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MONTREUX / SYRIA PEACE TALKS CONFERENCE WRAP
STORY: MONTREUX / SYRIA PEACE TALKS CONFERENCE WRAP
TRT: 4.00
SOURCE: CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / ARABIC / NATS
1. Wide shot, meeting room
2. Med shot, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon talking to US Secretary of State John Kerry
3. Med shot, Ban, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States Lakhdar Brahimi, and Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari
4. Med shot, Kerry
5. Various shots, Brahimi sitting down
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“All Syrians, and all in the region affected by this crisis, are looking to you gathered here to end the unspeakable human suffering, to save Syria’s rich societal mosaic, and to embark on a meaningful political process to achieve a Syrian-led transition.”
7. Med shot, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“How many more will die in Syria, lose their loved ones, be maimed for life or lose their homes if this opportunity is lost?”
9. Wide shot, dais
10. SOUNDBITE (English) John Kerry, United States Secretary of State:
“Millions of people are relying on the international community’s ability to help find a solution that can save their lives and their country, and we see only one option, a negotiated transition government formed by mutual consent.”
11. Med shot, delegates
12. SOUNDBITE (English) John Kerry, United States Secretary of State:
“Bashar al Assad will not be part of that transition government. There is no way, no way possible in the imagination that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern.”
13. Med shot, dais
14. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs:
“We call upon all participants in the conference to do all they can to assist the government of Syria and the opposition to unite their efforts with a view to eradicating terrorism.”
15. Wide shot, delegates
16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Walid al-Moallem, Foreign Minister of Syria:
"We came here representing the people and the state, yes. Mr. Kerry, everyone should understand that no one in the world has the right to give legitimacy or take it away from a president or government or constitution or law or anything in Syria, but the Syrians themselves. This is their right and constitutional duty. And what will be agreed upon here, will be subject to a popular referendum.”
17. Med shot, President of the Syrian National Coalition Ahmad Jarba
18. SOUND UP (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
19. “Please refrain from making inflammatory remarks”
20. SOUND UP (English) Walid al-Moallem, Foreign Minister of Syria:
“I will summarize, I will summarize.”
21. SOUND UP (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“Thank you, thank you.”
22. SOUND UP (English) Walid al-Moallem, Foreign Minister of Syria:
“I will finish one sentence.”
23. SOUND UP (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“One sentence OK. Just keep your promise, one sentence.”
24. SOUND UP (English) Walid al-Moallem, Foreign Minister of Syria:
“OK. Syria always keeps its promise.”
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Ahmad Jarba, President of the Syrian National Coalition:
“We agree completely with the Geneva Communiqué 1 that was accepted by all. And we want to make sure if we have a Syrian partner in this room, who would be ready to come from a Bashar Al Assad delegation to a free delegation like ours. Like us, I call on the delegation to sign the Geneva Communiqué before you so that all the competencies of Assad would be transferred, including the executive, the military and the investigative powers and this would be the first building block of a new Syria. My question is very clear, very direct – do we have such a partner?”
26. Med shot, Ban and Brahimi
27. Various shots, Ban meeting with al-Moallem
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today (22 January) opened a concerted new effort to end the brutal civil war in Syria, urging the Government, the opposition, and representatives of some 40 other countries and regional organization to seize the historic opportunity to end the bloodshed.
At the opening session of the high-level segment of the United Nations peace conference on Syria in Montreux, Switzerland, Ban said “all Syrians, and all in the region affected by this crisis, are looking to you gathered here to end the unspeakable human suffering, to save Syria’s rich societal mosaic, and to embark on a meaningful political process to achieve a Syrian-led transition.”
The Secretary-General asked “how many more will die in Syria, lose their loved ones, be maimed for life or lose their homes if this opportunity is lost?”
He stressed that the Syrians themselves have the primary responsibility to end the conflict, determine their political system and future, and start rebuilding their country, while the duty of all members of the international community, whether present at today’s conference or not, is to do everything within their power to help them achieve these goals.
Also addressing the meeting, US Secretary of State John Kerry said “millions of people are relying on the international community’s ability to help find a solution that can save their lives and their country, and we see only one option, a negotiated transition government formed by mutual consent.”
Kerry stressed that Syrian President Bashar al Assad “will not be part of that transition government” adding that “there is no way, no way possible in the imagination that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern.”
For his part, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov called upon all participants in the conference “to do all they can to assist the government of Syria and the opposition to unite their efforts with a view to eradicating terrorism.”
Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said his country will do everything necessary to defend itself in ways that it deems appropriate without paying attention to the statements and the positions that were declared by many leaders.
Al-Moallem said that some neighbors set Syria on fire and recruited terrorists from around the world, explaining that there are eighty-three nationalities fighting in Syria. Al-Moallem spoke also about the military action threat by the United States against Syria, and accused Washington of fabricating the story of Syrian government using chemical weapons:
Addressing Kerry, he said “everyone should understand that no one in the world has the right to give legitimacy or take it away from a president or government or constitution or law or anything in Syria, but the Syrians themselves. This is their right and constitutional duty. And what will be agreed upon here, will be subject to a popular referendum.”
After about twenty minutes from the beginning of the Syrian foreign minister speech, the Secretary-General asked him to summarize the rest stressing the need for a constructive dialogue and to refrain from making provocative statements and accusations to some member states participating in the conference.
Al-Moallem promised to summarize and to make just one more closing sentence. He said that “Syria always keeps its promise.”
Today’s meeting, designed to give international support to the efforts to resolve the deadly conflict that has torn Syria apart, will be followed on Friday by talks between the Syrian parties at UN headquarters in Geneva in what will be the first time that the Government and opposition meet at a negotiating table since the conflict started in March 2011.
The basis of the talks is full implementation of an action plan adopted in the so-called Geneva Communiquéof 2012, adopted at the first international conference on the conflict, and which calls for a transitional government to lead to free and fair elections.
The Geneva Communiqué sets out a number of key steps for a Syrian-led transition, starting with the establishment of a transitional governing body with full executive powers and providing for the restoration of public services and full observance of human rights.
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