Red Cross offers to help Syria 'reconciliation'
DAMASCUS - Agence France-Presse
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on October 18, 2014 shows damaged buildings in Jobar, rural Damascus, on October 18, 2014. AFP Photo
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Nov. 13 it is ready to play a role in helping the regime and opposition in war-torn Syria to reach a "national reconciliation".Red Cross president Peter Maurer, who is currently visiting Damascus, was discussing with Syrian officials "the possibility that the ICRC can play a humanitarian role in assisting the national reconciliation process", spokesman Simon Schorno told AFP.
"The ICRC has experience in this field, and can dedicate its resources... as a neutral mediator" between the parties at war in Syria, said Schorno, stressing the organisation would play a humanitarian role and not a political one.
Maurer on Thursday met with Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who insisted that "aid delivery... must not be politicised," according to state news agency SANA.
Nearly four years into a civil war that has killed more than 195,000 people and forced more than half the population to flee, several local truces have been reached between rebels and the regime, mainly around Damascus.
This week, aid was delivered for the first time into the rebel-held, besieged district of Waer west of Homs city in central Syria.