European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 21 February | 101 comments (101 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

BBC News - Syria crisis: Red Cross presses for humanitarian truce

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is in talks with "all those concerned" in Syria's conflict to negotiate a ceasefire.
The group says it wants to negotiate a truce in the most affected areas to allow it to deliver aid packages.
Correspondents say the fact that the ICRC has spoken publicly about the negotiations shows just how concerned it is by the situation in Syria.
Thousands have died there in an 11-month uprising against the government.
ICRC spokesman Bijan Farnoudi said the group was "discussing several possibilities" to enable humanitarian aid to be delivered.
He said the aim of the discussions was "to facilitate swift Syrian Arab Red Crescent and ICRC access to the people in need."

by Nomad on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 04:46:40 PM EST
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China, Russia may be shifting on Syria: Arab League | Reuters

The Arab League chief said on Monday there were signs that China and Russia could be shifting their stance on Syria after the two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council vetoed a Western-backed Arab peace plan aimed at ending violence there.
"There are indications coming from China and to some extent from Russia that there may be a change in position," League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told a news conference in Cairo.
China and Russia's blocking this month of a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that backed an Arab plan demanding that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step aside angered the West and Arab states.
They also voted against a non-binding General Assembly resolution to back the Arab plan last week.
China has sent envoys to the region, stung by Western criticism that by vetoing the resolutions it was allowing the violence in Syria to increase.

by Nomad on Mon Feb 20th, 2012 at 04:52:02 PM EST
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Russia Bows out of 'Friends of Syria Group' Meeting - Foreign Ministry | Russia | RIA Novosti

Russia will not participate in a meeting of Friends of the so-called Syria Group in Tunisia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Tuesday.
Last week during an emergency meeting of the Arab League Council at the level of Foreign Ministers, Tunisia initiated the first international conference Friends of Syria. Earlier the Arabic newspaper Al Sharq Al Awsat, citing a statement by Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdesselam, reported that Russia would participate in the event.
... Lukashevich said that according to the report, "it seems that we are talking about slapping together some kind of international coalition as was the case in organizing the Libya Contact Group in order to support one side against the other in an internal conflict."
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that "Russia is for all members of the world community to act as friends of all Syrian people and not only part of it."

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Feb 21st, 2012 at 05:21:18 AM EST
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European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 21 February | 101 comments (101 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)