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Just back from Cote d'Ivoire, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos told reporters today that the people there were "immensely traumatized," having witnessed terrible violence, adding that she heard claims that militias were "hunting people with dogs." UNTV
Description

STORY: UN / AMOS
TRT: 2.19
SOURCE: UNTV / UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 7 APRIL 2011, NEW YORK CITY

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Shotlist

RECENT - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations headquarters

7 APRIL 2011 - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos entering presser
2. Cutaway, journalists
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“People are immensely traumatized. They have witnessed terrible violence and many have been directly targeted. Women told me stories of witnessing their husbands being executed. Hundreds of children have been separated from their parents and women and girls have allegedly being kidnapped. I spoke to women who had hidden in a swamp for three days hiding from militias. I heard claims that there were hundreds if not thousands of people still hiding in the forests. I also heard claims that militias are hunting people with dogs.”
4. Cutaway, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“The underlying problems of what has happened in Cote d’Ivoire are not new. Cote d’Ivoire and especially the west of the country has seen violence for many years now. However, the events of the last week are a wakeup call to the international community. But if we are serious about preserving the hard won peace and stability that have prevailed in West Africa in recent years we must address what is happening now. There must be no impunity for the perpetrators of these terrible crimes.”
6. Cutaway, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“We as the UN and our partners organizations need to scale up our efforts, not just in Abidjan but in other parts of the country and we also need take a regional solution in terms of the impact that Cote d’Ivoire is having on other countries in the region. Liberia has the potential to become unstable in the run-up to their election later this year. Almost 5,000 have now fled into Ghana. People will also flee into other countries so regional stability is also at stake here.”
8. Cutaway, journalist
9. Wide shot, Valerie Amos leaving microphone

FILE / 21-22 FEBRUARY 2011, CAMP BAHN, LIBERIA

10. Various shots, Camp Bahn under construction
11. Wide shot, tents and people
12. Wide shot, people cooking in the camp

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Storyline

Just back from a two-day visit to Cote d’Ivoire, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said that the people there were, “immensely traumatized,” having witnessed terrible violence, adding that she heard claims that militias were “hunting people with dogs.”

Speaking to reporters today in New York, she said that she spoke to women who had hidden in a swamp for three days hiding from militias and that there were “hundreds if not thousands of people still hiding in the forests.”

Amos travelled to the western town of Duékoué, the site of some of the mass killings and of the most serious human rights violations that have occurred since the start of the political crisis.

She said that women told her stories of witnessing their husbands being executed, and that hundreds of children had been separated from their parents as well as women and girls having been allegedly kidnapped.

Noting that West Africa's peace and stability were being tested by the unfolding crisis, she said that the events of the last week in Cote d’Ivoire were a “wakeup call” to the international community, adding that if they were “serious” about preserving the “hard won” peace and stability in West Africa in recent years, “we must address what is happening now”.

Amos also said that there must be no impunity for the perpetrators of these “terrible crimes.” She also stressed the need for the UN and its partner organizations to “scale up” efforts, not just in Abidjan but in other parts of the country.

She warned that Liberia had the potential to become unstable in the run-up to their election later this year. And she also noted that almost 5,000 Ivorians had fled into Ghana.

Most of the 130,000 Ivorians who fled into Liberia since December 2010 were scattered across 90 villages in Nimba and Grand Geddeh counties, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Refugee officials say Ivorians feel safest staying with host communities just across the border from their homes, as they may have relatives in these villages or share the same ethnic background.

As a result, a refugee camp in Bahn in Nimba County, 50km from the border, is sheltering some 2,500 refugees, despite being built to house up to 15,000.

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Creator
UNTV
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MAMS Id
U110407d