UN / SYRIA AMOS

UK Ambassador and president of this month's Security Council Mark Lyall Grant said today that the Council expressed their deep disappointment that UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos was not granted authorization to visit Syria by the Syrian government in a timely manner. UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:29
• Production Date: 1 March 2012
• Asset Language: Original
• Subject Topical: INTERNATIONAL LAW; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; LAW; PEACE AND SECURITY; POLITICAL AFFAIRS; POLITICAL CONDITIONS; POLITICAL MOVEMENTS
• Geographic Subject: SYRIA
• MAMS Id: U120301e

Description

STORY: UN / SYRIA AMOS
TRT: 1.29
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 1 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

FILE – 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

1 MARCH 2012, NEW YORK

2. Wide shot, UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, President of the Security Council for the month of March approaches microphone
3. Cutaway, journalist taking notes
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of March:
“The members of the Security Council express their deep disappointment that Mrs. Valery Amos, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator was not granted authorization to visit Syria by the Syrian Government in a timely manner. Despite repeated requests and intense diplomatic contacts aimed at securing Syrian approval. The members of the Security Council call upon the Syrian authorities to grant the coordinator immediate and unhindered access.”
5. Cutaway, journalist taking notes
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of March:
“We would expect him to be going to the region at the weekend, he will be consulting obviously with the Arab league and then we would expect him to be going to Damascus and we hope that his mission is successful and offer it our full support. Clearly he is a joint Envoy and therefore there will be just the one, its not a question of mediation, it’s a question of starting a political process, a political transition, its stopping the violence, its getting humanitarian access, its all those issues and he will, no doubt, do his best to achieve that.”
7. Cutaway, journalist taking notes
8. Wide shot, Ambassador Lyall Grant leaves journalists behind

Storyline

The United Kingdom’s ambassador and president of this month’s Security Council Mark Lyall Grant said today that the Council expressed their deep disappointment that United Nations (UN) Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos was not granted authorization to visit Syria by the Syrian government in a timely manner, “despite repeated requests and intense diplomatic contacts aimed at securing Syrian approval.”

He said that Council members called upon the Syrian authorities “to grant the coordinator immediate and unhindered access.”

Asked about Kofi Annan’s trip to Syria as a UN Arab League Joint Special Envoy, Lyall Grant said that the Council members would expect Annan to be going to the region at the weekend and that he would be consulting with the Arab League and then on to to Damascus.

Commenting on what Annan called a “mediation process,” Lyall Grant said that it was “not a question of mediation, it’s a question of starting a political process, a political transition, it’s stopping the violence, it’s getting humanitarian access, it’s all those issues and he will, no doubt, do his best to achieve that.”