Red Cross chief upbeat after first-ever Myanmar visit

Red Cross chief upbeat after first-ever Myanmar visit

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Saturday he had received assurances of cooperation from Myanmar during the first-ever visit to the nation by an ICRC president.

This handout picture taken by the Myanmar News Agency on January 14, 2013 shows Myanmar President Thein Sein (L) shaking hands with ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) president Peter Maurer in Naypyidaw. Mauer said Saturday he had received assurances of cooperation from Myanmar during the first-ever visit to the nation by an ICRC president.

"My visit marks the start of a new chapter in both our relationship with the Myanmar government and in our humanitarian activities here," Peter Maurer said in a statement as he wrapped up his week-long visit to the country.

He described his discussions with Myanmar leaders as "positive," stressing that President Thein Sein had showed that "he well understands the importance and relevance of the ICRC's neutral, impartial and independent action in Myanmar, and expressed his commitment to working with our organisation."

A good example of the new spirit of cooperation, Maurer said, was that the Red Cross would be permitted to resume its visits to places of detention next week.

The ICRC chief had told reporters in Rangoon on Thursday that Thein Sein had promised to allow his organisation back into the country's detention facilities after an absence of several years.

Myanmar's new government has overseen a plethora of reforms since coming to power in 2011, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners from its jails and freeing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

But scores of other dissidents jailed under the ruthless former junta are believed still to languish in the nation's squalid prisons.

In addition to his meeting with Thein Sein, Maurer met with a number of ministers, the speakers of the two houses of parliament and Suu Kyi, among others.

He also visited the country's restive western Rakhine State, where clashes between Buddhists and Muslims have left at least 180 people dead since June, and have displaced more than 110,000, mostly Muslim Rohingya.

"That situation is of great humanitarian concern," Maurer said, adding that "the ICRC intends to expand its activities to ensure that people have access to health care despite the practical difficulties involved."

The ICRC had also agreed to provide Myanmar "police and security forces with training in internationally accepted humanitarian principals on law enforcement," according to the statement.

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