BEIRUT (AFP) — Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, from whose Maronite community Lebanese presidents are drawn, left on Sunday for the United States, for talks due to focus on Lebanon's protracted presidential vacuum.
Sfeir will hold talks with President George W. Bush on May 22 after a stop in New York to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the Maronite church said.
Sfeir said ahead of the visit he hoped Washington could contribute to efforts to ease the political crisis in Lebanon, which has been without a president since November amid wrangling between feuding leaders.
"The American officials know about the situation in Lebanon. If they can contribute to promoting the security that we want in our country, their efforts will be welcome", Sfeir said.
Lebanon's Western-backed ruling coalition and the opposition, supported by Iran and Syria, are deadlocked over power-sharing in the country. The crisis has prevented the election of a new president.
The cardinal has repeatedly urged the two camps to resolve the crisis -- the worst to have hit Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war -- by electing a president in order to avoid chaos in the divided country.
Sfeir, 88, begins his visit in Qatar where he will say mass on Sunday at Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic church -- the first church in the Muslim Gulf state which opened only in March.
On Tuesday, the cleric embarks on an eight-day visit to South Africa before flying to the United States.
He wraps up his tour in Spain where he is due to meet King Juan Carlos on May 23 before returning home three days later.
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