ICRC’s President visits Syria

In the wake of Kofi Annan’s latest round of negotiation with Syria, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross has arrived in Damascus for talks aimed at expanding aid operations and gaining access to all detainees. An ICRC spokesperson said Jakob Kellenberger will be meeting with senior Syrian officials to discuss humanitarian operations and a ceasefire.

ICRC spokesperson Hicham Hassan said, “The main issues to be discussed are first of all the expansion of the ICRC and Syrian Red Crescent activities which have actually expanded in the past few weeks.

Another important and that is very important for us and that our President insists on discussing, is our access to persons detained in Syria and obviously we would also like to discuss practical details of the implementation for our initiative for a cessation of fighting on a daily basis.”

Kellenberger will be in Syria for two days. As well as visiting areas affected by the fighting, he will push the ICRC’s proposal made in February for a daily two-hour ceasefire in order to evacuate wounded and deliver essential supplies to civilians.

Crossfire between the Syrian government and the opposition has been ongoing. Kellenberger, making his third trip to Syria since June, is to hold talks with Syria’s Foreign Minister, Interior Minister and Health Minister, as reported to Cntv.com.