Paris ‘will help Lebanon end political stalemate’

Beirut: France’s foreign minister said Tuesday that his country will do everything in its power to help Lebanon emerge from its political stalemate, urging Lebanese politicians to overcome their differences to face the immense challenges ahead.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, who is on a two-day visit to Beirut, told reporters that resolving Lebanon’s two-year-old crisis is a must to help deal with the security and economic problems plaguing the country.

Lebanon has been without a president since President Michel Suleiman stepped down in May 2014 at the end of his term, because of deep divisions between its politicians. Both the Cabinet and the parliament have been paralyzed.

The country has also suffered bouts of violence in the past few years, a spillover from neighboring Syria’s civil war. Lebanon, a tiny country with a population of around 4.5 million, is also hosting more than a million Syrian refugees.

“The Lebanese people are facing several security challenges. There are negative and dramatic consequences from the situation in Syria, including the refugees,” Ayrault said.

“We should protect Lebanon from the consequences of the war in Syria,” he added.

Ayrault said France wants to see a solution for the Syria conflict, now in its sixth year, and called for the resumption of peace talks starting with a cease-fire.

On Monday Ayrault told rival Lebanese leaders they must solve the political paralysis that has prevented the election of a new president.

“A solution must be found and it is up to the Lebanese political parties to find a way to comprise,” Ayrault said at the start of a two-day visit to Lebanon.

Ayrault, speaking to a group of politicians invited to a banquet at the French embassy in Beirut, said Syria’s five-year war “alone cannot justify the absence of a solution to the institutional crisis” in Lebanon.

He held separate talks with some of Lebanon’s political leaders.

Ayrault also inspected French peacekeepers serving with the UN in southern Lebanon and travelled to UNIFIL headquarters in the town of Naqura on the border with Israel.