:00:13. > :00:15.This is BBC News. A summary of the news now. Details of David
:00:15. > :00:18.Cameron's first re-reshuffle since becoming prime minister have
:00:18. > :00:21.started to emerge. Andrew Mitchell, the International Development
:00:21. > :00:24.Secretary, will be moved to Government Chief Whip. Meanwhile,
:00:24. > :00:32.Liberal Democrat MP David Laws, the former Chief Secretary to the
:00:32. > :00:35.Treasury, is expected to return to a senior Government position.
:00:35. > :00:38.It has been another successful day for British athletes at the
:00:38. > :00:42.Paralympic Games. The British swimmer Ellie Simmonds won her
:00:42. > :00:45.second gold medal of the games in the final of the 200 metre
:00:45. > :00:49.individual medley. Nine police officers have been
:00:49. > :00:53.injured after rioting in Belfast for the second night running. Three
:00:53. > :00:56.of the officers have been taken to hospital. Tonight's disorder
:00:56. > :01:01.follows violence yesterday when a Republican parade resulted in
:01:01. > :01:04.nearly 50 officers being injured. Michael Gove says planned changes
:01:04. > :01:10.to the GCSE examination will prevent a repeat of the marking
:01:10. > :01:13.controversy which have affected this summer's English papers. The
:01:13. > :01:23.Education Secretary says the new exam, which could be phased in from
:01:23. > :01:26.
:01:26. > :01:29.2015, would have the academic rigour of the old O-level.
:01:29. > :01:33.It has been another day of violence in Syria. Opposition activists
:01:33. > :01:37.claim more than 30 people have been killed in a government airstrike on
:01:37. > :01:39.a town north of Aleppo. And in Damascus, a bomb has killed at
:01:40. > :01:42.least five people and wounded many more. Meanwhile, the new
:01:42. > :01:52.international envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has been
:01:52. > :02:06.
:02:06. > :02:15.discussing his role with the BBC's Welcome. It is nearly 18 months
:02:15. > :02:20.into the uprising in Syria. Here in New York, there is the division
:02:20. > :02:24.over what to do next. This week, a new envoy takes over from where
:02:24. > :02:30.Kofi Annan takes off, trying to bring peace to a country that many
:02:30. > :02:36.say is in the midst of a view -- brutal civil war. How can a veteran
:02:36. > :02:45.Algerian diplomat, one of the UN's most experienced troubleshooters,
:02:45. > :02:55.succeed where his predators have failed? Welcome. His it Mission
:02:55. > :03:03.
:03:03. > :03:06.impossible? I suppose it is, if Kofi Annan says so. It is
:03:06. > :03:10.definitely a very, very difficult issue. Kofi Annan has done
:03:10. > :03:15.everything possible. I was in touch with him all the time. We discussed
:03:15. > :03:21.this several times. I can't think of anything that I would have done
:03:21. > :03:26.differently from him. So he ran into a brick wall? Exactly. That is
:03:26. > :03:34.what everybody is saying. I am standing in front of that wall, I
:03:34. > :03:37.will see Kofi again a couple of days. I suppose we will have a look.
:03:37. > :03:42.Some people have said there are some cracks in that wall. We will
:03:42. > :03:48.see if those cracks exist. If they don't, we will have to see if we
:03:48. > :03:51.can go round the wall. There is no other choice. Whether we can work
:03:51. > :04:00.out something, something out of those cracks that are in the wall,
:04:00. > :04:10.whether we can around it, I don't know. Some say that you would not
:04:10. > :04:14.
:04:14. > :04:18.have risked your reputation unless you saw some hope somewhere. No, no.
:04:18. > :04:21.What is the crack you see? I don't see any cracks. Somebody else said
:04:22. > :04:25.there may be cracks. We're trying to find them. You don't see any
:04:25. > :04:30.yourself? I don't see any myself yet. We are examining the wall to
:04:30. > :04:40.see if there are any cracks to work on. 78 years old - coming into this,
:04:40. > :04:44.I am coming into it with my eyes open. With no illusions that it is
:04:44. > :04:48.going to be easy. But then, have you heard of a mission that the
:04:48. > :04:58.United Nations has undertaken which has been easy? So, you know, it is
:04:58. > :04:59.
:04:59. > :05:03.my duty. My duty to try, and that is what I will do. And yet, in
:05:03. > :05:10.public, you told the UN Secretary General that you were honoured, but
:05:10. > :05:15.also scared. What are you scared of? I am scared of the weight of
:05:15. > :05:25.the responsibility. People are already saying that people are
:05:25. > :05:25.
:05:25. > :05:33.dying - what are you doing to help? Indeed, we are not doing much. That
:05:33. > :05:41.in itself is a terrible weight. I realise the importance and the
:05:41. > :05:46.difficulty of the responsibility. This is, I think, what they expect.
