10 Aug 2012

UN / ARAUD

French Ambassador Gérard Araud today (10 August) warned that the alternative to appointing a successor to Kofi Annan and sticking to his six-point plan forSyria"means war".UNTV

Posted at: August 10, 2012 5:26 pm

Duration: 02:39

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / ARAUD
TRT: 2.39
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 10 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – 2011, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

10 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Ambassador Gérard Araud walking up to the microphone

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

3. Cutaway, hands taking notes

10 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations:
"If suddenly we say 'we don't care, we don't need a special envoy, we don't have a six-point plan' – it means… it means war."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

5. Cutaway, hands taking notes

10 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France:
"Let's suppose that at some moment the regime understands that it will not crush the opposition, it will not get a military victory, you know they may really try, they may want to have, to open a channel of negotiation, and so far I think the UN is the only channel which could appear as acceptable by the two parties."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

7. Cutaway, cameras

10 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France:
"The debates you know of the Security Council are extremely polarized in political terms. I've never seen such polarization since I arrived three years ago. At the same time, you have an extremely dramatic situation, humanitarian situation, so we want to see – but again, I think it's difficult – we want to see if it's possible to find at least unity of the Council on the humanitarian basis."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

9. Cutaway, laptop

10 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France:
"The proposal of a neutral force has raised a lot of scepticism in the Security Council, because people don't consider that the problem is really to seal the border between Rwanda and DRC, but it's to reach a political agreement, and we don't see… You know the time to create this force, it will take months, it will be very costly, if you create it ad nihilo – from nothing – if you take it from the MONUSCO, it means that the MONUSCO should be, would have its abilities to protect the civilians dramatically reduced."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

11. Cutaway, hands taking notes

10 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

12. SOUNDBITE (French) Ambassador Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France:
"The Members of the Security Council strongly condemn ongoing attempts, including by Al-Shabaab, to undermine the transition process.  They recall in this regard the Security Council's willingness to take measures against both internal and external actors engaged in actions aimed at undermining the peace and reconciliation process."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

13. Cutaway, hands taking notes

10 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

14. Wide shot, Araud leaving stakeout area

STORYLINE:

French Ambassador Gérard Araud today (10 August) warned that the alternative to appointing a successor to Kofi Annan and sticking to his six-point plan for Syria "means war".

Speaking to reporters outside the Security Council, Araud said the six-point plan, put forward by the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League, Kofi Annan, was still the "only game in town" because the Syrians could not just be left to fight things out among themselves.

Asked about the purpose of replacing Annan, who resigned last week, Araud said that if "at some moment the regime understands that it will not crush the opposition, it will not get a military victory", it might want to open a channel of negotiation, and so far he thought the UN was "the only channel which could appear as acceptable by the two parties".

In response to a question on his hopes for the high-level Security Council meeting France, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, is convening on 30 August, the ambassador noted that the Security Council was more polarized than it had been for years. But he hoped it would be possible to at least "find unity" to address the "extremely dramatic" humanitarian situation in Syria.

Speaking in his capacity as Security Council President, Araud also responded to a question on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by saying that the recent proposal for a "neutral force" to counter the threat posed by the so-called M23 rebels in the country's northeast had "raised a lot of scepticism in the Security Council".

He said member states didn't think the problem was to seal the border between Rwanda and DRC, but to reach a political agreement, and that a new force would either be very costly or would drain resources from the existing UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known by its French acronym MONUSCO.

As Council President, Araud also read out a press statement adopted Thursday (9 August) on Somalia.

In it the members of the Security Council welcomed the recent progress Somalia has made in completing the tasks outlined in the Roadmap.

After decades of warfare, Somalia has been undergoing a peace and national reconciliation process, with the country's Transitional Federal Institutions implementing the Roadmap for the End of Transition, devised last September. The Roadmap spells out priority measures to be carried out before the current transitional governing arrangements end on 20 August.

Council members called upon all participants in the transition process to ensure that the selection of the members of a new parliament happens as quickly as possible, and in a transparent manner.

"The members of the Security Council strongly condemn ongoing attempts, including by Al-Shabaab, to undermine the transition process," the Council's statement said. "They recall in this regard the Security Council's willingness to take measures against both internal and external actors engaged in actions aimed at undermining the peace and reconciliation process."

Filed under Uncategorized.