French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner met feuding Lebanese leaders on Tuesday to help them resolve a political impasse over a delayed presidential election that is threatening Lebanon's stability. The Lebanese presidential election is the latest obstacle in a year-old political crisis pitting the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora against the opposition, led by pro-Syrian Hezbollah.Kouchner's main focus in his 24-hour trip to Beirut is to nudge fiercely divided Maronite Christians towards agreement on a compromise presidential candidate. The president has to be a Maronite according to Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system. Kouchner met Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir who described the meeting as "very positive."
France has been at the forefront of an intensive mediation drive to try to resolve the political crisis which is Lebanon's worst since the end of the civil war 17 years ago.