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Syria gives assurances to ICRC

DAMASCUS, Syria, April 3 (UPI) -- Syrian officials say they reached an agreement for direct cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger arrived in Syria for a two-day visit Tuesday for talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and other top government officials.

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Kellenberger said, in a statement, that he was seeking access to al" places of detention in the country and a daily 2-hour cessation of fighting.

"A daily pause in the hostilities is essential in order to evacuate wounded people and deliver aid if and when the fighting intensifies," he said.

Moallem said the government agreed on a mechanism for "direct cooperation and coordination" between the ICRC and the Red Crescent. Damascus, he said, will provide "all that is needed" to ensure the humanitarian mission is a success, the official Syrian Arab New Agency reports.

Damascus pledged to honor an April 10 deadline to pull its forces from the streets under the terms of a peace plan brokered by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said a peacekeeping team was headed to Syria this week to prepare for the monitoring of the April 10 deadline.

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The United Nations estimates more than 9,000 people died as a result of internal conflict in Syria. Damascus maintains it is dealing with domestic terrorists backed by foreign agents.

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