliament has yet to elect him to the post empty since November 23 when the pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud left office. The fate of the presidency is the latest stage in a power struggle between the anti-Syrian governing coalition and the opposition led by the pro-Damascus Hezbollah. Suleiman emerged in the last week as a candidate acceptable to both sides. Agreement on choosing a president would defuse a political crisis that has paralysed the country for more than a year and sparked its worst internal strife since the 1975-1990 civil war. Parliament has been called to elect a president on Friday (December 7), but will delay the session for a seventh time unless feuding leaders can finalise a broad power-sharing deal, including the formation of a new cabinet.

ITN Source | December 5, 2007

Tags:. .between. .internal. .source. .friday. .post