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STORY: UN / GENERAL ASSEMBLY MALI VETO
TRT: 03:41
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 11 SEPTEMBER 2023, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
11 SEPTEMBER 2023, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall during minute of silence for victims of Morocco eartquake
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dennis Francis, President, General Assembly, United Nations:
“The Security Council has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. I urge its members to recommit to dialogue and negotiations to continue to work towards these goals towards peace and reconciliation in Mali. Here in the General Assembly, the veto initiative offers the opportunity to be solutions oriented in this time of crisis.”
4. Wide shot, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya at General Assembly podium
5. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Russia consistently advocates against preserving endless automatic extensions of sanctions regimes of the Security Council. They should be targeted and have a limited timeframe and help a resolution and not be used as an external leverage of pressure during negotiations on the draft.”
6. Wide shot, Nebenzya at the podium
7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“We on many occasions said that attempts to impose resolutions from outside on Malians have zero chance of success. However, in response to all of the arguments, the Council through the efforts of Western countries continued to ignore Bamako’ss views.”
8. Wide shot, Mali’s Ambassador Issa Konfourou walks up to podium
9. SOUNDBITE (French) Issa Konfourou, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Republic of Mali:
“I’d like to thank Russia sincerely for having taken the brave decision to ask the Security Council to take into account the legitimate expectations of Mali, which is the main country concerned as notified to the Security Council by my government, which welcomes the veto of the Russian Federation, as it allowed us to put an end to the sanctions regime, which had become an instrument in the hands of a group of countries hostile to Mali and to Mali’s choices and they were using it to achieve their own interests.”
10. Med shot, Francis
11. Wide shot, United Kingdom Political Coordinator Fergus Eckersley walks up to podium
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Fergus Eckersley, Minister Counsellor, United Kingdom:
“Instead of working for a compromise, Russia tabled a take-it-or-leave-it last minute resolution of its own, which would have dissolved the panel of experts. The Russian text received no support, literally not a single other vote that summarizes better than anything else the legitimacy of Russia's arguments. These latest actions by Russia set a dangerous precedent, as for the first time a UN sanctions regime has been ended with the veto. There is no justifiable explanation for this and today Russia failed to provide one.”
13. Wide shot, United States Ambassador Robert A. Wood walks up to podium
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert A. Wood, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“It is neither support for Mali nor concern for West African stability that informed Russia's veto of the Bali sanctions renewal. But its continuing efforts to prop up the Kremlin backed Wagner group and its mercenaries across Africa. The Mali sanctions panel of experts named the Kremlin backed Wagner group in its August 2023 final report. It is no surprise Russia wanted to block further reporting on Wagner, which is a transnational criminal organization backed by Moscow.”
15. Wide shot, Wood walks away
General Assembly President Dennis Francis today (11 Sep) urged the members of the Security Council “to recommit to dialogue and negotiations" towards peace and reconciliation in Mali and said the General Assembly veto initiative “offers the opportunity to be solutions oriented in this time of crisis.”
Last year, amid growing criticism of inaction by the Security Council on the war in Ukraine, the General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution aimed at holding the five permanent Council members accountable for their use of veto.
Explaining the reasons behind the Russian Federation’s recent veto on the Council’s Mali sanctions resolution, Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya told the General Assembly that it “consistently advocates against preserving endless automatic extensions of sanctions regimes of the Security Council.”
He said these “should be targeted and have a limited timeframe and help a resolution and not be used as an external leverage of pressure during negotiations on the draft.”
Nebenzya said that during negotiations on the Mali sanctions resolution, “on many occasions said that attempts to impose resolutions from outside on Malians have zero chance of success.” He said the “in response to all of the arguments, the Council through the efforts of Western countries continued to ignore Bamako’ss views.”
Malian Ambassador Issa Konfourou thanked Russia “for having taken the brave decision to ask the Security Council to take into account the legitimate expectations of Mali” as it has allowed Mali “to put an end to the sanctions regime, which had become an instrument in the hands of a group of countries hostile to Mali and to Mali’s choices and they were using it to achieve their own interests.”
The United Kingdom’s Political Coordinator Fergus Eckersley said, “instead of working for a compromise, Russia tabled a take-it-or-leave-it last minute resolution of its own, which would have dissolved the panel of experts. The Russian tax received no support, literally not a single other vote that summarizes better than anything else the legitimacy of Russia's arguments. These latest actions by Russia set a dangerous precedent, as for the first time a UN sanctions regime has been ended with the veto. There is no justifiable explanation for this and today Russia failed to provide one.”
For his part US Ambassador Robert A. Wood said, “it is neither support for Mali nor concern for West African stability that informed Russia's veto of the Bali sanctions renewal. But its continuing efforts to prop up the Kremlin backed Wagner group and its mercenaries across Africa. The Mali sanctions panel of experts named the Kremlin backed Wagner group in its August 2023 final report. It is no surprise Russia wanted to block further reporting on Wagner, which is a transnational criminal organization backed by Moscow.”
