Red Cross chief meets with Syrian president over humanitarian concerns

(Vatican Radio) Recently-appointed president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer met with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad Tuesday morning about the current humanitarian crisis in Syria.

The three-day visit will focus on the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Syria, and the challenges faced by the ICRC in bringing aid to those affected by the conflict, the violence of which has been escalating in recent weeks. This is Maurer’s first time to Syria since his appointment as president of the ICRC.

Maurer’s meeting with Assad on Tuesday comes one day after government war planes attacked a northern Syrian town, killing at least 19 people. Meanwhile, activists report that around 5,000 people were killed in August alone – making it the deadliest month since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime began in March, 2011. More than 20,000 people have died over the course of the 17-month conflict.

ICRC’s national spokesperson in Syria, Cecilia Goin, spoke with Vatican Radio about the objective of Tuesday meeting between Maurer and Assad, as well as how the humanitarian conditions in the country have been affected by the conflict.

The talks, explained Goin, centred around the “rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation within the country and how to improve humanitarian access to civilians.” Since mid-July, she continued, “the fighting in and around Damascus has been escalating almost without interruption, and has recently intensified. This situation is also taking place in other parts of Syria.”

It has been difficult to provide aid to affected regions, Goin explained, due to the ongoing conflict in the country. “People depend on the help of this humanitarian organization because it is difficult for them to find food.”

“People are suffering on a daily basis,” Goin said, “because they don’t feel safe.”

Listen to Ann Schneible’s interview with International Committee of the Red Cross national spokesperson in Syria, Cecilia Goin: