14 Jan 2013

UN / ANNAN

Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today (14 January) his efforts to mediate the Syrian conflict last year had faced opposition from people in the region who “were not in favour of the talks" and had paid "lip service to accept the six-point plan, but nothing happened.” UNTV

Posted at: January 14, 2013 5:40 pm

Duration: 03:02

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: UN / ANNAN
TRT: 3.02
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 14 JANUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY

SHOTLIST:

RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1.	Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters, North Lawn Building

14 JANUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY

2.	Wide shot, Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the dais
3.	Pan right, audience
4.	SOUNDBITE (English) Kofi Annan, Former United Nations Secretary-General:
"My main concern was the Syrians and their welfare. How do you argue that trying to resolve it peacefully led to more killings? And in fact, it is very clear that many people in the region were not in favour of the talks. There were moments when they could have stepped in to support. There was lip service to accept the six-point plan, but nothing happened."
5.	Wide shot, audience
6.	SOUNDBITE (English) Kofi Annan, Former United Nations Secretary-General:
"On this issue of Syria, there's lack of leadership; lack of leadership in the international community. And when I stepped down in July, I did a peace for the Financial Times explaining why and also demanding that we need leadership from both President Obama and President Putin, and I think it is something that the population can demand."
7.	Wide shot, audience
8.	SOUNDBITE (English) Kofi Annan, Former United Nations Secretary-General:
"I discovered that the greatest impediment to change and reform is a restraint bureaucrats put on themselves. It won't work. It's never been done. Don's try it. You are dreaming. My answer always was; test it. Let's see how far we go, test it. Don't assume it will not work, and once you sit in your hands and say it will never happen, it's never happened, you won't even try. Yes, you may be accused of dreaming, but fine, it always starts with a dream."
9.	Wide shot, audience
10.	SOUNDBITE (English) Kofi Annan, Former United Nations Secretary-General:
"We continued business as usual when civil war situations were quite different from inter-State wars where you are dealing with established governments and organised armies, and we all know the consequences from Rwanda, Somalia, Srebrenica and others."
11.	Various shots, audience applause
12.	Various shots, book signing

STORYLINE:

Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today (14 January) his efforts to mediate the Syrian conflict last year had faced opposition from people in the region who "were not in favour of the talks" and had paid "lip service to accept the six-point plan, but nothing happened."

Annan, who was presenting his new book, "Interventions, a Life of War and Peace"  in a book signing event at the UN headquarters in New York, denied  a suggestion made during a question and answer segment that his mediation efforts had served Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and had helped protract the violence.

He said "How do you argue that trying to resolve it peacefully led to more killings?" and insisted his "main concern was the Syrians and their welfare."

The former Secretary-General said there is a "lack of leadership in the international community" regarding Syria and added that the world must demand this leadership, particularly from US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Looking back at his tenure as Secretary-General, Annan told the mostly UN-employee audience, "the greatest impediment to change and reform is a restraint bureaucrats put on themselves."

He said his own approach to UN activities was to say "let's see how far we go, test it. Don't assume it will not work."

He added that "you may be accused of dreaming, but fine, it always starts with a dream."

One of the main challenges he found, he said, was the rapid growth of peacekeeping operations following the end of the cold war.

Annan said "we continued business as usual when civil war situations were quite different from inter-state wars where you are dealing with established governments and organized armies; and we all know the consequences from Rwanda, Somalia, Srebrenica, and others."