BEIRUT (AFP) — Foreign envoys are flocking to Beirut to try to break a political deadlock that threatens to scuttle a looming presidential election and plunge deeply-divid Lebanon into further chaos.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was due to hold talks on Thursday with the country's feuding political leaders as was Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Dibble and Sudanese presidential envoy Mohammad Othman Ismail also met this week with members of the Western-backed ruling majority and the opposition, which includes factions backed by Syria and Iran.
Lebanese politicians have also travelled overseas in recent days, holding talks with officials in Egypt, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
But the diplomatic ballet so far has failed to lead to a breakthrough between the Hezbollah-led opposition, which wants more power, and the ruling coalition which wants to maintain its authority.
Both sides have stepped up negotiations in recent weeks as parliament is due to meet on September 25 to choose a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, whose mandate expires in November.
Failure by the parties to choose a consensus candidate could spark a dangerous power vacuum or even the naming of two rival governments -- a grim reminder of the final years of the 1975-1990 civil war when two competing administrations battled it out.
The resignation in November of six pro-Syrian ministers, five of them Shiite, sparked the current political crisis, the worst since the end of the civil war.
The country has also been rocked by a series of attacks against prominent anti-Syrian figures since the murder in 2005 of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, widely blamed on Damascus.
On the eve of his third trip to Beirut in four months, Kouchner said he hoped Lebanon's political leaders will be able to agree on a new head of state without any outside meddling.
"I hope they will find a consensus candidate and I hope the election will take place without any foreign interference, brutality or assassinations which often come from outside Lebanon," Kouchner told reporters in Jordan.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a leader of the opposition, has said his side was willing to drop its demand for a unity government if all political factions agreed to choose a new president by consensus when the legislature convenes on September 25.
However, the ruling coalition has given his proposal a lukewarm response.
The 128 deputies have from September 25 to November 24 to elect a president, who in accordance with tradition is drawn from the country's Christian Maronite community.
From November 14 until the end of Lahoud's mandate, parliament will be in permanent session.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was due to hold talks on Thursday with the country's feuding political leaders as was Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Dibble and Sudanese presidential envoy Mohammad Othman Ismail also met this week with members of the Western-backed ruling majority and the opposition, which includes factions backed by Syria and Iran.
Lebanese politicians have also travelled overseas in recent days, holding talks with officials in Egypt, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
But the diplomatic ballet so far has failed to lead to a breakthrough between the Hezbollah-led opposition, which wants more power, and the ruling coalition which wants to maintain its authority.
Both sides have stepped up negotiations in recent weeks as parliament is due to meet on September 25 to choose a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, whose mandate expires in November.
Failure by the parties to choose a consensus candidate could spark a dangerous power vacuum or even the naming of two rival governments -- a grim reminder of the final years of the 1975-1990 civil war when two competing administrations battled it out.
The resignation in November of six pro-Syrian ministers, five of them Shiite, sparked the current political crisis, the worst since the end of the civil war.
The country has also been rocked by a series of attacks against prominent anti-Syrian figures since the murder in 2005 of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, widely blamed on Damascus.
On the eve of his third trip to Beirut in four months, Kouchner said he hoped Lebanon's political leaders will be able to agree on a new head of state without any outside meddling.
"I hope they will find a consensus candidate and I hope the election will take place without any foreign interference, brutality or assassinations which often come from outside Lebanon," Kouchner told reporters in Jordan.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a leader of the opposition, has said his side was willing to drop its demand for a unity government if all political factions agreed to choose a new president by consensus when the legislature convenes on September 25.
However, the ruling coalition has given his proposal a lukewarm response.
The 128 deputies have from September 25 to November 24 to elect a president, who in accordance with tradition is drawn from the country's Christian Maronite community.
From November 14 until the end of Lahoud's mandate, parliament will be in permanent session.
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