DAMASCUS, Sept 13 (AFP) - A French senator called on Syria Monday to help "unblock" the Lebanese political system following the adoption of a French-sponsored UN resolution outlawing foreign interference in a clear allusion to Damascus.
"Syria can exert its influence to unblock things and it is preferable that concrete steps be taken before October 3 to unblock the situation in Lebanon," said senator Philippe Marini, referring to a deadline for UN chief Kofi Annan to report back to the Security Council on compliance with the resolution.
"The way Lebanon is governed does not meet our hopes. Reforms have yet to be introduced and the country risks becoming a social powderkeg due to the political crisis," said Marini, who chairs the Syrian friendship group in the French upper house.
The senator reminded Lebanon of its indebtedness to its former colonial power for continued financial viability after the devastating 1975-90 civil war.
"Without France, there would have been no Paris II," he said, referring to a October 2002 donors' conference in the French capital which rolled over Lebanon's massive debt burden in return for promises of economic reform.
Marini said that in talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad he had noticed some "goodwill".
To the fury of the United Staes which co-sponsored Resolution 1559 with France, Lebanese MPs amended the constitution to keep pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud in power another three years the very day after the text was adopted.