9 Aug 2012

UN / SUDAN SOUTH SUDAN

United States Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters the US intends to hold the parties' "feet to the fire" to agree on outstanding border issues between Sudan and South Sudan. UNTV

Posted at: August 9, 2012 3:18 pm

Duration: 02:12

Available in: SD

DOWNLOAD

Full script

STORY: UN / SUDAN SOUTH SUDAN
TRT: 2.12
SOURCE: UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 9 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1.	Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

9 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2.	Zoom in, Ambassador Susan Rice of the United States walks up to the stakeout position

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

3.	 Close up, reporter's notepad

9 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

4.	SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
"It is not a Chinese menu from which the parties can pick and choose; it is an entire multi course meal that they are both obliged to eat together. So, we are very much encouraging the two sides to continue to return to the negotiating table to resolve the remaining issues, remaining mindful that this Council has been very clear in underscoring its intention to consider additional measures including under article 41 of the charter if there is not full implementation of those agreements that have been reached or if in fact the remaining issues are not addressed successfully at the negotiating table."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

5.	 Zoom out, cameras

9 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

6.	SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
"It's quite clear that the Council attaches great urgency to this as does the high level panel. Nobody is expecting this to draw itself out over a period of months without a response from the Council, quite the contrary, but we are also realistic that the aim is to get the issues resolved. It is not, as I said, a deadline for its own sake. But we are very clear that the two parties have to move quickly. This Council is reviewing the issue, as you know, every two weeks. The African Union is very much focused on the urgency of this and together we intend to hold the parties' feet to the fire."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

7.	 Close up, reporter's laptop computer

9 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

8.	Zoom in, Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman of Sudan walks up to the stakeout position

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

9.	 Close up, Close up, reporter's notepad

9 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

10.	SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations:
"The two parties have addressed all the pending issues. It is not correct that we haven't addressed some of them and there is a very good progress. From our part in the Government of Sudan we have been very forthcoming, we have proposed very positive proposals and we look forward for the Government of the South to accept what we have proposed."

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

11.	 Close up, cameras

9 AUGUST 2012, NEW YORK CITY

12.	Zoom out, Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman of Sudan walks away from the stakeout position

STORYLINE:

Ambassador Susan Rice of the United States said today (9 August) that the roadmap for Sudan and South Sudan "is not a Chinese menu from which the parties can pick and choose; it is an entire multi course meal that they are both obliged to eat together."

Rice, speaking to reporters after Security Council consultations on the issue, commended the recent advances on oil revenue sharing and humanitarian matters, but encouraged the two sides "to continue to return to the negotiating table to resolve the remaining issues."

According to media reports, the two countries reached agreement this past weekend on how much South Sudan will pay to transport its crude oil through Sudan's pipelines. South Sudan's oil output had been shut down earlier this year due to differences over payment rates.

Nevertheless, two sides have not met the 2 August deadline set by the Security Council to endorse the roadmap put forward in a communiqué from the African Union's Peace and Security Council at a ministerial meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in April.

The US Ambassador said the Council was "realistic that the aim is to get the issues resolved" but made clear "that the two parties have to move quickly."

She added that the Security Council and the African Union are "very much focused on the urgency of this and together we intend to hold the parties feet to the fire."

Sudanese Ambassador Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, also speaking to reporters, said "the two parties have addressed all the pending issues" and the Government of Sudan has presented "positive proposals" that they "look forward for the Government of the South to accept."

The roadmap, for implementation by both Sudan and South Sudan, aims to ease tensions, facilitate the resumption of negotiations on post-secession relations and normalize the relations between the two countries.

South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July last year, six years after a peace agreement was signed to end decades of warfare between the north and the south. However, the peace between the two countries has been threatened in recent months by armed clashes along their common border and outstanding post-independence issues that have yet to be resolved.