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STORY: UN / SIERRA LEONE
TRT: 2.44
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 13 MARCH 2013, NEW YORK
FILE – 2012, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
13 MARCH 2013, NEW YORK
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Cutaway, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Toyberg-Frandzen, Executive Representative and Head of the United Nations (UN) Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL):
“Notwithstanding the progress Sierra Leone has made over the past decade, challenges still remain, particularly in tackling the root causes of the conflict. The political divide and polarization of the country along regional ethnic lines that manifested itself in successive elections needs to be addressed, to strength national unity and cohesion.”
5. Cutaway, delegates
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Toyberg-Frandzen, Executive Representative and Head of the United Nations (UN) Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL):
“Further entrenching the rule of law and institutions of democratic governance is the best guarantee for sustaining peace, and achieving development and economic prosperity.”
7. Cutaway, delegates
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Toyberg-Frandzen, Executive Representative and Head of the United Nations (UN) Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL):
“With the progress made by Sierra Leone and by UNIPSIL in the implementation of its mandate, it is now appropriate to begin a reconfiguration of the mission and to gradually transfer responsibilities to the United Nations Country team, the Government of Sierra Leone, national institutions, civil society organizations, as well as bilateral and international partners. Ultimately this process will end with the termination of the mission.”
9. Cutaway, delegates
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Guillermo E. Rishchynski, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations:
“Youth unemployment is a major challenge, but generating economic opportunities and rebuilding an effective education system can only come from sustained Government investment. Likewise, the growth of Sierra Leone’s extractive and agricultural sectors offers great promise.”
11. Cutaway, delegates
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Guillermo E. Rishchynski, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations:
“Like its neighbours in the sub-region, Sierra Leone is also vulnerable to the destabilizing aspects of transitional organized crime and drug trafficking. These points lead to the evident conclusion that now is not the time for the international community to turn away from Sierra Leone. Continued assistance is required to build the gains achieved to date.”
13. Cutaway, delegates
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Ambassador Guillermo E. Rishchynski, Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations:
“Above all, the pace of transition should match needs on the ground, especially given the potential for small investments at this late stage to make a substantial contribution to consolidating hard-won peace.”
15. Cutaway, delegates
16. Wide shot, Security council
A United Nations official today (13 March) praised the progress made by Sierra Leone since the end of its civil war 10 years ago, and stressed that the country must continue to strengthen its institutions to maintain the achievements made during its transition process.
Still Jens Toyberg-Frandzen, the Executive Representative and Head of the United Nations (UN) Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone (UNIPSIL) warned that
challenges still remained, and he pointed out that “particularly in tackling the root causes of the conflict”.
While noting that the country’s national institutions, including the justice and security sectors, the Anti Corruption Commission and the political parties needed to strengthen to continue effectively discharging their functions, Toyberg-Frandzen said that, Further entrenching the rule of law and institutions of democratic governance is the best guarantee for sustaining peace, and achieving development and economic prosperity.”
Noting the pogress achieved by Sierra Leone and by UNIPSIL in the implementation of its mandate, Toyberg-Frandzen considered that it was the right time to “begin a reconfiguration of the mission and to gradually transfer responsibilities to the United Nations Country team, the Government of Sierra Leone, national institutions, civil society organizations, as well as bilateral and international partners”.
And he added that “Ultimately this process will end with the termination of the mission.”
Also briefing the council Canadian Ambassador Guillermo E. Rishchynski, Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission mission that visited Sierra Leone stressed that Youth unemployment was “a major challenge”. He added that “generating economic opportunities and rebuilding an effective education system can only come from sustained Government investment. Likewise, the growth of Sierra Leone’s extractive and agricultural sectors offers great promise.”
He also ponted out that like with the neighbouring countries, Sierra Leone was also “vulnerable to the destabilizing aspects of transitional organized crime and drug trafficking.”
And those points, Rishchynski said, “lead to the evident conclusion that now is not the time for the international community to turn away from Sierra Leone. Continued assistance is required to build the gains achieved to date.”
For 11 years, Sierra Leone was torn by a civil war after the rebel Revolutionary United Front intervened in an attempt to overthrow the country’s then-President Joseph Momoh. The conflict, which lasted from 1991 to 2002, was often punctuated by acts of extreme brutality as marauding bands of armed youths terrorized the countryside, conscripting child soldiers and used the amputation of limbs as an intimidation method against civilians.
In November 2012, the country successfully held national presidential, parliamentary and local council elections. They were the third since the end of the country’s civil war, and the second since the withdrawal of the peacekeeping operation known as the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in December 2005.
That mission was replaced by various other UN offices, most recently the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office (UNIPSIL), which focuses on political and development activities.
