France denies plan to topple Lebanese president

France denied it is interfering in Lebanese internal affairs, stressing that its political moves aim at halting what it called the foreign intervention in the country.

Donny Simono, the assistant for the spokesman of the French foreign ministry, said that "France does not interfere in the Lebanese internal affairs. Its move aims, to the contrary, to halt foreign intervention in this country and permit the Lebanese to restore back their supremacy fully and their independence according to UN security council resolution 1559."

This statement came in reaction to Lebanese accusations against the French President Jacques Chirac of seeking to topple President Lahoud. Sources at the Lebanese Presidential Palace said that Chirac stands in support of forces that stand against Syria and wants to remove Lahoud.

According to these sources, Chirac formed a crisis team cell to implement an urgent plan to topple the President Emil Lahoud by a time not to exceed the beginning of May this year.

Lebanese presidency sources indicated that the plan which is backed by Paris states the organization of people demonstration to siege the Presidential Palace, demanding the economic sectors to hold certain moves, as well as organizing opinion polls showing that all the Lebanese oppose having Lahoud in authority, and making use of these opinion polls at the international level.

Meantime, Saad al-Hariri, the leader of the Lebanese majority which stands against Syria criticized Lahoud's accusation of his French peer interfering in the Lebanese affairs, stressing that Paris "has always stood with Lebanon."

Hariri said in a radio interview issued by the Lebanese daily "regrettably President Lahoud is resorting to using his position to attack an international figure, who ever stood beside the Arabs in all their main concerns."