BEIRUT, Lebanon - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner began a drive to reconcile Lebanese leaders with talks with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in Beirut on Friday and said only the Lebanese could resolve their country's problems.

"There is little time to resume dialogue. This trip is only one step in that direction," Kouchner told reporters at Beirut's airport. "I'm not someone with a magical solution ... the solution is in the hands of the Lebanese," he later said after talks with Siniora.

Kouchner will try to build on a tentative dialogue among Lebanese leaders who sent representatives to Paris earlier this month for talks billed as an attempt to break the ice between the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition.

But Lebanese political sources and analysts expect little from his trip due to the complexities of Lebanon's 8-month-old political crisis and the external links of its local players with outside forces like Syria, Iran and the United States.

Political sources said Kouchner would meet the participants of the talks in Paris collectively as well as more senior leaders individually.

But his wish to bring the leaders together -- possibly at a meeting at the French embassy -- appears to be out of reach because the positions of both camps are still far apart.

Lebanon plunged into political deadlock in November when all five Shi'ite ministers and one Christian quit Siniora's cabinet over opposition demands for veto power in government.

Siniora, with U.S., European and Sunni Arab support, resisted opposition demands for his resignation.

The latest focus for rivalry between the ruling majority and its opponents is a parliament session on Sept. 25 to choose a new president to replace pro-Syrian incumbent Emile Lahoud.

Many fear that Lebanon could plunge into civil strife if no successor is elected before Lahoud's term ends on November 24. -Reuters