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STORY: GENEVA / SYRIA DE MISTURA
TRT: 2:21
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 30 AUGUST 2018 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior shot, Palais des Nations.
2. Wide shot, United Nations stakeout area.
3. Close up, photographer.
4. Med shot, TV camera, photographer.
5. Close up, TV camera operator, podium
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“There is - another point - no other Idlib, where can they go? Where anyone can go? So, for every time there was a crisis and there was a conclusion to that one crisis, there was a place where many could opt to go. There is no other Idlib.”
7. Med shot, journalists.
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“Why such a hurry and not provide more time in order to allow more discussions, especially among the Astana guarantors. They are the ones, they are the ones who announced and provided the guarantees originally for this last but hugely inhabited de-escalation area.”
9. Med shot, TV camera operator.
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“So I’m once again, prepared once more, personally and physically, to get involved myself, with the Government cooperation this time, because that is an area where they are in charge outside Idlib. To ensure such a temporary corridors would be feasible and guaranteed for the people, so that they can then could return to their own places, untouched once this is over.”
11. Close up, journalist writing.
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria:
“I don’t have any specific information about any imminent attack. But I do have eyes and information regarding preparations and build-ups and messages and declarations. And the fact that while we are talking, two of the main guarantors - in this case Turkey and the Russian Federation - are trying and we hope will succeed in avoiding the worst-case scenario.”
13. Wide shot, journalists and TV camera operators.
14. Close up, TV camera monitor, Staffan de Mistura
15. Med shot, journalist texting.
16. Med shot, Staffan de Mistura, aides.
A massive military escalation by the Government of Syria to retake Idlib risks a “worst case scenario”, top UN negotiator Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, the Special Envoy for Syria offered to personally escort residents of Idlib to safety ahead of any attack on the last main opposition-held area in the country, echoing an offer to do the same in Aleppo in 2016.
His comments reiterate an earlier appeal against a full-scale military operation hours by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in which he expressed deep concern over the growing risk of a humanitarian catastrophe in the war-torn province.
De Mistura said “There is…no other Idlib, where can they go? Where anyone can go? So, for every time there was a crisis and there was a conclusion to that one crisis, there was a place where many could opt to go. There is no other Idlib.”
The fate of Idlib is important because it is home to some 2.9 million people, mainly civilians who have been displaced or evacuated from other conflict zones in the country amid territorial gains by Government forces in the more than seven-year war. It is also the last zone in Syria that is covered by an internationally-agreed ceasefire deal, de Mistura explained, a reference to a de-escalation pact between Russia, Turkey and Iran at Astana in Kazakhstan.
Special Envoy said “why such a hurry and not provide more time, in order to allow more discussions, especially among the Astana guarantors? They are the ones, they are the ones who announced and provided the guarantees originally for this last but hugely inhabited de-escalation area.”
In the past six months alone, a reported 500,000 people have arrived in Idlib after fleeing Government offensives in Dera’a, Eastern Ghouta and other opposition-held areas.
The north-western province is also the base for an extremely high concentration of foreign fighters – according to De Mistura who also noted that this amounted to approximately 10,000 Al Nusra or Al Qaeda members, who have been recognized as terrorists by the UN.
De Mistura said “so I’m once again, prepared once more, personally and physically, to get involved myself, with the Government cooperation this time, because that is an area where they are in charge outside Idlib, to ensure such a temporary corridor(s) would be feasible and guaranteed for the people, so that they can then could return to their own places untouched once this is over.”
Responding to questions, the UN official said he had no “specific information” that an attack on Idlib was imminent, “but I do have eyes and information regarding preparations and build-ups and messages and declarations. And the fact that while we are talking, two of the main guarantors - in this case Turkey and the Russian Federation - are trying and we hope will succeed in avoiding the worst-case scenario.”
UN-led efforts to secure a peaceful solution to the conflict are set to continue with meetings planned in Geneva on 10 and 11 September with representatives from Russia, Turkey and Iran. Those discussions are due to be followed on 14 September by encounters on constitutional matters with senior delegations from seven other Member States: Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
