Haidar: Possibility to cooperate with ICRC in reconciliation project

Damascus – State Minister for National Reconciliation Affairs Ali Haidar affirmed that most of the international organizations that raise humanitarian slogans are being employed to serve political agendas by major powers through the politicization of their work and distorting facts in clear violation of international humanitarian law.

During a meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Syria Marianne Gasser and the accompanying delegation, Haidar pointed out to the possibility of effective cooperation in a number of issues, hailing the positive role played by the ICRC recently in Aleppo city alongside with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and its contribution to alleviating the suffering of Syrian citizens, SANA reported.

He briefed the ICRC on the State Ministry’s accomplishments in the local reconciliation field, adding that 2017 will witness the launch of large-scale reconciliations.

Haidar pointed out that Syrian state provided more than 80% of the aid and basic needs of its citizens in all Syrian areas, including areas where there are armed groups, noting that the main issue that hinders establishing security and stability in some cities and towns is that some countries are trying to complicate the Syrian internal scene, like what happened in al-Fouaa and Kefraya towns in Idleb countryside and in Maddaya and al-Zabadani in Damascus Countryside.

In turn, Gasser expressed the ICRC’s readiness to cooperate with the Syrian government and provide more aid for affected citizens in all areas, referring to what was done by the Commission in the city of Aleppo, the difficulties and obstacles that faced its work, and the mechanisms of cooperation with the SARC.

In a press statement following the meeting, Haidar said that the meeting dealt with some future tasks for 2017, which can be shared on the basis of cooperation between the ministry and the ICRC to serve the reconciliation project that the State Ministry is working on it in different areas.

About the possibility of achieving a settlement and local reconciliation in Wadi Barada area in the western Damascus Countryside, the State Minister said that work on reconciliation in this area was ongoing for months and the calm was a preparation for the reconciliation, but militants who take orders from abroad and who do not want to leave the area have disrupted the reconciliation.

He added that the door is open for reconciliation in which militants who do not want the settlement can exit the area, the legal status of those who want to stay will be settled, and the area returns to state authority, noting that the efforts will continue till the last moment to achieve reconciliation.