(14 Jul 2007)
1. Various of Lebanese delegates arriving at Celle Saint-Cloud Castle
2. Various of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner welcoming Lebanese delegates at entrance to castle
3. Delegates sitting down for the meeting
4. French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and French delegation sitting at roundtable
5. Lebanese delegates sitting at round table
6. Various of delegates sitting at round table
STORYLINE
Lebanon's rival parties met at a French chateau on Saturday for rare and long-awaited talks which it is hoped will start the process of healing the rift between enemies mired in a political and sectarian crisis which is threatening to tear their country apart.
But the closed-door meetings, organised by France with U.S. and Iranian approval, were not expected to end the political deadlock between the Western-backed prime minister and the Hezbollah-led opposition.
The meetings on Saturday and Sunday at La Celle Saint Cloud, a small town west of Paris, mark the first time that the 14 parties are meeting since a national dialogue conference in November that failed to resolve the tensions.
On Saturday French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner welcomed the delegates to the castle there, venue for the two days of talks.
Since then, the country's worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war has deepened, to the point where the parliament and government are barely functioning.
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora is locked in a fierce power-struggle with the Hezbollah-led, pro-Syrian opposition and refuses to step down.
Hezbollah is the largest single block in Lebanon's parliament, and the resignation of two Hezbollah Cabinet ministers last year, along with other ministers from the pro-Syrian opposition, threw the country into its current crisis.
The deadlock could create a power vacuum or even lead to two rival governments if Parliament fails to elect a new president before the November 23 deadline for pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud to step down.
The deepening political crises only adds to the country's woes.
The Lebanese army has been doing battle with Islamic militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon for weeks, and in the south, U.N. troops, who are trying to bring peace to the Lebanese-Israeli border after last year's war, fear a new flare-up of violence.
This weekend's talks have no set agenda and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and other French diplomats were there, but only as observers, not mediators.
France, Lebanon's former colonial ruler, has strong ties with some of the rival factions and hopes to use its leverage to encourage dialogue, but is keen not to be seen as dictating solutions.

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