Red Cross head talks to Assad
8 Sep 2012 11:21 AM GMT
The new president of the Red Cross said on Friday he held ‘positive’ talks with Syria's president this week to gain access to detainees and free up deliveries of badly needed aid.
Peter Maurer, president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said his talks with Bashar Assad were ‘sober, to the point’ and ‘clearly focused on humanitarian needs,’ such as releasing deliveries of food, medicine and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of people.
Maurer told reporters he also visited rural areas around Damascus where residents told him ‘horrific accounts of armed attacks’ and left him shocked. He said the accounts left him with no doubt that Syria is engulfed in civil war since ‘all features of armed conflict are unfolding in front of us.’
Maurer said the Red Cross assumes it has access to prison detainees based on obligations under humanitarian law.
Peter Maurer, president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said his talks with Bashar Assad were ‘sober, to the point’ and ‘clearly focused on humanitarian needs,’ such as releasing deliveries of food, medicine and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of people.
Maurer told reporters he also visited rural areas around Damascus where residents told him ‘horrific accounts of armed attacks’ and left him shocked. He said the accounts left him with no doubt that Syria is engulfed in civil war since ‘all features of armed conflict are unfolding in front of us.’
Maurer said the Red Cross assumes it has access to prison detainees based on obligations under humanitarian law.
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