:05:46. > :05:52.The importance of succeeding, if it is possible? Absolutely, it should
:05:52. > :05:56.be possible. But you see this is also an appeal to everybody inside
:05:56. > :06:04.Syria and outside Syria to say - this is not the number of people
:06:04. > :06:11.that are getting killed every day only. As bad as that is, it is much
:06:11. > :06:14.more than that. What's going to happen to Syria next year if we
:06:14. > :06:21.don't find some kind of solution - the beginning of a solution right
:06:21. > :06:31.now? What is going to happen around Syria? Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey,
:06:31. > :06:32.
:06:32. > :06:39.Iraq, and further afield. This is what we are doing. This is what
:06:39. > :06:45.Kofi Annan said in his resignation statement. This is what we're
:06:45. > :06:49.continuing to say every day. have come to New York, you have now
:06:49. > :06:53.talked to or met every member of the Security Council. The divided
:06:53. > :07:00.Security Council that Kofi Annan cited as the main reasons for his
:07:00. > :07:04.failure. Did you see a glimmer of hope? Not yet. We are in touch with
:07:04. > :07:07.them. We are continuing to talk to them. They have all expressed
:07:07. > :07:13.welcome, support, thanks for accepting the difficult mission,
:07:13. > :07:23.which is great. That individual support they have expressed will
:07:23. > :07:27.have to translate into a collective support. But it is paralysed. Some
:07:27. > :07:31.have even gone so far as to say that it is almost a new Cold War.
:07:31. > :07:37.You have Russia and China backing President Assad. You have Western
:07:37. > :07:43.and Arab states backing the opposition. Sure. Yeah. Do you see
:07:43. > :07:47.it as a new Cold War? I don't know if it is a new Cold War, but it is
:07:47. > :07:53.bad. It is a worry for us. There is no vitality that will remain like
:07:53. > :07:58.that, next week, next month, after that. The General Assembly is
:07:58. > :08:08.coming, everyone will be here. Everybody is talking, you know, I
:08:08. > :08:11.have seen statements by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. A
:08:11. > :08:16.lot of people have talked to me directly, the Russian Foreign
:08:16. > :08:24.Minister, the Chinese Foreign Minister. Quite a few other people.
:08:24. > :08:27.We will be trying to see how they can work together. Did any of them
:08:27. > :08:35.say to you, "We are really sorry that Kofi Annan had to resign
:08:35. > :08:45.because of us and we will try harder?" In those terms, no. No.
:08:45. > :08:53.But it is there. Because Kofi Annan denounced finger-pointing. But he
:08:53. > :08:57.pointed quite a few fingers himself. I think they are aware of that.
:08:57. > :09:01.Nobody said it isn't true. You have already made it clear - a veiled
:09:01. > :09:06.threat - you said, "If I don't have support, I don't have a job."
:09:06. > :09:10.say that? Yes. Well, you know, this is literally true. It's not the
:09:10. > :09:15.first time that I have told the Security Council, "You asked me to
:09:15. > :09:25.do something and then you don't give me any support." The last time
:09:25. > :09:26.
:09:26. > :09:33.was in Afghanistan in 1999. There was no Cold War behaviour then.
:09:33. > :09:40.do see it as Cold War behaviour? That is what you say. There was no
:09:40. > :09:46.Cold War behaviour then, and yet there was no support for me. I
:09:47. > :09:50.politely said, you know, in these conditions, there is no work for me.
:09:50. > :09:55.When you call for fundamental and urgent change, what does that mean
:09:55. > :10:05.for you? I think it is clear in every single
:10:05. > :10:15.country, the people in the Arab world are asking for change. Some
:10:15. > :10:16.
:10:16. > :10:20.are asking for a regime change, some use other slogans. But the
:10:20. > :10:30.need for change is real. In February last year, 2011, I said
:10:30. > :10:30.
:10:30. > :10:33.something like "Change is needed, change is unavoidable." Governments
:10:33. > :10:42.can lead that change in their respective countries, but if they
:10:43. > :10:47.don't, they will be its victim. I stand by that. By those statements.
:10:47. > :10:50.Bashar al-Assad has had 18 months, almost. Is that enough time to show
:10:50. > :10:54.whether he is willing to lead the change? A lot of Syrians have
:10:54. > :10:58.decided that it shows he hasn't. You know, I still need to talk to a
:10:58. > :11:08.lot more people to make up my mind about which direction things will
:11:08. > :11:13.
