SWITZERLAND: New ICRC President Peter Maurer to seek better Syrian access for aid workers

Record ID: 281282

  • Title: SWITZERLAND: New ICRC President Peter Maurer to seek better Syrian access for aid workers
  • Date: 3rd September 2012
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 3, 2012) (REUTERS) HICHAM HASSAN, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (ICRC) SPOKESPERSON, WALKING IN FRONT OF THE ICRC BUILDING ICRC FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) HICHAM HASSAN, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (ICRC), SPOKESPERSON SAYING : "President Maurer, president of the ICRC, will arrive this evening to Damascus, where he wi
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVADGET3AWYJHMNLA1CWWT9XCS5W
  • Story Text: Peter Mauer, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will begin a visit to Syria on Monday (September 3) and hold talks with President Bashar al-Assad to try to improve humanitarian access to civilians in the war-torn country, the ICRC said on Monday (September 3).
    Maurer, whose meetings are scheduled to begin on Tuesday (September 4), is also due to meet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem, Interior Minister General Mohamad Ibrahim Al Shaar, Health Minister Saad Abdel Salam Al-Nayef, and the Minister of State for National Reconciliation, Ali Haidar.
    "He will mainly meeting over the next couple of day with President Bashar al-Assad, with the minister of foreign affairs, minister of interior, minister of health and minister of state for reconciliation affairs," ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan said in Geneva on Monday.
    Maurer, who assumed the presidency of the ICRC on July 1, replacing Jakob Kellenberger, will also meet the Dr Abdel Rahman Attar, the president of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, during his three-day trip, according to an ICRC statement.
    "Discussions will mainly be about the obstacles that we are facing today with the Syrian Arab Red Cross and as well to perform our humanitarian services within the country, all over the affected areas like Aleppo, rural Damascus and other places, Hassan said.
    The ICRC deploys 50 foreign and Syrian aid workers in Syria, but all have been confined to Damascus since late July due to the heavy fighting there.
    The ICRC has not been able to send out any aid convoys for more than two weeks.
    But late last week it did manage late last week to send some relief supplies to rural Damascus and Homs for distribution by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Hassan said.
    Syrian civilians' living conditions are worsening dramatically, as it becomes harder to obtain food and escape fighting which caused a record death toll of 1,600 last week, aid agencies said on Friday.
    Tens of thousands have been forced to flee fighting in recent weeks and increasing numbers of wounded are dying for lack of medical care or supplies, the ICRC said.
    About 1.2 million people have been displaced in Syria during the conflict and a further 230,000 refugees have fled to four neighbouring countries, the United Nations says.
    The ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent have distributed relief items to more than 800,000 people this year, most of them displaced and staying in temporary shelters including schools, and ensured that more than one million people have enough clean water, the ICRC said.
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