Sarkozy starts meetings with Mideast leaders

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy met his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak on Saturday, kicking off a round of diplomacy with Middle East leaders ahead of an EU-Mediterranean summit on Sunday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will mark his return to the European stage later in the day when he holds talks with both Sarkozy and Lebanon's new president, Michel Suleiman, a day after a new Lebanese government finally took office.

Sarkozy strolled to his meeting with Mubarak in a central Paris hotel but was due to greet Assad and Suleiman with full pomp and ceremony at the Elysee Palace in the afternoon.

The three men were due to make a joint declaration at 6.40 p.m. (1640 GMT) along with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who helped broker a power-sharing deal among Lebanon's feuding pro-Western and pro-Syrian factions in May.

France and many other western countries have shunned Syria in recent years, accusing Assad of destabilizing neighboring Lebanon and fuelling unrest across its borders with Iraq.

But following the deal that pulled Lebanon back from the brink of a new civil war, France decided to resume high level contacts with Syria and Sarkozy invited Assad to the EU-Mediterranean summit.

The high-profile gathering will give Assad the chance to hold his first meeting with Suleiman and, in a diplomatic first, take part in the Mediterranean Union summit alongside Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who flies into Paris on Sunday.

"This is an historic visit for me, an opening towards France and towards Europe," Assad said in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper this week. However, he said it would be premature to hold direct talks with Israel, apparently ruling out a face-to-face meeting with Olmert.

UNCOMFORTABLE

Assad's appearance in Paris, and his invitation to attend Monday's Bastille Day military parade, has been criticized by human rights activists and even French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said it doesn't make him "especially comfortable."

Syria sent troops to Lebanon, a former French protectorate, in 1976 and had a powerful grip on Lebanese politics over the following three decades.

It withdrew its troops in 2005 in the face of international pressure and Lebanese street protests following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which France believes was orchestrated from Damascus.

Assad has denied Syria ordered the killing of Hariri, a close friend of former French President Jacques Chirac.

French officials say it is important to re-establish high-level ties with Syria and say its recent decision to embark on indirect peace talks with Israel shows that attitudes are changing in Damascus.

Sunday's summit will draw more than 40 heads of state and government to Paris and is aimed at breathing new life into the existing Euro-Med partnership, creating a more equal dialogue between countries lining the Mediterranean.

-- Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry

(Editing by Paul Taylor and Jon Boyle)