LONDON -Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday called for free and fair elections in Lebanon following the surprising resignation of the pro-Syrian government and stressed the need for polling independent of contaminating influences.
Speaking to reporters after an international conference on Palestinian security, Rice said that Syrians must withdraw some 15,000 troops and their security services from Lebanon.
The pressure of the international community is quite palpable on Syria
she said. They really should get about living up to their international obligations.
The nation's top diplomat said the dismantling of terrorist militias in southern Lebanon would be critical to any forward steps in the region.
There can't continue to be strikes from southern Lebanon she said.
Rice said there is a long list of concerns about a Syria that is standing in the way of Lebanese Iraqis
Palestinians and others in their aspirations for a better world.
Huge street demonstrations and Monday's resignation of the pro-Syrian Lebanese government mark the most serious challenge to Syrian authority in Lebanon since the end of the civil war that killed 150,000 and gutted the Lebanese economy in the 1970s and 1980s.
Lebanese shops, businesses and banks reopened after a one-day strike Monday to protest the Feb. 14 assassination of former prime minister and billionaire businessman Rafik Hariri, whose killing was the catalyst for the peaceful protests demanding Syria release its military and political hold.
Issues such as Syria's involvement in Lebanon, the long-running dispute between Israel and the Palestinians and Iran's nuclear weapons program were among the topics as Rice met with foreign leaders in London.
Rice met privately with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, and later insisted that the Palestinians overhaul their security system to counter terrorism and lawlessness.
She initially said Army Lt. Gen. William Ward, the U.S. general designated to monitor Israel-Palestinian peace efforts, will soon relocate to the region, then later corrected herself and said he would not.
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