PARIS - Emile Lahoud, the pro-Syrian Lebanese president boycotted by many Western countries, has slammed French counterpart Jacques Chirac for interfering in Lebanese internal affairs.

"Jacques Chirac has not been fair in his behaviour towards the Lebanese. His politics are partisan. That he has friends is his right. But not that he interferes in internal affairs in our country," Lahoud said in an interview with French daily Liberation published on Saturday. "He is seeking to strengthen his personal friends in Lebanon."

Lahoud is boycotted by Western nations, who do not consider him a legitimate president after his mandate was controversially extended after changes to the Lebanese constitution pushed through parliament by pro-Syrian MPs in September 2004. His standing was further undermined by a UN report on the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri -- a personal friend of Chirac -- which implicated senior Syrian and Lebanese officials in the killing.

Lahoud was not invited to a summit of French-speaking nations earlier this week in Romania. Chirac said the decision was made in the light of the UN report on the Hariri killing.

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