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UN / SC SYRIA
STORY: UN / SC SYRIA
TRT: 4:59
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / RUSSIAN
DATELINE: 26 OCTOBER 2016, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
OCTOBER 2016, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“The tactics are as obvious as they are unconscionable. Make life intolerable; make death likely. Push people from starvation to despair to surrender. Push people to leave on green buses.”
4. Wide shot, O’Brien addressing Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“‘This is your last hope….Save yourselves. If you do not leave these areas urgently, you will be annihilated’ and they end by saying: ‘You know that everyone has given up on you. They left you alone to face your doom and nobody will give you any help.’ And it is clear that the aircraft which drop the bombs, the generals who give the orders and the politicians who have designed the strategy intend to make good on that horrific promise.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“These children do not have the luxury of waiting for another Geneva, Vienna or Lausanne to succeed. They need our protection now. What happened to ‘never again’? What happened to our commitment to protect the most vulnerable, those who face mass atrocities? What happened to this Council’s responsibility to act in a timely and decisive manner? There’s surely nothing timely nor decisive about the world’s approach to Syria so far. The international community cannot fail the children of Aleppo as it did in Srebrenica, Cambodia, and Rwanda.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“You know Mr. O’Brien, if we needed to be preached to we would go to a church. If we wanted to hear poetry we would go to a theatre. What we except when UN officials come to the Security Council is an objective assessment of what happened that really didn’t happen in your statement.”
10. Wide shot, O’Brien
11. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“Give me one fact, one example. You’re not making a statement for the gallery to sound eloquent; you need to report on the real situation in the city. What you are saying is as if the inhabitants of eastern Aleppo are literally waiting for chemical weapons to explode in their city. Give us one fact or one report or please leave this kind of report for a novel you might write one day.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“What Russia really wants from the UN is credit. Congratulations Russia you’ve stopped for a couple of days from using incendiary weapons. Thank you for not using cluster bombs in civilian areas. Thank you for staying the hand of brutality with regard to bunker-buster weapons. You don’t get congratulations and get credit for not committing war crimes for a day or a week. That’s not how the international system is structured and nor should it ever be.”
14. Wide shot, Security Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“Would the Russian ambassador state for the record that Russia had nothing to do with these leaflets which came out of Russian planes; and came out of Syrian planes? Those of you on the Council who support the Syrian regime; is this a leaflet that you would also throw your weight behind? Russia can’t have it both ways to pretend to care about the wellbeing of people in eastern Aleppo and at the same time threaten to annihilate those who remain in their homes.”
16. Wide shot, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“Our planes have not been anywhere near Aleppo within ten kilometres for eight days now. So either it was American airplanes who dropped this or it’s a fake that is spread around on the internet. So you present this to us here in the Security Council and you expect us to consider this as a serious argument; well this is very strange. I mean I consider us to be a little more serious than that.”
18. Med shot, delegates
19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Ja’afari, Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations:
“These are photos of the new weapons that were sent to the moderate opposition in east Aleppo; American-made missiles that were provided to the moderate opposition in east Aleppo to bomb west Aleppo. And these moderate genetically modified terrorists are preparing missiles to launch at west Aleppo. This is one of the missiles that landed on a church in west Aleppo. We have thousands of photos for those who want to have them.”
20. Zoom out, Security Council
UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said Russian and Syrian aircraft were dropping leaflets over eastern Aleppo which read "if you do not leave this area urgently, you will be annihilated" adding that "the aircraft which drop the bombs, the Generals who give the orders, and the politicians who have designed the strategy intend to make good on that horrific promise."
Speaking to the Security Council today (26 Oct), O’Brien depicted a gruesome picture of life in the basements of eastern Aleppo. He said no UN assistance had entered in nearly four months as food was scarce and what was available in local markets was “at vastly inflated prices.” He added that civilians were being bombed by Syrian and Russian forces and “if they survive that, they will starve tomorrow.” O’Brien said the tactics were “as obvious as they are unconscionable; make life intolerable; make death likely.”
The humanitarian chief said hundreds of thousands of Syrian children had become “stateless” and despite many attempts by the international community to reach them they “feel abandoned by the world.” He said those children did not have “the luxury of waiting for another Geneva, Vienna or Lausanne to succeed” adding that the international community could not “fail the children of Aleppo as it did in Srebrenica, Cambodia, and Rwanda.”
Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin said his delegation had tried not to criticize UN officials, but O’Brien’s “arrogant way of saying the UN is above all criticism” deemed it necessary. He said, “If we needed to be preached to we would go to a church; if we wanted to hear poetry we would go to a theatre.” Churkin added that his country expected UN officials briefing the Security Council to give “an objective assessment of what happened.” Churkin said the fact that O’Brien “did not mention” the eight-day pause in airstrikes on eastern Aleppo made his statement “dishonest.” He asked O’Brien to give him “one fact” or “leave this kind of report for a novel you might write one day.”
United States (US) ambassador Samantha Power said the UN had been trying in “good faith” to reach those desperately in need in Syria and had not “gone far enough in calling out a permanent member of the Security Council.” She said Russia was seeking “credit” from the UN adding, “You don’t get congratulations and get credit for not committing war crimes for a day or a week.”
Power asked the Russian ambassador if his country believed all the children killed in eastern Aleppo were “Al Qaeda members.” She re-read the leaflets dropped on the eastern Aleppo and called on the Russian ambassador to state for the record that his country “had nothing to do with these leaflets which came out of Russian planes; and came out of Syrian planes.” She said Russia could not “have it both ways to pretend to care about the wellbeing of people in eastern Aleppo and at the same time threaten to annihilate those who remain in their homes.”
Churkin responded by saying that Russian planes had not been “anywhere near Aleppo within ten kilometres for eight days.” He said either it was “American airplanes who dropped this or it’s a fake that is spread around on the internet.”
Syrian ambassador Bashar Ja’afari said his country would not allow talk of eastern and western Aleppo in the same context of Beirut during that “painful period” of the Lebanese civil war. He said Aleppo is one city as Syria is one country and “all of Syria is under siege.” Ja’afari said foreign terrorist fighters which were brought to Syria from “all over the world” through Turkey were responsible for the events in Aleppo. He said these fighters were transported by Turkey, financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and armed with “lethal weapons” by the US, United Kingdom, France and others. Ja’afari presented the Council with photos of “moderate genetically modified terrorists” using “American-made” missiles and said his government had “thousands” more of photos.
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