ASIA : SYRIA : MOVEMENT FOR PEACE - RECONCILIATION - MUSSALAHA

Agenzia Fides report - New meetings and new initiatives for the inter-religious popular movement "Mussalaha" ("Reconciliation"), which proposes a "reconciliation from below" starting from families, clans, the different communities of Syrian civil society, tired of the conflict. While the country is torn by conflict, peace initiatives and meetings are multiplying, being born in an entirely spontaneous and independent manner: in past days a new meeting which involved civic leaders, religious leaders, moderates, Christians and Muslims, tribal leaders, Sunnis and Alawites citizens of the mosaic that makes up the Syrian society, was held in Deir Ezzor, in the province of Djazirah (eastern Syria), near the Euphrates. The movement, note sources of Fides, intends to say "No" to Civil War and notes that "we cannot continue with a toll that totals between 40 and 100 victims a day. The nation is bled white, it loses youth and its best forces." For this reason a new initiative that comes from the "genius of the people" from people "who want a decent life, who reject sectarian violence and sectarian denominational strife, as preconceived ideological and political opposition are urgently required." In many Syrian cities, where on one side there are clashes and victims - refer sources of Fides - " gestures of friendship and reconciliation grow, offered by civilian moderate leaders to community representatives considered hostile (this happens between Alawites and Sunnis), in the spirit to ensure security and peace through civil society." The movement hopes to find an institutional reference in the Minister for Reconciliation, the Socialist Ali Haider, who was appointed the new Syrian Executive and from the opposition party "People's Will Party."
But meanwhile, it is finding support abroad: the Irish Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 with Betty Williams and leader of the movement "The Peace People", in a statement sent to Fides said "No to war in Syria" , and says: "We must put ourselves in the shoes of the Syrian people and find peaceful ways to stop this mad rush toward a war that mothers, fathers and sons of Syria do not want and do not deserve." The text adds: "We urgently need to support those working for peace in Syria and are looking for a way to help the 22 million Syrians to resolve their conflict, without promoting violence or chaos." The Nobel Prize invites the UN to "be a forum where these Syrian voices are heard" voices of "people who have worked hard for Syria, to the idea of Syria as a secular, peaceful and modern country." (PA) (Agenzia Fides 27/6/2012)

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