UN / LIBYA WEAPONS

Commenting on the spread of weapons in Libya to other regions, Max Dyck of the UN mine action team in that country said if the nations of the world do not assist the Libyans now in trying to "get to grips" with this problem, "nobody can come back in six months and complain if it winds up in places that they didn't want, because now is the time to be dealing with it and now is the time when the world should be helping them." UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:50
• Production Date: 1 November 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Subject Topical: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; PEACE AND SECURITY; DISARMAMENT
• Geographic Subject: LIBYA
• MAMS Id: U111101c

Description

STORY: UN / LIBYA WEAPONS
TRT: 1.50
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 1 NOVEMBER 2011, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

1 NOVEMBER 2011, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, dais
3. Med shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Max Dyck, United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) Project Manager:
“We welcomed yesterday the resolution 2017 where the Council, Security Council, calls upon the Libyan authorities to take all the necessary steps to ensure proper custody, not only of the MANPADS but of the larger scale ammunition issues, arms control, non proliferation, etc.”
5. Wide shot, audience
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Max Dyck, Project Manager of the Joint Mine Action Coordination Team in Libya (JMACT):
“I think we need to be realistic in that this work can’t be done in a day or two, it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of effort, but most importantly, it takes a lot of funding. There’s been a lot of speculation about the involvement of the NTC in the funding of this work through the frozen assets. The NTC are very aware of how important this work is. They are very aware that they have a major part to play on it.”
7. Wide shot, audience
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Max Dyck, United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) Project Manager:
“The reality of it is, with the major security issues that people are very nervous of, in terms of a lot the munitions and what is happening with it, if people and, you know, the nations of the world do not assist the Libyans now in trying to get to grips with this problem, nobody can come back in six months and complain when it winds up in places that they don’t want it, because now is the time to be dealing with it, and now is the time when the world should be helping them.”
9. Close up, reporter
10. Wide shot, dais

Storyline

The United Nations (UN) official coordinating efforts to ensure that Libya is free from the threat of landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) following the recent conflict, today (1 November) urged the international community to quickly provide the required assistance for the work to start.

Max Dyck, programme manager for the UN-led Joint Mine Action Coordination Team in Libya (JMACT), welcomed yesterday’s Security Council resolution calling on Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) to take “all the necessary steps” to prevent the proliferation of arms, missiles and related material, warning of the danger they pose country and the region.

Dyck told a news conference at UN Headquarters that although NTC is aware it will have to fund the mine action effort, the interim authorities were not yet in a position to do so.

He said that “this work can’t be done in a day or two” and it takes “a lot of time, it takes a lot of effort, but most importantly, it takes a lot of funding.”

The programme manager noted that the release of Libya’s frozen funds from foreign countries will take time, and that it will also be a while before Tripoli has put in place the mechanisms to receive the funds.

Dyck said that aside from mines, Libya also faces the problem of ERW and large amounts of unsecured ammunition and weapons systems. Some 440 of the several thousands of air strikes in Libya were carried out against ammunition storage sites.

He stressed that if the nations of the world “do not assist the Libyans now in trying to get to grips with this problem, nobody can come back in six months and complain when it winds up in places that they don’t want it, because now is the time to be dealing with it, and now is the time when the world should be helping them.”

In yesterday’s resolution, adopted unanimously, the Council also authorized its committee on Libyan sanctions to draw up proposals for how to keep any stockpiles of arms and material away from terrorist groups, including the group known as Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

The resolution, adopted hours before the mandate for authorized international military action in Libya came to an end, voiced concern about the proliferation of arms in the region, especially man-portable surface-to-air missiles – otherwise known as MANPADS.