PARIS - Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora arrived in Paris Monday for talks with French, UN and Palestinian officials days ahead of the scheduled publication of an international enquiry into the murder of former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri.

Siniora's meeting with UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen centred around the fate of Palestinian militias in Lebanon, a UN spokesman said.

Roed-Larsen, who also arrived in the French capital Monday, was to have separate talks here with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in September 2004, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.

That resolution calls for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon and the disbanding and disarmament of Lebanon's Shiite militia Hezbollah and the 12 Palestinian groups present within and outside refugee camps.

The resolution was aimed at ending Syrian domination of Lebanon and extending the government's authority throughout the country.

The Lebanese government has been increasing its efforts to end the armed presence of pro-Syrian Palestinian groups no longer protected by the Syrian military after it departed from Lebanon in April.

Siniora said earlier this month that the presence of militia bases outside the camps would no longer be tolerated.

Siniora's meeting with Abbas will concentrate on the Palestinian presence in Lebanon and the establishment of official relations between Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority.

Siniora, who arrived here accompanied by his foreign minister Fawzi Salloukh, also held talks with French Foreign Minister Philippe Doust-Blazy.

He was due to meet French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Tuesday as well as holding talks with Abbas, who is in the French capital as part of a wider European tour.

It is Siniora's first visit to France as head of government. He visited the United States last month.

His visit comes as Zouheir Mohammad Assediq, a former member of the Syrian intelligence services, is being held by French police ahead of possible extradition to Lebanon to answer questions about the murder of former prime minister Hariri, officials said.

Assediq, who is the object of an international arrest warrant requested by a Lebanese prosecutor, was detained Sunday in the Paris suburb of Chatou.

In Beirut, al-Mostaqbal newspaper reported that Assediq was questioned during the summer as a witness by the UN inquiry into Hariri's assassination.

He is reported to have admitted that he was near the scene of the crime in Beirut on February 14.

The murder of Hariri in a massive Beirut bomb blast, that also killed 20 others last February, has been widely blamed on Lebanon's neighbour and longtime powerbroker, Syria. Damascus has denied the allegations.

UN chief Kofi Annan said Monday that he would not make a decision on whether to extend the mandate of the UN probe into Hariri's murder until he receives a report on the case this week.

Last week, the Lebanese government asked that the mandate of the probe led by German magistrate Detlev Mehlis be extended to December 15.

The UN secretary general said he would receive Mehlis's report on Friday.

Douste-Blazy spoke Monday of France's "unfailing support" for Siniora, a French diplomatic source said.

The French foreign minister stressed that it was important to identify those responsible for Hariri's assassination and to implement the findings of Mehlis's report.

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