31 Jul 2012

UN / DARFUR

The Security Council today (31 July) approved a resolution for the extension of the mandate of the African Union / United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) while reducing the size of its force. UNTV

Posted at: July 31, 2012 1:48 pm

Duration: 02:03

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN/ DARFUR
TRT: 2.03
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 31 JULY 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1.	Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

31 JULY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2.	Various shots, Security Council vote
3.	Med shot, delegates
4.	SOUNDBITE (English) Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations:
"While the Council is calling for exchange of information and cooperation between the peace missions in the region, it doesn't do so in the resolution regarding UNMISS in the South. We would have expected that resolution to include a call for UNMISS to cooperate and exchange views and information regarding all the Darfurian rebel groups harboured by the Government of the South. This is strange."
5.	Med shot, delegates
6.	Wide shot, Security Council
7.	Wide shot, Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman of Sudan walking up to the stakeout position

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

8.	Zoom out, cameras

31 JULY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

9.	SOUNDBITE (English) Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations:
"There is no mention whatsoever in the previous reports of the Secretary General regarding Darfur, or even in his last report which was presented yesterday to the Council. There is no mention for any presence of the LRA in Darfur."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

10.	Close up, reporter's laptop computer

31 JULY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

11.	Zoom in, Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant of the United Kingdom walking up to the stakeout position

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

12.	Close up, reporters' notepads

31 JULY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

13.	SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
"We have exactly the same objective as the Government of Sudan, which is that the LRA should play no role whatsoever and should be completely absent from Darfur. And there was nothing in this resolution which suggests that we think the LRA are active in Darfur or that we would, obviously, encourage the LRA to be active in Darfur."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

14.	Close up, reporter's notepad

31 JULY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

15.	Pan right, Grant walks away from the stakeout position.

STORYLINE:

The Mission will be reconfigured, over a period of 12 to 18 months, to consist of up to 16,200 military personnel, 2,310 police personnel and 17 formed police units of up to 140 personnel each.

Fourteen countries voted in favour of the resolution, while Azerbaijan abstained and other countries expressed reservations about some of the language and provisions contained in the resolution.

Sudanese Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman reiterated his opposition to the call for an exchange of information among peacekeeping missions in the region about the Lord Resistance's Army (LRA).

Ali Osman denied that the LRA was in any way active in Darfur and said that it was "strange" that by the same token, the UN Mission is South Sudan (UNMISS) is not required to "exchange views and information regarding all the Darfurian rebel groups harboured by the Government of the South."

Outside the Council, the Sudanese Ambassador questioned the fact that in all previous reports of the Secretary-General, including the latest one, "there is no mention for any presence of the LRA in Darfur."

Also speaking to reporters after the meeting, Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant of the United Kingdom (UK), which tabled the resolution, said that the UK has "exactly the same objective as the Government of Sudan, which is that the LRA should play no role whatsoever and should be completely absent from Darfur."

He added "there was nothing in this resolution which suggests that we think the LRA are active in Darfur or that we would, obviously, encourage the LRA to be active in Darfur."

UNAMID was formally established by the Security Council on 31 July 2007. UNAMID formally took over from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) on 31 December 2007.