Red Cross chief in Syria for talks with Assad

The Red Cross chief arrived in Syria on Saturday for talks with President Bashar al-Assad on access to prisoners and areas worst hit by a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests, his organisation said.

Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, flew in for a two-day visit and will also meet Prime Minister Adel Safar and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, ICRC delegation chief in Damascus Marianne Gasser told AFP.

Kellenberger's office in Geneva said that during a previous visit in June "an understanding was reached according to which the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent would have enhanced access to areas of unrest, and negotiations would take place concerning ICRC visits to detainees."

"The purpose of the talks to be held in the Syrian capital... is to review progress made in both these areas since June," it said in a statement.

Asked about the possibility of visiting detainees, Gasser said: "We are confident that we will be able to start visiting people detained by the interior ministry."

She added that the over the past two months ICRC delegates had toured several region hit by unrest, including Latakia, Homs, Hama, Deir Ezzor and Idlib "to evaluate the needs for humanitarian assistance."

"We had a very good dialogue with the Syrian authorities concerning humanitarian issues," Gasser added.

Rights groups say more than 10,000 people have been put behind bars in Syria, which has been gripped by almost daily anti-regime protests since mid-March.

The United Nations says that more than 2,200 people have been killed in the crackdown against protesters.

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