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                         UN Humanitarian Chief in Syria

   by VOA News

   U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos is in Syria to learn more about
   the suffering caused by the country's civil war, which she has
   described as "catastrophic."
   Amos made no comments to reporters as she arrived in Damascus on
   Sunday, ahead of meetings with U.N. aid workers and Syrian officials.
   Speaking in Switzerland last week, she said Syria is paying the price
   for the failure of world powers to resolve the 22-month conflict
   between the government and rebels trying to end the 12-year rule of
   President Bashar al-Assad.
   The United Nations says the civil war has caused the internal
   displacement of two million people and sent 650,000 refugees into
   neighboring countries. The world body is set to hold a donor conference
   in Kuwait on Wednesday, to raise funds for Syria's humanitarian crisis.
   In the latest violence, opposition activists said government and rebel
   forces fought each other around a Damascus railway station on Sunday.
   They said the fighting in Qadam district led to the closure of a
   highway that runs to the southern town of Daraa. There was no
   independent confirmation of the incident because Syria bars most
   independent reporting in the country.
   Separately, the Syrian government said it will grant an amnesty to
   exiled opposition figures who return to the country to participate in a
   national dialogue proposed by President Assad earlier this month.
   Syria's exiled opposition coalition has consistently refused to deal
   with Assad, saying he must leave power before any peace talks can
   begin.
   The United Nations estimates that more than 60,000 people have been
   killed since the Syrian uprising began with pro-democracy protests in
   March 2011, before evolving into a civil war.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/un-humanitarian-chief-in-syria/159180
   5.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/un-humanitarian-chief-in-syria/1591805.html