The UN humanitarian chief started a mission to Syria on Wednesday to urge the regime to allow aid into battered protest cities, putting the focus on civilians in a conflict which has cost thousands of lives. Valerie Amos flew in for a two-day visit, after an international outcry over President Bashar al-Assad’s previous refusal to let her in, and is to followed by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on Saturday. Syria is ready to cooperate with the visiting UN humanitarian delegation, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in talks with Amos. The state SANA news agency said Muallem “underlined Syria’s commitment to cooperate with the delegation within the framework of the respect, sovereignty and independence of Syria.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross has been negotiating with authorities since last week to be allowed to deliver aid and evacuate the wounded from the battered Baba Amr rebel district of Homs city in central Syria. Syrian authorities have said access was being denied because of safety concerns over mines and unexploded bombs, but the opposition charges that the delay is aimed at allowing time for the regime’s “crimes” to be covered up. Also on Wednesday, a Chinese envoy sent to discuss ways to end the bloodshed in Syria was to discuss a six-point peace plan with Muallem and opposition figures. Envoy Li Huaxin, quoted in Al-Watan newspaper, said he already met with Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnus to discuss China’s “six-point vision” on the year-long bloodshed in Syria.
The Chinese initiative calls for an immediate end to the violence and for dialogue between Assad’s regime and the opposition.
Beijing’s proposal rejects foreign interference or “external action for regime change” in Syria but supports the role of the UN Security Council “in strict accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN charter.” Li was also expected to meet representatives of opposition groups, according to Al-Watan.
Russia, which like China has been criticised for blocking Security Council action on the crisis, urged its ally Damascus and the rebels to “immediately” halt violence and assist the arrival of Amos’s mission.
The Russian foreign ministry said it received Syria’s ambassador to Moscow at his own request and made clear that “violence must end immediately, no matter where it comes from.”
Russia also “underscored the critical need to solve acute humanitarian problems in Syria,” the ministry said.
On the ground, tanks and troop carriers were headed for the embattled province of Idlib in northwest Syria on Wednesday, said the Syrian National Council, the main opposition alliance.
It also said “several people were killed” in bombardment of Maaret al-Numan, another town in Idlib province.
