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UN / SYRIA VOTES
STORY: UN / SYRIA VOTES
TRT: 03:40
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 10 APRIL 2018, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
10 APRIL 2018, NEW YORK CITY
2. Pan left, Security Council voting
3. Med shot, Russian ambassador voting against US draft resolution
4. Wide shot, Russian and Bolivian ambassadors voting against US draft resolution
5. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vassily Alekseevich Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“If you took the decision to carry out an illegal military adventure - and we do hope that you will come to your senses - well then you will have to bear the responsibility for it yourselves. What you are trying to do is plant this resolution into the Security Council, something that has been on the shelf for a long time, in order to find a pretext. You have stated unequivocally several times that if the Security Council does not take a decision, you will make a decision of your own. Why are you determinately trying to undermine the authority of the Security Council while pushing forward a resolution that we will not pass?”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Nikki Haley, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“And when the people of Douma along with the rest of the international community looked to this Council to act, one country stood in the way. History will record that. History will record that on this day Russia chose protecting a monster over the lives of the Syrian people.”
8. wide shot, Russian ambassador
9. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vassily Alekseevich Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“If experts for whatever reason are unable to reach Douma because of the actions on the part of those who continue speculating the chemical issue in order to smear Syria and Russia, then this will become yet another piece of evidence showing that what is behind this affair, which is false through and through, is dirty political games; and what is even worse, aggressive military plans which can turn back the positive trend in Syria’s settlement.”
10. Pan left, Security Council voting on 3rd draft
11. Wide shot, British and US ambassadors voting against draft
12. Med shot, British and US ambassadors voting against draft
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Karen Pierce, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
“The Fact-Finding Mission determines whether chemical weapons were used, and if they were, which chemical weapons were used. It does not and cannot establish who was responsible for their use and thus start the first step on the path to attribution and accountability. For that reason, Mr. President, we are not able to support the text. It would be like watching a fire, and identifying that there is a fire, and doing nothing to put it out.”
14. Med shot, Russia ambassador
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Ja’afari, Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations:
“Their fleets are currently in the east of the Mediterranean Sea, and they know that what they wanted from this meeting was a veto to start their aggression. I tell these western parties – and let them listen carefully to me – your threats of aggression, your manoeuvres, your misinformation, your lies, and your terrorism will never derail us, as a founding member of this international organization, from exercising our rights and responsibilities in accordance with the (UN) Charter and our national constitution in ensuring the sovereignty of our country, unity of our territory, and in fending off any aggression regardless of its source. We will not allow anyone, big or small, permanent member of not, to do to us what they did to Iraq and Libya.”
16. Wide shot, Security Council
The UN Security Council failed today (10 Apr) to adopt a resolution on the alleged chemical weapons attack in the Syrian city of Douma after voting on three separate drafts.
The Council first voted on two competing drafts presented by the United States and Russian respectively to establish a UN Independent Mechanism of Investigation. The US draft received 12 votes in favour, two against (Russia and Bolivia), and one abstention (China) and was not adopted due to a Russian veto. The Russian draft received six votes in favour, seven against, and two abstentions and was not adopted as it did not receive the required number of votes.
Speaking prior to the votes, Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the US text was nothing more than an attempt to recreate unchanged the former Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) into the cases of chemical weapons uses in Syria. He said the JIM had become a puppet in the hands of anti-Damascus forces when it laid blame on a sovereign state without credible evidence.
Nebenzia asked the US delegation why it needed an investigative mechanism when it had already attributed guilt prior to an investigation. He said the drafters of the resolution were hoping the resolution would not pass to create a pretext to take military action against the Syrian Government.
SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vassily Alekseevich Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“If you took the decision to carry out an illegal military adventure - and we do hope that you will come to your senses - well then you will have to bear the responsibility for it yourselves. What you are trying to do is plant this resolution into the Security Council, something that has been on the shelf for a long time, in order to find a pretext. You have stated unequivocally several times that if the Security Council does not take a decision, you will make a decision of your own. Why are you determinately trying to undermine the authority of the Security Council while pushing forward a resolution that we will not pass?”
US ambassador Nikki Haley said the Russian and US drafts were similar, but had important differences. She said Russia’s resolution gives Russia itself the chance to choose the investigators and then to assess the outcome adding that there was nothing independent about that. She added that the Russian proposal was intended to protect the Syrian Government.
Haley said the United States could not allow this attack to go unanswered adding that her delegation had done everything to achieve unity in the Council. She said the US had hoped last week that there could be a renewed partnership to combat chemical weapons on the one-year anniversary of the Khan Sheikhoun attack, but those weapons were used again against the Syrian people.
SOUNDBITE (English) Nikki Haley, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“And when the people of Douma along with the rest of the international community looked to this Council to act, one country stood in the way. History will record that. History will record that on this day, Russia chose protecting a monster over the lives of the Syrian people.”
Russian ambassador Nebenzia said Syria had requested that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) send a Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) to the alleged attack site in Douma and as such Russia had proposed a third draft which would have expressed support to that mission. He stressed however that the US did not want an investigation unless it was based on the social networks of the opposition. He added that the mission was ready to be deployed as early as this week.
SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vassily Alekseevich Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“If experts for whatever reason are unable to reach Douma because of the actions on the part of those who continue speculating the chemical issue in order to smear Syria and Russia, then this will become yet another piece of evidence showing that what is behind this affair, which is false through and through, is dirty political games; and what is even worse, aggressive military plans which can turn back the positive trend in Syria’s settlement.”
The Council then went into consultations to discuss the third draft but was not able to reach an agreement. The draft was not adopted as it failed to obtain the required number of votes with five votes in favour, four against, and six abstentions.
Following the vote, British ambassador Karen Pierce said her delegation could not vote in favour of the draft because it simply welcomes the FFM which is already on its way to the site in Douma where an alleged chemical weapons attack took place on 7 April.
SOUNDBITE (English) Karen Pierce, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations:
“The Fact-Finding Mission determines whether chemical weapons were used, and if they were, which chemical weapons were used. It does not and cannot establish who was responsible for their use and thus start the first step on the path to attribution and accountability. For that reason, Mr. President, we are not able to support the text. It would be like watching a fire, and identifying that there is a fire, and doing nothing to put it out.”
Syrian ambassador Bashar Ja’afari said his Government welcomed a FFM to the alleged site and looked forward to working with it if it indeed arrives to Syria. He said by the time the mission arrived to Douma it would have been liberated giving it access to any place it wishes to go. Ja’afari said western powers were promoting the narrative of a chemical weapons attack in Douma to serve their political agendas and justify their aggression against Syria. He said their fleets are currently in the east of the Mediterranean Sea, and were simply looking for “a veto to start their aggression.”
Addressing the western parties, Ja’afari said, “Your threats of aggression, your manoeuvres, your misinformation, your lies, and your terrorism will never derail us, as a founding member of this international organization, from exercising our rights and responsibilities in accordance with the (UN) Charter and our national constitution in ensuring the sovereignty of our country, unity of our territory, and in fending off any aggression regardless of its source; we will not allow anyone, big or small, permanent member of not, to do to us what they did to Iraq and Libya.”
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