BEIRUT: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Lebanon yesterday to bolster the troubled country’s new president, as rival politicians struggled to form a new government.

Rice said she made her lightning trip to “express the United States’ support for Lebanese democracy, for Lebanese sovereignty.” Her visit, under tight security, came amid persistent bickering between the Western-backed parliamentary majority and the Syrian-backed opposition over the promised formation of a broad Cabinet of national unity.

An Arab-brokered agreement in Doha led to the election last month of army chief Michel Suleiman as a compromise choice for president. But the promised formation of a unity government has yet to be implemented.

After talks with Parliament Speaker and opposition stalwart Nabih Berri, Rice said that she hoped the disputes over nominations for the key defense, interior, finance and foreign affairs portfolios which have delayed the new Cabinet’s formation would be swiftly resolved.

Earlier she met Suleiman and told him Washington was very supportive of his presidency, describing him as a “very fine man.” She also met Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri. “We talked of... the United States’ commitment to a Lebanon that is truly sovereign and independent where foreign interference and foreign intimidation should never be permitted,” she said after that meeting.

Rice rejected charges that the Doha deal was a slap in the face for US policy in the region as it had given the Iran- and Syrian-backed opposition veto power over government decisions.

“Obviously in any compromise there are compromises,” she said.

“But this was an agreement that I think serves the interest of the Lebanese people and since it serves the interest of the Lebanese people, it serves the interest of the United States.”

The top US diplomat called for UN action on the disputed Shebaa Farms, a district that remains occupied by Israel but which the pro-opposition group Hezbollah has pledged to liberate and the pro-Western parliamentary majority also backs Lebanon’s claim to. “The United States believes that the time has come to deal with the Shebaa Farms issue... in accordance with (UN Security Council Resolution) 1701,” Rice said.