Red Cross seeks Syria ceasefire
February 20, 2012
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday it was in talks with Damascus and opposition forces to halt violence to deliver aid and medical care.
"The International Committee of the Red Cross is exploring several possibilities for delivering urgently needed humanitarian aid," said ICRC spokesman Bijan Farnoudi. "These include the cessation of fighting in the most affected areas to facilitate swift Syrian Arab Red Crescent and ICRC access to the people in need."
The news agency Reuters reported that the ICRC was seeking a two-hour cessation of hostilities in the most intense conflict zones, including Syria's second city of Homs. Attacks on the city were reported to have killed nine out of 15 people across Syria on Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
One Homs-based activist, speaking of "unprecedented military reinforcements," said there were fears of an imminent ground attack on Homs - and in particular the rebel stronghold of Baba Amr. The opposition General Commission of the Syrian Revolution has called for women and children to be allowed to leave the district before any regime onslaught.
Differing indications on China, Russia
In a visit to Damascus on Monday, the head of the international affairs committee of Russia's lower house of parliament, Alexei Pushkov, affirmed Russia's support for a referendum on multi-party elections proposed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, China's People's Daily, viewed as a mouthpiece for the ruling Communist regime, accused the West of stirring up civil war in Syria. "If Western countries continue to fully support Syria's opposition then, in the end, a large-scale civil war will erupt and there will be no way to avoid the possibility of foreign armed intervention."
However, in Cairo, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby suggested Russia and China, which vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Assad's regime, may be altering their position. "There are some indications, especially from China and to some degree from Russia that there may be a change in their stance," he said, without giving further details.
rc/ (AFP, Reuters)