“Its never too late to give up violence”, says Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, nuncio to Egypt and the Cairo based League of Arab States, referring to the Syrian crisis. On Monday Syria pledged to withdraw all military units from towns by April 10 to pave the way for a ceasefire with rebels two days later, as part of a U.N.-Arab League peace plan brokered by envoy Kofi Annan.
“The mission of Kofi Annan is a sources of hope that peace can be restored in Syria, but there are conditions for this”, he says adding that we must also look towards the future, “towards rebuilding Syria, based on a long history of peaceful coexistence among the diverse religious and ethnic communities there and I think this shouldn’t be lost sight of”.
Earlier this week Archbishop Fitzgerald launched an urgent appeal for an end to the use of indiscriminate violence causing loss of life to innocent civilians in Syria. He was taking part in the second meeting of the Friends of the Syrian People held on April 1st in Istanbul, Turkey.
“First of all the statement repeated what His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI said on February 12th last, which is a long time ago, but which is unfortunately is still relevant, where he called for an end to all violence and bloodshed. The logic of violence, where violence begets further violence, has to be avoided.”
In his intervention the nuncio said the victims of violence, including young children, must not be forgotten and that priority must be given to dialogue, reconciliation and the restoration of peace in the beleaguered nation. Just after the meeting Emer McCarthy spoke to Archbishop Fitzgerald to find out more about the Holy See’s efforts to support a solution to the Syrian conflict.
“The Holy See is appealing for access for the victims of this violence to humanitarian aid, without restrictions, and for cooperation between organisations, both local and international. I also announced that the Holy See was making a financial contribution to aid, because in fact the secretary of Cor Unum was present in Syria on Saturday to give this contribution from the Holy See”.