French President Francois Hollande concluded on Sunday a two-day trip to Lebanon where he met with senior officials and visited a Syrian refugee camp in the eastern Bekaa region.
In the morning, he held separate talks with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and later Army Commander General Jean Qahwahi.
Al-Rahi reiterated during the meeting the need to elect a a president to fill the vacuum that has persisted since 2014.
He revealed according to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that he sensed a “seriousness” from Hollande to end Lebanon's crisis.
“Officials should search for the real reasons why parliament has not been able to hold electoral sessions,” he remarked from the Snoubar residence, the headquarters of the French ambassador to Lebanon.
He handed the French official a memorandum on the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the presidential vacuum, and extremism in the region, said VDL (100.5).
For his part, Hollande said: “France only has one candidate for the presidential elections, and it is Lebanon.”
He then headed to the Bekaa to meet with Syrian refugees at the Dalhamieh camp.
Two Syrian families in the Bekaa are expected to be sent to France where they will be naturalized, media reports said.
He later announced that France will grant Lebanon 50 million euros to support the displaced and underlined the need for a political solution to the crisis in Syria to ensure the safe return of refugees to their homeland.
Hollande also noted that France will keep pushing for the implementation of the Saudi-French agreement on providing the Lebanese army with weapons, which was suspended earlier this year amid high tensions between the kingdom and Hezbollah.
Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor.
Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps have thwarted the polls.
