SYRIA: New International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer meets with Syrian Red Crescent counterpart Abdul Rahman al-Attar after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus

Record ID: 281301

  • Title: SYRIA: New International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer meets with Syrian Red Crescent counterpart Abdul Rahman al-Attar after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus
  • Date: 4th September 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (SEPTEMBER 4, 2012) (REUTERS) CONVOY OF ICRC PRESIDENT, PETER MAURER, ARRIVING AT THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF SYRIAN RED CRESCENT, ABDUL RAHMAN AL-ATTAR VARIOUS OF MAURER GETTING OUT OF THE CAR AND TALKING TO RED CRESCENT VOLUNTEERS SIGN OF THE RED CROSS ON A VEHICLE VARIOUS OF MAURER TALKING TO THE VOLUNTEERS MAURER HEADING TO HIS CAR MAURER IN THE CAR CONV
  • Embargoed: 19th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAEUSYYEQA2MZ5L0FDO2TLP878H
  • Story Text: After meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday (September 4), Peter Maurer, the head of the Red Cross went to meet with the President of the Red Crescent, Abdul Rahman al-Attar, in Damascus.
    Maurer talked to volunteers before he headed to the suburbs of Moadamieh, in Damascus, to visit one of the Syrian Red Crescent Centres in the city.
    A source told Reuters Maurer had not yet made plans intend to meet with any internally displaced people.
    Maurer held 45 minutes of talks with Assad, spokesman Hicham Hassan said. He did not give details of their discussions.
    The aid organisation said that the Syrian president and the Red Cross chief had held "positive" talks on Syria aid, according to a spokesman.
    The ICRC said at the start of Maurer's three-day trip on Monday that it would tackle the "rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation" in Syria, where Assad has been trying to crush a 17-month-old uprising against his rule, and the difficulties facing aid workers in the country.
    After his talks with Assad, Maurer went straight into a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.
    Maurer, who is also scheduled to meet Interior Minister General Mohamad Ibrahim, has said he would continue efforts to gain access for the ICRC to Syria's detention centres -- which rights groups say hold tens of thousands of people rounded up during the conflict.
    The ICRC has 50 foreign and Syrian aid workers in Syria, but all have been confined to Damascus since late July due to heavy fighting.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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