Beirut- Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa arrived in Lebanon Monday, joining European efforts to help rival leaders reach a consensus on electing a new president later this week.

'The Arab world is worried about the situation in Lebanon,' he told reporters upon arrival at Beirut international airport.

'There is still a possibility of reaching a consensus over one presidential candidate, but there is still a possibility of failure as well,' Mussa said.

Mussa's visit coincided with talks carried out by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who is leading European diplomatic efforts in a bid to help Lebanon out of the current political impasse.

'We have two days. We will continue working,' Kouchner said, underlining that the rest two days before a parliamentary session to elect a new president on Wednesday November 21 are crucial for Lebanon, even the whole region.

The French diplomat, who arrived late Sunday for his sixth visit in the past six months, held a 40-minute closed-door meeting with opposition leader and house Speaker Nabih Berri, shortly after a meeting with anti-Syrian March 14 majority coalition leader Saad Hariri.

Kouchner earlier expressed his anger at the deadlock in the current situation.

'The one responsible for blocking a process that was agreed upon by all parties bears responsibility for destabilising Lebanon and for regional consequences,' he said after meeting after Hariri.

'Everybody agreed, everyone was in agreement - now, I am shocked, France is shocked, something stood in the way...something slipped,' Kouchner told reporters after meeting with Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri.

Political observers believed Mussa and Kouchner's visit are a clear sign 'of a total blockage in negotiations...and efforts - both internal and external - to reach a compromise. ..'

They added that there is an 'an ultimate attempt to prevent the French initiative from failing.'

A source close to opposition Christian leader Michel Aoun said that a last-chance parliamentary session on Wednesday for MPs to elect a successor to pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud may be postponed, prompting fears of chaos and the formation of two parallel governments.

Three other sessions in the past two months have already been cancelled for lack of agreement on a consensus candidate.

The confessional system in Lebanon mandates that the president, who is elected by parliament, be a member of the Christian Maronite community.

The ruling majority has vowed to proceed with its own vote in parliament if a deal is not reached by Friday, while the opposition has threatened to consider a president elected in this manner a 'coup against Lebanon.'

The Western-backed government of Fouad Senioa has been paralysed since the opposition, led by Hezbollah - which is backed by Syria and Iran - withdrew its six ministers from the cabinet in November 2006 in a bid to gain more representation in government.

Several countries, including the United States, Britain and France, have warned their nationals against travel to Lebanon in light of the political crisis.

A compromise successor to Lahoud is crucial to defusing the one- year crisis, which is considered Lebanon's worst crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. -DPA