Lebanon's 14 rival political factions on Saturday met in a French chateau in an attempt to ease the months-long domestic political crisis.
The two-day close-door meeting, initiated and sponsored by the French government, marks the first time that the 14 Lebanese rival parties have converged to seek solution to the political crisis since a national dialogue failed to ease the tension last November.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner hosted the meeting at the Chateau de Celle-Saint Cloud, located in the west suburbs of the French capital.
"The minister made an opening statement and then there was a round during which everybody expressed their point of view," said a spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry.
The meeting, without a set agenda, will focus on the theme of "strengthening the Lebanese state."
Lebanon's Shi'ite group Hezbollah has also sent representatives to the meeting although it nearly canceled its participation after French President Nicolas Sarkozy vaguely linked the group to terrorism.
"At first we planned to renounce going to Paris because such comments are biased," Hezbollah's chief delegate Mohammed Fneish told France's newspaper Le Figaro.
But Sarkozy later clarified his statement, saying France was not considering designating Hezbollah a terrorist group and that Hezbollah was regarded as an important political player in Lebanon.
Lebanon is facing its most serious political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, with the government led by Prime Minister Fouad Seniora and the Hezbollah-led opposition locked in a fierce power struggle.
In mid-November last year, six opposition ministers quit the cabinet after Seniora refused to give the opposition alliance more power in the cabinet.
The opposition then declared the cabinet illegitimate, demanding early parliamentary elections and a new electoral law.
The Seniora government has rejected such calls and accused Hezbollah of trying to obstruct the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri.
Source: Xinhua
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