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GENEVA / SYRIA TASK FORCE WRAP
STORY: GENEVA / SYRIA TASK FORCE WRAP
TRT: 03:28
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 03 MARCH 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / 02 MARCH 2016, OUGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO / FILE
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
03 MARCH 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, meeting room
3. Med shot, panellists Staffan de Mistura and Jan Egeland
4. Med shot, teleconference with Damascus
5. Med shot, arrival at press stakeout
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“It has been now six days, six days, of the cessation of hostilities. Well, that is quite a period in any type of ceasefire or truce or especially after a conflict of five years. Overall, I will repeat what the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said and I think we can still stand for that: the level of violence in the country has been greatly reduced.”
7. Med shot, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“Both the humanitarian aid and the cessation of hostilities are extremely important in facilitating the atmosphere and the credibility of them. But there are no preconditions, the precondition is for everyone to see that there is a political process and a political solution will take care of the tragedy of Syria.”
9. Close up, journalists
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Egeland, UN Senior Advisor for the UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“In the first three months of last year, zero trucks reached any of the besieged areas in Syria. In the last three weeks 236 trucks have served 115 000 people. Many of these have received several convoys.”
11. Close up, journalist
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Egeland, UN Senior Advisor for the UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“What we have is now a Taskforce that is working in the sense in between meetings we can now get to members of the taskforce that go to the Government of Syria and solve problems for us. Other members go to armed opposition groups and solve problems for us. We never had that kind of mechanism and that is in part why we failed so dramatically in 2015.”
13. Close up, Jan Egeland
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Egeland, UN Senior Advisor for the UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“Now we have indications to our Humanitarian Coordinator on the ground Yacoub El Hillo that there will be a much simplified system that will lead within less than two weeks that the steps will all be covered and we can follow convoys and that that is part of monthly plans for access. Again this together with the cessation of hostilities could be the game changer that we have hoped for a very long time.”
15. Med shot, Staffan de Mistura entering meeting of Cessation Taskforce
16. Close up, OSE-Syria nameplate with conference room in background
17. Med shot, China delegation
18. Med shot, Staffan de Mistura talking to Russian Delegate
19. Pan right, meeting room
02 MARCH 2016, OUGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO
20. Pan left, plane taxing
21. Tilt down, Ban disembarking
22. Various shots, Ban shaking hands
23. Pan right, Ban walk by the guard of honor
24. Various shots, Ban meeting Burkina's FA Minister
After having chaired the fourth meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) Taskforce on Humanitarian Access at the UN in Geneva, UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, and his Senior Special Advisor Jan Egeland briefed the press in the Swiss City on the latest developments in efforts to end the conflict in Syria.
The UN Special Envoy for Syria underline progress made so far. “It has been now six days, six days, of the cessation of hostilities," he said, referring to the temporary pause in fighting that has recently been brokered. "Well, that is quite a period in any type of ceasefire or truce or especially after a conflict of 5 years. Overall, I will repeat what the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said and I think we can still stand for that: the level of violence in the country has been greatly reduced.”
De Mistura added that “both the humanitarian aid and the cessation of hostilities are extremely important in facilitating the atmosphere and the credibility of them. But there are no preconditions, the precondition is for everyone to see that there is a political process and a political solution will take care of the tragedy of Syria.”
Halting the fighting and stepping up aid deliveries in Syria, especially to nearly half a million people in besieged areas, are vital to pave the way for the next round of intra-Syrian talks, the Special Envoy said. Three or four localities in besieged areas should be reached by the end of this week, according to the UN. De Mistura told reporters that he has pencilled in the afternoon on 9th March as date for the resumption of the talks, although some delegations will arrive later for logistical reasons.
Jan Egeland told reporters that while humanitarian access is still greatly lacking, progress has been made. He said that “In the first three months of last year, zero trucks reached any of the besieged areas in Syria. In the last three weeks 236 trucks have served 115 000 people. Many of these have received several convoys”.
The progress in lifting sieges is, according to Jan Egeland, still a “tremendous job to do before us”. However, there have been some movements with the creation of the Taskforces. He said that “what we have is now a taskforce that is working in the sense in between meetings we can now to get to members of the taskforce that go to the Government of Syria and solve problems for us. Other members go to armed opposition groups and solve problems for us. We never had that kind of mechanism and that is in part why we failed so dramatically in 2015”.
Also aid delivery might be faster delivered in the future than it was in the previous months.
Jan Egeland explained that “now we have indications to our Humanitarian Coordinator on the ground Yacoub El Hillo that there will be a much simplified system that will lead within less than two weeks that the steps will all be covered and we can follow convoys and that that is part of monthly plans for access. Again this together with the cessation of hostilities could be the game changer that we have hoped for a very long time.”
All the efforts are now to proceed with the air drops to reach the 200 000 civilians, mostly women and children living in Deir ez-Zor.
This afternoon the UN Special Envoy for Syria is holding the third meeting of the so-called International Syria Support Group (ISSG) Cessation of hostility task force led by the United States of America and the Russian Federation.
Syria’s ceasefire remains fragile, incidents have been contained in the provinces of Homs, Hama, Latakia and Damascus.
Earlier this week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and both agreed on the urgent need for implementing the cessation of hostilities in Syria and for the parties to the conflict to return to the negotiation table. The intra-Syrian talks are set to resume on 9 March.
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