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STORY: UN / HAITI UPDATE WRAP
TRT: 5.00
SOURCE: UNTV / OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 18 JANUARY 2010, NEW YORK CITY / 17 JANUARY 2010, POR AU PRINCE, HAITI
RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
18 JANUARY 2010, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Ban Ki-moon approaches microphone
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I saw vast devastation and vast need. For a small country like Haiti, this is a tsunami-scale disaster. It requires a correspondingly massive response. From my conversations with people on the street yesterday, I heard a clear message. They said: We need the United Nations. And we need the United Nations now. Help has arrived. More is moving in. But for those who have lost everything, I know that aid cannot come soon enough.”
4. Cutaway, hands taking notes
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“MINUSTAH and key bilateral troop-deploying countries have agreed on a clear division of responsibilities for security and humanitarian support. We are working to make sure that humanitarian coordination arrangements are as strong as possible.”
6. Cutaway, cameramen
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I recommended that the Security Council raise the number of UN police officers in the Mission by 1,500 or 67 percent over current levels. I also recommended that the Council boost the number of troops by 2,000, a nearly 30 per cent increase for six months.”
8. Wide shot, John Holmes approaches microphone
9. Cutaway, cameramen
10. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“I think the response actually has been remarkably generous. You need to distinguish that there has been plenty of responses and contributions outside the flash appeal directly to other organizations or some times directly to the government and then there are contributions made to the project specifically identified by UN organizations or NGO’s within the flash appeal. We’ve already got over the weekend at least 10 percent pf what we’re asking for and that’s in contributions not just in pledges.”
11. Cutaway, hands taking notes
12. SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“That report was comprehensively showing to be untrue. It was requested by the leader of the Belgian team because they felt unsafe and then we facilitated their withdrawal and then they were back the following morning.”
13. Wide shot, French Ambassador Gerard Araud approaches microphone
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Gerard Araud, Permanent Representative of France, United Nations:
“Haiti is a sovereign country. Secondly the administration of Haiti which has been awfully hurt is doing its best. It’s true that the buildings collapsed but the government of Haiti is working. The administration is trying really to do its best. Our job is not to play the role of the government of Haiti.”
15. Wide shot United States Ambassador Alejandro Wolf approaches microphone
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Alejandro Wolf, Permanent Representative of the United States, United Nations:
“President Obama has declared this as a top priority for the United States and we are contributing daily in our effort both to assist the Haitian population through humanitarian assistance. We have forces on the ground, we have assets in the area to help deliver the assistance that is necessary. We are in this for the long haul, this is not just a short term effort. We are committed to the government of Haiti and to the Haitian people.”
17. Cutaway, hands taking notes
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Alejandro Wolf, Permanent Representative of the United States, United Nations:
“The role we will be playing of course will also have to be evaluated over time in terms of what the needs are whether other resources that can fulfill those needs. The objective here, of course, is to get the Haitian government, and Haitian authorities to resume their role as quickly as possible and we will be evaluating the nature of our presence in conjunction with the UN and the Government of Haiti in making our decision accordingly.”
19. Wide shot, President of the Security Council approaches microphone
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Liu Zhenmin, Deputy Permanent Representative of China, President of the Security Council for the month of January, United Nations:
“The members of the Council express their support to the proposal of the Secretary-General to increase the overall level of MINUSTAH to support the immediate recovery and stability efforts. The members of the Council are working very hard on the rapid response to the proposal of the Secretary-General and will follow the situation very closely in Haiti.”
OCHA - 17 JANUARY, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
1. Various shots, Ban Ki-moon and John Holmes touring the ruins of the Presidential Palace
2. Various shots, Ban Ki-moon, with Michelle Montas talking to Haitian people
3. Various shots, military farewell to the dead
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called today for an additional 3,500 United Nations troops and police officers to be deployed to Haiti, which was devastated last week by a catastrophic earthquake, to ensure that aid reaches the victims of the disaster as quickly as possible.
After a closed meeting with the Security Council, Ban, just back from Haiti, told journalists outside the Security Council that for a small country like Haiti, this was a, "tsunami-scale disaster" and that Haiti needed immediate and urgent support.
Ban said that MINUSTAH and key bilateral troop-deploying countries had agreed on a clear division of responsibilities for security and humanitarian support.
Commenting on the scale of individual country pledges, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes who had accompanied the Secretary-General on his trip, said that although the response had been “remarkably generous.”
He said that the report given by CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta which claimed Belgian doctors and nurses were asked to walk away from a field hospital on Friday evening because y UN officials told them to was, “comprehensively showing to be untrue.”
Asked whether aid organizations were taking an administrative role in Haiti, French Ambassador Gerard Araud said that Haiti was a sovereign country and that secondly the administration of Haiti which had been affected by the disaster was doing its best.
United States Ambassador Alejandro Wolf said that President Obama had declared this as a top priority for the United States. He added that they were “in this for the long haul.”
On the future role of the U.S. government operations in Haiti, Wolf said that it would have to be evaluated over time in terms of what the needs were.
The President of the Security Council read a presidential statement expressing the support of the members of the Council to increase the overall level of MINUSTAH to support the immediate recovery and stability efforts.
On Sunday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Haiti to visit mission headquarters (MINUSTAH) devastated by Tuesday’s earthquake and to express solidarity to distraught UN staff and Haitian people.
Ban toured the ruins of what had been the five-story headquarters building and also visited the destroyed government palace accompanied by former spokesperson Michelle Montas. There they took the opportunity to liaise with local survivors who saluted him warmly.
Ban also paid his respects to the to those who had fallen in the catastrophe at a heartfelt military ceremony before returning to New York in a flight which also carried the bodies of deceased UN Staff.
