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UN / HOLBROOKE WRAP
STORY: UN / HOLBROOKE WRAP
TRT: 2:09
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 DECEMBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, US flag at half-mast at US Permanent Mission
2. Wide shot, speakers at podium at UN headquarters press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Nesirky, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The Secretary-General said that Mr. Holbrooke was a giant and a legend in his time. I worked with him often as Foreign Minister, and before that as a younger diplomat, and again very often as UN Secretary-General. His drive was immense. His desire to do good in the world was fierce, and he pursued all he set out to do with a resolution and tenacity that were second to none.”
4. Cutaway, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning:
“He was not only the consummate diplomat and sometimes a unique force in the field. He a very, very particular relationship to the media as it relates to diplomacy.”
6. Cutaway, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning:
“In the end game negotiations in Cancun when I found out that he had taken ill, it was certainly a chance for me to reflect on an amazing, probably the best negotiator I’ve ever seen. With his passing, I think we all lost something.”
8. Wide shot, US Ambassador Susan Rice walking to media stakeout
9. Cutaway, journalist
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“The members of the Security Council are deeply saddened by the passing yesterday by their colleague and an extraordinary American diplomat Ambassador Richard Holbrooke. They noted that Ambassador Holbrooke’s service span decades and continents confronting profoundly difficult issues in global affair. The members of the Council expressed admiration for his contributions as United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations as well as for his energetic and unrelenting commitment to promoting peace and strengthening international cooperation at the United Nations.”
11. Cutaway, journalist
FILE – SEPTEMBER 1995, NEW YORK CITY
8. Various shots, Richard Holbrooke, US Ambassador Madeleine Albright and UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali meeting on Bosnia
9. SOUNDUP (English) Richard Holbrooke, Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, United States:
“We also laid very heavy stress on the importance of full implementation of the Sarajevo agreements; that is absolutely critical and repeated what President Clinton had stated publicly concerning our view that if there were violation, we would advocate the resumption of NATO military action.”
FILE - 2001, NEW YORK CITY
10. Various shots, US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke hold a Security Council meeting on refugees
11. SOUNDUP (English) Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“I’m delighted you are here today to watch the Security Council in action in this historic room where so many important events have happened in the last 50 years.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council meeting
The United States flag flew at half-mast today (4 December) at the US Permanent Mission’s headquarters in New York following the passing of veteran US diplomat Richard Holbrooke yesterday (3 December).
Across the street from the Mission, senior United Nations (UN) officials mourned Holbrooke’s death praising his skills as a top negotiator, peacemaker and champion of global causes.
Holbrooke, who died following heart surgery on Monday at the age of 69, helped broker the 1995 Dayton agreement that ended the Bosnian war. More recently, he was US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called him “a giant and a legend in his time” in a letter he wrote to Holbrooke’s family upon hearing the news of the death said his Spokesperson Martin Nesirky.
Holbrooke’s vast diplomatic experience also included a posting as US Ambassador to the UN from 1999 to 2001 under former President Bill Clinton.
Robert Orr, who served as Holbrooke’s deputy during that time, lauded not only his diplomatic skills but also the relationship he had with the media as it relates to diplomacy.
“Ambassador Holbrooke understood probably better than any individual I ever worked with the importance of the media,” Orr, who is the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning and Policy Coordination, told reporters.
He, who had recently returned from the climate change negotiations in Cancun, added “when I found out that he had taken ill, it was certainly a chance for me to reflect on an amazing, probably the best negotiator I’ve ever seen.”
Later today, current US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice read out a press statement on behalf of Council members who she said “are deeply saddened by the passing.”
She added that Council members “noted that Ambassador Holbrooke’s service span decades and continents confronting profoundly difficult issues in global affair.”
Months before the Dayton agreement, Holbrooke, who was at the UN headquarters meeting with then UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali, talked to reporters stressing on the “full implementation of the Sarajevo agreements.”
During his tenure as the US Ambassador to the UN, Holbrooke is said to have put into practice his belief in the power of moral urgency, elevating HIV/AIDS to the global security agenda. He also forged a landmark agreement with the US Congress and the U N to eliminate US arrears to the UN.
At a Security Council meeting in 2001, while addressing US high school students attending a meeting on refugees, he referred to the Council Chamber as a “historic room where so many important events have happened in the last 50 years.”
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