Visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier joined forces in London Tuesday to press for a Syrian withdrawal of its troops from Lebanon.

The demand came after Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami and his government resigned Monday amid pressure and protests demanding that the government take responsibility for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

"The Lebanese people have very courageously expressed their aspiration for freedom, their aspiration for a sovereign Lebanon. The Lebanese want to be masters of their own state," Barnier said in a joint news conference with Rice on the sidelines of an international conference being held in London to help the reforms of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

"We fully support the Lebanese people in their pursuit of an independent, democratic and sovereign Lebanon, free of outside interference and intimidation," Barnier said in a joint statement with Rice.

"The Lebanese people are beginning to express their aspirations for democracy, that they can be able to carry out their political aspirations without foreign interference. This is something we support very much," Rice told reporters.

Rice is urging Syria to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1559 co-sponsored last year by the United States and France demanding the withdrawal of 15,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon.

Rice also said the United States and France would discuss later in the day the means of supporting the process of elections in Lebanon and of pressing for full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2005)