Hollande to visit Lebanon in October

French President Francois Hollande announced that he will head for Lebanon in October to tackle the challenges that are confronting the country, particularly the one-and-a-half-year-long presidential deadlock, according to media reports.

Speaking to An Nahar newspaper on the sidelines of the emergency Brussels summit, which was held last week to discuss Europe's migration crisis, Hollande said that the Lebanese "should elect a new head of state immediately," adding that he will "personally head to Beirut in October."

Lebanon has been without a head of state since the tenure of former President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014.

The French president previously announced during his bi-annual press conference at the Elysée presidential palace in Paris earlier in September that he will head to Lebanon after the United Nations meeting.

Hollande also announced that his country is exerting efforts to grant Lebanon additional aid to help it cope with its refugees crisis.

"There are new endeavors with the donor countries," Hollande said.

He noted that Lebanon will benefit from the grants specified for countries neighboring Syria.

"I know the size (of burden) that Lebanon is enduring. For the past two or three years the number of Syria refugees is more than the Lebanese people, which causes a lot of tension," the French president said.

He highlighted the difficult responsibilities that Lebanon is enduring on the political level, urging the rival parties to elect a new president.

The International Support Group for Lebanon will hold a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York at the end of the month.

The meeting will be chaired by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and attended by Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UN Special Coordinator to Lebanon Sigrid Kaag and several other prominent figures.

The presence of over 1.1 million registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon, which already suffers from a fragile socioeconomic, political and security situation, has presented the country with enormous challenges.

Despite pledges by international donors to aid countries most affected by the grinding civil war in Syria, many states have failed to follow through and donate the full amount initially promised

Source: MENA