(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) By Bader Al-Sharhan and Abrar Al-Khlifah KUWAIT, Jan 12 (KUNA) -- His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is "genuinely interested" in humanitarian issues, and believes action in this domain has to be detached from politics, ICRC President Peter Maurer said late Wednesday.
"His Highness the Amir is a leader who is genuinely interested in humanitarian issues. He is not one of those leaders who pretends to be interested in humanitarian issues for his own image," Maurer, who heads the International Committee of Red Cross, said in an interview with KUNA.
Maurer was on a visit to Kuwait yesterday and met with His Highness the Amir, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, President of Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) Dr. Hilal Al-Sayer, and Chairman of the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) and Advisor to the Amiri Diwan Dr. Abdullah Al-Maatouq.
He thanked His Highness Sheikh Sabah for the great contribution of Kuwait over the last four years particularly in Syria and Iraq.
Kuwait hosted three conferences and co-chaired a fourth one, helping Syrians affected by the ongoing crisis in their country since 2011, said the official, adding that Kuwait contributed over USD three billion to help them.
Kuwait has also been offering humanitarian assistance for the Iraqi people, affirmed the ICRC President.
His Highness the Amir has a "very clear conviction that humanitarian action has to be distinct from political action, and this is immensely helpful today because many actors are politicizing the conflicts," asserted Maurer.
He said that he provided detailed account of how ICRC spent the funds offered by Kuwait over the past three and half years, and His Highness the Amir emphasized "such a clear commitment to humanitarian values and principles, which is a strength to the ICRC." Maurer said Kuwait, whose relations with ICRC are 26 years old, understood the importance of respecting the law, reunifying families, searching for the missing people and humane treatment of detainees, principles that ICRC followed.
Maurer, who flew to Kuwait from Iraq, also said he discussed with the Kuwaiti officials ICRC's keenness to provide educational services in Somalia, as Kuwait was preparing to host an international conference on education in the African country.
Maurer, meanwhile, said his visit to Iraq helped create an understanding of the ICRC mission.
The visit aims at solving some practical problems with the Iraqi authorities regarding the facilitation of ICRC work, draw attention of the international community to the fact that there is a gap between needs of people and readiness of the international community to help, he said.
In Iraq, said Maurer, there were people displaced by violence, returnees who lost their homes and belongings, and all of them went to host communities which cause a strain on social services, hospitals, water supply systems and schools.
"Everything is happening at the same time, which increases challenges on our organization," he said.
Maurer met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi, President of Iraq's Kurdistan province Masoud Barzani and Shiite religious leader Ali Sistani and discussed how could those fighting on the ground avoid civilians, and to engage political, religious and military leaders to achieve this objective.
He said Kuwait Red Crescent Society donated food parcels that ICRC was distributing in Iraq, part of KRCS's humanitarian contributions to the needy throughout the region.
Iraq is ICRC's second largest operation worldwide with USD 127 million worth of funding. Syria is first with USD 180 million.
On Yemen, Maurer said the local community was the poorest in the region, with 70 percent of the population fully dependent on assistance.
He described the Yemeni economy as "fragile and coming to a standstill." Maurer expressed concern that Yemen might suffer more serious problems in future coupled with insufficient attention from the international community.
Kuwait hosted Yemeni parties last year in a bid to reach an agreement to end the fighting between the legitimate government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi on one side, and Ansarullah and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's supporters on the other, but negotiators failed to strike a deal.
Maurer, speaking about ICRC role, said his organization was engaging with all parties in any conflict to respect laws for their own interest.
"ICRC believe the efforts of humanitarian community is not enough to cope with problems, that is why we need different kind of assistance from the international community: scaling humanitarian assistance, shrinking needs (of people) and (create a) better behavior of actors on ground, and (initiate) political and diplomatic negotiations to solve problems," he said.
"All the three have to go hand-in-hand in order to have an impact," he added. (end) bs.abk
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