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GENEVA / DE MISTURA SYRIA
STORY: GENEVA / DE MISTURA SYRIA
TRT: 02:53
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 24 MARCH 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / RECENT
RECENT - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations at night
24 MARCH 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, press stakeout Staffan de Mistura
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“I would try to be careful about expectations, like we were on the fourth round. So I am not expecting miracles, I am not expecting breakthroughs, and I am not expecting break downs. What I am expecting is building on the fourth round with some incremental constructive steps – which ones? I will tell you at the end of this round.”
4. Med shot, reporters
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“There was a long discussion on the security current developments which will be continued tomorrow because that is an issue that is concerning very much the government.”
6. Med shot, photographer
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“We had a meeting as you know with the HNC (High Negotiations Committee), the delegation which came from Riyad. We first discussed the recent military events and we received, in the context of the counter terrorism aspect, a detailed report from the opposition regarding their own fighting in various occasions the threat of Daesh.”
8. Close up, translator
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“Everywhere I went, in all three locations, there was a strong feeling that in spite of the non-totally positive development which took place in the last Astana meeting, and in spite of the recent surge of military activities, the Geneva talks according to each one of the interlocutors was feeling that they needed to be going ahead and actually to build on Geneva 4”.
10. Wide shot, Staffan de Mistura and journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“The proximity talk helps, because I pick up with my team what are the points and we interact on one basket, by the way all of them have to talk on all four baskets. No one can exclude the other baskets. That is a deal and that is a ruling even supported by Security Council. Secondly, whenever we have sufficient material on one side, we will be then addressing that aspect together with the other delegation. In order to be able to come up with some type of communalities that is what the job of a mediator is, not easy but trust me they can be and that is the beginning of a real negotiation.”
12. Close up, photographer
13. Pan right, Staffan de Mistura leaving
Following the first meetings of the fifth round of intra-Syrian talks that started at the United Nations in Geneva this week, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told media today to expect no major shifts in the dynamics of the talks between Syrian Government and opposition groups, but that he hoped for steady, “incremental” progress.
De Mistura said “I am not expecting miracles, I am not expecting breakthroughs and I am not expecting break downs,” adding that “what I am expecting is building on the fourth round with some incremental constructive steps.”
The talks are under way amid renewed heavy fighting in the capital Damascus and Hama province.
De Mistura said that “the first meeting was with the Government of Syria delegation and its main focus was on the current security issues. He added that “there was a long discussion on the security current developments which will be continued tomorrow because that is an issue that is concerning very much the government.”
The focus of this round will be focusing on four so called “baskets”: political transition, constitutional issues, elections, and counter terrorism.
According to de Mistura, discussions with the Syrian opposition delegation were about “the recent military events and we received in the context of the counter terrorism aspect a detailed report from the opposition regarding their own fighting in various occasions the threat of Daesh. We then discussed with the opposition delegation which we met this afternoon in depth legal aspects of the governance in the context of political transition and Resolution 2254 and Geneva Communique”.
This round of talks, as previous ones, will not be direct negotiations but rather proximity talks in which the UN’s Special Envoy meets separately with the opposing parties.
De Mistura said “the proximity talk helps, because I pick up with my team what are the points and we interact on one basket, by the way all of them have to talk on all four baskets. No one can exclude the other baskets. That is a deal and that is a ruling even supported by Security Council.”
Having just returned from Riyadh, Moscow and Ankara, the Special Envoy concluded that “everywhere I went, in all three locations, there was a strong feeling that in spite of the non-totally positive development which took place in the last Astana meeting and in spite of the recent surge of military activities, the Geneva talks according to each one of the interlocutors was felling that they needed to be going ahead and actually to build on Geneva 4.”
The UN negotiator hopes that soon a new meeting between warring parties and regional powers will be convened. “Hence our expectations to the guarantors of Astana are that they do retake the situation in hand and that hopefully there will be a new Astana meeting in order to control the situation which is worrisome.”
The UN is aiming for a political deal to end a six year conflict that has killed close to half a million people, injured more than a million, and displaced over 12 million - nearly half of the country’s pre-war population which started in 2011 with protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Talks are expected to last until April 1.
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