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UN / SOUTH SUDAN TOBY LANZER UPDATE
STORY: UN / SOUTH SUDAN TOBY LANZER UPDATE
TRT: 3.29
SOURCE: UNTV /UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 4 MARCH 2014, NEW YORK CITY/FILE/RECENT
UNTV - RECENT
1.Wide shot, exterior, UN headquarters
UNTV - 4 MARCH 2014, NEW YORK CITY
2. SOUNDBITE (English), Toby Lanzer, UN humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan:
“We already have 3.7 million people who are at severe risk of food insecurity. That number could grow into many more millions and I think that all of us now, whether we are party of the conflict wether we are the donor with resources whether we are the UN agency or an NGO we need to step up and stand with the people of South Sudan in their hour of greatest need.”
UNMISS - FILE - 26 FEBRUARY 2014, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN
3. Med shot, child watching food preparation
UNTV -4 MARCH 2014, NEW YORK CITY
4. SOUNDBITE (English), Toby Lanzer, UN humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan:
“During the months of March, April and May, the traditional planting season throughout the South Sudan, we have an opportunity to enable people to be able to help themselves. To do what they would be doing at this time of the year. And that is to plant, to hunt, to fish. To look after their cattle. And if that happens, then the South Sudanese would go long way to looking after themselves and battling their way through this terrible situation and violence which is afflicting them. But if they can’t move, if they cannot cultivate than I really fear that the South Sudan will collapse and got into an even more desperate situation we already have.”
UNMISS - FILE - 7 FEBRUARY 2014, BOR, SOUTH SUDAN
5. Med shot, IDP camp
6. Med shot, woman cooking in camp
UNTV - 4 MARCH 2014, NEW YORK CITY
7. SOUNDBITE (English), Toby Lanzer, UN humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan:
“At the moment if the donor countries give us money, most of the money goes towards paying buying relief items. But in the second half of the year, most of the money if we have to move the relief around the country goes for logistics. It goes for the big cargo airplanes that need to deliver things and we deliver much less. So my call on the international community is to be quick, help now, a, because we have a planting season, b because when those rain strike, and they will, and when the roads become impassable, we cannot longer position the relief where it needs to go.”
UNMISS - FILE - 26 DECEMBER 2014, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
8. Various shots, aid distribution
UNTV - 4 MARCH 2014, NEW YORK CITY
9. SOUNDBITE (English), Toby Lanzer, UN humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan:
“Our strategy is to preposition relief in key location of the country, to make sure that during the rainy season we do not have to fly supplies to part of the country where there are civilians in need. And if we can do that, actually we save a lot of money.”
UNMISS - FILE - 26 FEBRUARY 2014, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN
10. Tracking, people waiting in line
UNTV - 4 MARCH 2014, NEW YORK CITY
11. SOUNDBITE (English), Toby Lanzer, UN humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan:
“In terms of food assistance its 146 thousand tons of food that needs to be prepositioned. We’ve done it before, we can do it again and we can keep it safe, because we’ve been working very closely together with the peacekeeping mission of the United Nations which has assured us that will help us, as well as the contacts that we have with the local communities, to look after all these commodities even in some of the most remote areas. So it’s tried and tested approach, this prepositioning strategy for the relief and I am sure that we can carry it out if we get the resources on time.”
UNMISS - FILE - 27 JANUARY 2014, BENTIU, SOUTH SUDAN
12. Med shot, IDPs
The top United Nations (UN) humanitarian official in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, is sounding the alarm about the dire situation in the country, warning that the world’s youngest nation could collapse by year’s end if urgent action is not taken to help see its people through the current crisis.
“We already have 3.7 million people who are at severe risk of food insecurity. That number could grow into many more millions and I think that all of us now, whether we are party of the conflict whether we are the donor with resources whether we are the UN agency or an NGO we need to step up and stand with the people of South Sudan in their hour of greatest need.” - said Lanzer.
Less than three years after South Sudan gained independence from Sudan, the fledgling nation has been wracked by a conflict that has left thousands dead and some 870,000 displaced since it first erupted in mid-December. Some 77,000 people have sought protection at UN bases around the country.
Even though the UN is doing its utmost in assisting IDPs, more needs to be done to avert the humanitarian disaster. Most important, people need to return home and rebuild their lives.
“During the months of March, April and May, the traditional planting season throughout the South Sudan, we have an opportunity to enable people to be able to help themselves. To do what they would be doing at this time of the year. And that is to plant, to hunt, to fish. To look after their cattle. And if that happens, then the South Sudanese would go long way to looking after themselves and battling their way through this terrible situation and violence which is afflicting them. But if they can’t move, if they cannot cultivate than I really fear that the South Sudan will collapse and got into an even more desperate situation we already have.” – said Lanzer.
Lanzer, who is meeting with donors and others in New York and Washington D.C. this week, said the situation in South Sudan is a call to action for the international community to stand with the world’s youngest nation and not let it fail.
“At the moment, if the donor countries give us money, most of the money goes towards paying buying relief items. But in the second half of the year, most of the money if we have to move the relief around the country goes for logistics. It goes for the big cargo airplanes that need to deliver things and we deliver much less. So my call on the international community is to be quick, help now, a, because we have a planting season, b, because when those rain strike, and they will, and when the roads become impassable, we cannot longer position the relief where it needs to go.” – said Lanzer.
“Our strategy is to preposition relief in key location of the country, to make sure that during the rainy season we do not have to fly supplies to part of the country where there are civilians in need. And if we can do that, actually we save a lot of money.”- he added.
Lanzer is confident that the UN has the capacities on the ground to distribute and protect the vast amounts of much needed aid.
“In terms of food assistance its 146 thousand tons of food that needs to be prepositioned. We’ve done it before, we can do it again and we can keep it safe, because we’ve been working very closely together with the peacekeeping mission of the United Nations which has assured us that will help us, as well as the contacts that we have with the local communities, to look after all these commodities even in some of the most remote areas. So it’s tried and tested approach, this prepositioning strategy for the relief and I am sure that we can carry it out if we get the resources on time.” – explained Lanzer.
In January this year, donor countries pledged $1.27 billion in emergency relief. To date, less than $300 million has been received.
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