PARIS - Rival Lebanese leaders General Michel Aoun and Saad Hariri met in Paris on Wednesday amid efforts to resolve the country's deadlock on electing a new president, an official in the general's camp said.

Amid lack of agreement on a consensus candidate, a session of Lebanon's parliament to elect a new president has been twice postponed and is now scheduled to take place on November 12.

The talks between Aoun, a declared candidate for the post supported by the pro-Syrian opposition, and Hariri who leads the Western-backed parliamentary majority, were held at a secret location in the French capital.

Aoun, in an interview with his movement's Orange TV in Lebanon, said several issued were covered in their almost three hours of "frank" discussions.

But the names of Lebanon's next president or prime minister were not raised, the Christian general said, adding that he could hold a second meeting with Hariri, a Sunni Muslim leader.

"We have to work to reach a solution," said Aoun, asked if he was optimistic ahead of the November 12 meeting in parliament.

The official in his camp, who asked not to be named, said the meeting -- the first two-way talks between Hariri and Aoun since the start of the political crisis in November 2006 -- was held in a "positive atmosphere."

The French foreign ministry said it was "not involved in the talks between Aoun and Hariri, who are here on a private basis" but stressed that France "supports all efforts aimed at encouraging dialogue between the different parties in Lebanon."

Fears are running high in Beirut that the standoff between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps could lead to two rival governments, a grim reminder of the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war when two administrations battled it out. -AFP