:11:13. > :11:19.go. I am a man of peace. A mediator. I am optimistic - I have to be
:11:19. > :11:28.optimistic, even in the face of extreme difficulty. Again, I am not
:11:28. > :11:34.going to pass judgement - or at least, not yet. You said that you
:11:34. > :11:37.agree with almost everything Kofi Annan did or said. In his parting
:11:37. > :11:45.advice he said, "It is clear President Bashar al-Assad must
:11:45. > :11:53.leave office." Do you agree? Again, I'm not going to comment. I stand
:11:53. > :11:57.by what I said about Kofi. He is a friend and I have been very close
:11:57. > :12:01.to him throughout the time he has been working. That is what I meant
:12:01. > :12:05.- don't take it literally that I approve of every single word he has
:12:05. > :12:09.said. It has been noted that in your other difficult negotiations
:12:09. > :12:15.you seem to have chosen the no victor, no vanquished approach,
:12:15. > :12:18.which means kind of power-sharing. Do you see this in a situation like
:12:18. > :12:24.Syria where President Assad is facing opposition but still retains
:12:24. > :12:30.some support? Again, if you talk about my approach - my approach is
:12:30. > :12:40.that in every situation there is a common ground. Even if the people
:12:40. > :12:41.
:12:41. > :12:45.involved in the conflict don't see it to begin with. What the mediator
:12:45. > :12:53.tries to make them aware of that common ground and to investigate
:12:53. > :12:58.how they can extend that ground. Who will, at the end of the process,
:12:58. > :13:05.hold what share of power is, of course - will be the result of the
:13:05. > :13:12.negotiations and the discussions, the debate. This is really for the
:13:12. > :13:16.people of the country to decide. I think you are aware of my great
:13:16. > :13:20.insistence on the fact that people from outside can help a process,
:13:20. > :13:30.but the decisions, the ownership of the process has to be in the hands
:13:30. > :13:34.
:13:34. > :13:39.of the people. This is not just the manner of speaking with me. I
:13:39. > :13:43.believe that 100%. You know, it will be the Syrian people, once
:13:43. > :13:51.they realise, as I hope they will, that every conflict has to end up
:13:51. > :13:55.in a negotiation. The earlier they realise that, the better. When they
:13:56. > :14:03.do that, then it is up to them to decide who will hold what part of
:14:03. > :14:07.the power. If I have understood you correctly - at this point you don't
:14:07. > :14:12.want to say publicly whether you believe or not that President Assad
:14:12. > :14:16.should step down, but you believe he should be part of a transition?
:14:16. > :14:26.I'm not making any similar statements of who is where and so
:14:26. > :14:28.
:14:28. > :14:30.on. I will go back to my statement from February 2011. Change is
:14:30. > :14:40.indispensable, change is unavoidable, it cannot be cosmetic
:14:40. > :14:42.
:14:42. > :14:45.and governments have to accept it otherwise they will have problems.
:14:45. > :14:49.In effect, you are being very diplomatic, you are saying it in
:14:49. > :14:54.other words. The definition of fundamental - and you yourself may
:14:54. > :14:58.have been one of the first people to say there will be a revolution -
:14:58. > :15:04.that means, by definition, there will have to be a new order, a new
:15:04. > :15:08.leader. You know, there will be a new order. Who the people will be
:15:08. > :15:18.in that new order, I don't know. If they can adapt and accept the new
:15:18. > :15:19.
:15:19. > :15:24.order, genuinely, you know, maybe the people will accept that.
:15:24. > :15:27.don't know - that is not for me to say now. So does it worry you that
:15:27. > :15:31.your reticence to make a statement has angered the opposition even
:15:31. > :15:35.before you took the job? I met them and I told them - please, please
:15:35. > :15:39.remember I am not working only for you. I am working for two
:15:39. > :15:43.situations - I am a diplomat, I am a mediator, a negotiator. I don't
:15:43. > :15:53.speak the same language as you. I met them, and I hope that that has
:15:53. > :16:05.
:16:05. > :16:09.In a conflict like this, a very brutal conflict - is it the
:16:09. > :16:14.government's side that has to take the first step because they are in
:16:14. > :16:18.power? This is what Kofi Annan ended up by saying. He said that
:16:18. > :16:23.the government has the main responsibility. They have the big
:16:23. > :16:28.guns, they have the army, I don't know how big the Syrian army is -
:16:28. > :16:35.hundreds of thousands. Much more important than that - every
:16:36. > :16:40.government is responsible for the security of its own people. So, you
:16:40. > :16:50.know, I am sure they will not object if you ask them to have more
:16:50. > :16:51.
:16:51. > :16:59.responsibility than any other group in the country. This the view of
:16:59. > :17:07.the government of Syria. Kofi Annan called them intransigent. Yes. Is
:17:07. > :17:17.your first task a ceasefire? That would be great. Is it possible?
:17:17. > :17:30.
:17:30. > :17:34.Kofi Annan didn't succeed with that. All parties started by saying yes.
:17:34. > :17:37.I hope that they are now more aware of all of the damage that a
:17:37. > :17:47.continuation of fighting would inflict. I certainly will be
:17:47. > :17:50.
