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Sarkozy offers support for Lebanese unity
2008-06-07
President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed on Saturday France's support for newly-elected Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and for efforts to promote national unity during a brief visit to the country. Sarkozy, the first Western head of state to visit Lebanon since Sleiman took office at the end of May, said the former army commander "has a great responsibility to drive this national reconciliation forward. "It is essential that all Lebanese political forces display their commitment to dialogue," he added in remarks at a luncheon with Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, parliament speaker Nabih Berri and representatives of all major Lebanese political factions. Lebanon has suffered an 18-month political crisis that drove it to the brink of civil war at the beginning of May. After sectarian violence left 65 people dead, rival factions reached a deal in Qatar on May 21 that led to the election of then army chief and consensus candidate Sleiman after a six-month void in the presidency. For his part, Sleiman said the "Doha agreement, in which France took part, has regenerated long-awaited and desired political stability." Even so, the anti-Syrian ruling bloc, backed by the West and most Arab states, and the Hezbollah-led opposition, continue to squabble over the formation of the new government. Looking beyond that, Sarkozy said that "once the institutions have stabilised, (Lebanon) must address the reconstruction of the state and the economy's dynamism to open up to reforms that will allow Lebanon to benefit from what was acquired in Paris III." He was referring to an economic reform plan Lebanon presented to the international community at a January 2007 meeting in Paris aimed at helping the country cope with its massive debt while growing its economy. The crisis has paralysed the official institutions responsible for enacting the reforms, promised in exchange for the 7.6 billion dollars in aid and soft loans granted in Paris. Turning to security issues, Sarkozy said France remains "committed to strengthening the capacities of the Lebanese army within the framework of a national defense strategy to be established through sincere dialogue among the Lebanese that can no longer be delayed. Sarkozy has also indicated that "a new page may be opening" in relations with Syria, which took a turn for the worse during the crisis. France is the former colonial power in Lebanon and neighbouring Syria, which for years was the power broker in Beirut. In an interview published Friday by Lebanese dailies L'Orient Le Jour, An-Nahar and As-Safir, Sarkozy recounted how he had said France "would resume contacts with Syria only when positive, concrete developments occurred in Lebanon with a view to getting out of the crisis. "One has to concede that the Doha accord, the election of President Sleiman and the return of Fuad Siniora as prime minister are such developments. I have drawn the conclusions and I have called (Syrian President Bashar al-) Assad to tell him of my desire to see the carrying out of the accord continue." He added, however, that "our demand for truth and justice concerning the political assassinations perpetrated in Lebanon is intact." He was referring notably to the 2005 slaying of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, for which Syria has been widely implicated. Damascus has denied any connection with that assassination, or of other killings of anti-Syrian officials since then. Sarkozy expressed his commitment for an international tribunal that is to try those eventually accused of Hariri's assassination. "The assassins must know that they have to pay," he said at the luncheon. Meanwhile, a planned visit by the French delegation to the French contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in the south, was cancelled to keep this "a purely political" visit, according to the Elysee. Instead, Defence Minister Herve Morin will visit the French contingent of 1,800 soldiers, the second largest of UNIFIL's 13,000-strong force. Morin, Prime Minister Francois Fillon, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and the leaders of all France's major parties accompanied Sarkozy to Lebanon. The last official visit by a French president was in 2002, when Jacques Chirac participated in the summit of French-speaking states.
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