French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived Friday in Beirut for talks with Lebanese leaders aimed at ending a standoff between the country's political parties, according to dpa. Kouchner headed directly to the governmental palace to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora and will then meet with Shiite House Speaker Nabih Berri, who is a close ally of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. "We will continue our efforts to achieve the right atmosphere between the Lebanese leaders," Kouchner said on arrival. The French official will continue his talks with Lebanese officials all day Saturday to encourage rival political parties to end an eight-month power struggle between the anti-Syrian government and the Hezbollah-led opposition. According to a member of the French delegation accompanying Kouchner, the foreign minister's talks, that started earlier this month in France, will focus on achieving a breakthrough between rival Lebanese factions. But observers in Lebanon see "very little chance" of a breakthrough during the two-day visit. "The gap is deeper now between the Lebanese leaders and chances of reconciliation is dim," said political analyst George Alam. A member of the pro-Syrian opposition who requested anonymity told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, "The mission is delicate and at this time chances are weak to achieve a breakthrough." The Hezbollah-led opposition has been demanding the establishment of a national unity government in which the opposition would have the power to veto. The anti-Syrian majority have rejected the demand and insisted that this can only happen if the opposition, also backed by Berri, agrees to stop blocking parliamentary sessions to ensure the quorum required for presidential elections to replace pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud by a November 25 deadline. Marwan Hamadeh, anti-Syrian telecommunications minister, said "France does not have high hopes, but the French officials are determined to move the negotiations a step ahead." Kouchner is expected to head to Egypt on Sunday to brief members of the Arab League on his talks in Beirut. The resignation in November of six pro-Syrian ministers, five of them Shiite, sparked the country's worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
