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| 06/06/2008 France's opposition leaders will join President Nicolas Sarkozy on a visit to Lebanon Saturday to meet his counterpart Michel Suleiman, a rare move intended to send out a "message of unity" to the country.
Sarkozy will be the first Western head of state to meet Sleiman since the former army chief was elected president on May 25 following a Qatari-brokered deal to end an 18-month political crisis.
Sarkozy arrived in Greece Friday along with Defense Minister Herve Morin. He will go on to Lebanon on Saturday, joined from Paris by Prime Minister Francois Fillon and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
Also there will be France's main opposition leaders, Socialist Francois Hollande, the centrist Francois Bayrou, communist Marie-George Buffet and the left-wing radical leader Jean-Michel Baylet.
The ruling UMP party chief and its leader in parliament, Patrick Devedjian and Jean-Francois Cope, will also be present, along with former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
Sarkozy's office said he invited the opposition leaders to convey a "message of encouragement, of friendship and hope" to Lebanon. "This is a message from French democracy to Lebanese democracy," an aide said. Sarkozy's office has said Suleiman's "election marks a decisive step in the resolution of Lebanon's political crisis, towards which France has worked hard for the past year."
The French delegation is to meet with the leaders of 14 Lebanese parties who were represented in the national dialogue roundtable.
However, Sarkozy cancelled plans to visit French UN peacekeeping troops in the country, deciding instead to keep the visit "purely political", his office said. Defense minister Morin will visit the troops instead. | 
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