:17:50. > :17:53.discussing this with them. President Assad said he needs more
:17:53. > :17:56.time, he talks about crushing the opposition. The opposition has
:17:56. > :18:00.repeatedly said it will not talk to President Assad. There are so many
:18:00. > :18:05.different groups. It is difficult to know who to talk to. It is not
:18:05. > :18:09.uncommon in these situations. We will talk to all of those who are
:18:09. > :18:19.ready to talk to us and are representative. They say they did
:18:19. > :18:23.not want to talk to one another. If they did, they would not need me. I
:18:23. > :18:30.hope that they will be talking to me. That will lead us to them
:18:30. > :18:33.talking to one another. We need to take a different approach than Kofi
:18:33. > :18:36.Annan did. His peace plan failed. The ceasefire never held. You have
:18:36. > :18:46.changed the name of your job. You've asked for a different
:18:46. > :18:52.
:18:52. > :18:56.mandate. How do you want to do things differently? I don't know.
:18:56. > :19:04.Kofi said in his press conference about the plan, he said those six
:19:04. > :19:09.points, I'm not taking them with me, they will stay on the table. What I
:19:09. > :19:19.am saying is that now we have a tool box in which we put all of the
:19:19. > :19:29.
:19:29. > :19:33.instruments. Why put tools in the box when that have not worked? Many
:19:33. > :19:38.observers have said that the plan is dead. It has not succeeded.
:19:38. > :19:46.is not true. Kofi Annan is gone. He says the plan stays behind. We'll
:19:46. > :19:51.not use it in exactly same manner as it was used. Kofi found that it
:19:51. > :20:01.was not right. It is good to have it. We will see what we can make of
:20:01. > :20:10.
:20:10. > :20:15.it. You have said it is urgent. Every day more people are dying. In
:20:15. > :20:18.your experience as a negotiator, do you not have a plan? You have been
:20:18. > :20:21.meeting opposition leaders for more than one year in Paris. You have
:20:21. > :20:27.been talking to Kofi Annan through the six months. You must have
:20:27. > :20:36.formed some ideas. I have a few ideas but I do not have a plan.
:20:36. > :20:40.do not want to pretend that I have things that do not exist. Talking
:20:40. > :20:46.to a few people when you're just an observer, it is not at all the same
:20:46. > :20:53.thing as talking to people when you have such a responsibility. The
:20:53. > :21:02.argument that people are dying is absolutely true. Yes. People are
:21:02. > :21:12.dying. Some people even say you were responsible for the deaths
:21:12. > :21:19.
:21:19. > :21:23.because you have not managed from day one. I wish it were possible by
:21:23. > :21:26.announcing to stop the fighting... It does not work that way. Syria is
:21:26. > :21:35.a civil war. You have already called it that, a sectarian war, a
:21:35. > :21:39.proxy war, a new Cold War. It is an awful lot for one person to fix.
:21:39. > :21:49.is extremely difficult to fix. A situation like this is not static.
:21:49. > :21:55.
:21:55. > :21:59.It is never static. If it does not improve it gets worse. Everyone
:21:59. > :22:09.says they want... All the regional players want peace. They are all
:22:09. > :22:09.
:22:09. > :22:13.involved in perpetuating the war. The government in Damascus says the
:22:13. > :22:16.rebels have been armed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. They will
:22:16. > :22:20.not lay down their arms until those channels are closed. The opposition
:22:20. > :22:30.says that Russia and Iran are arming President Assad. That seems
:22:30. > :22:47.
:22:47. > :22:57.to be the trend. No situation is static. The trend is for greater
:22:57. > :22:59.
:22:59. > :23:02.militarisation. The UN would call on all of those who were arming
:23:02. > :23:06.parties to stop doing so. As mediators you can only repeat this.
:23:06. > :23:10.People are angry with Kofi Annan. The government say it is our right,
:23:10. > :23:13.we have the monopoly on the use of force. The opposition says they are
:23:13. > :23:23.being massacred. How can we tell them to accept the slaughter. I
:23:23. > :23:26.
:23:26. > :23:29.understand that position. When they accept a political solution it is
:23:29. > :23:39.much better than this fight... It is an existential battle. Kill or
:23:39. > :23:40.
:23:40. > :23:50.be killed is the driving force. It is not true. It is not about
:23:50. > :23:59.
:23:59. > :24:03.killing. I have been going on for Syria for 50 years. More.
:24:03. > :24:05.incredible existence. What people call a mosaic of communities was
:24:06. > :24:09.incredibly harmonious. People have multiple identities. They took
:24:09. > :24:13.their Syrian identity first. I refuse to believe that they are
:24:13. > :24:23.going to forget that. I refuse to believe that they would go back to
:24:23. > :24:37.
:24:37. > :24:40.narrow identities. As you start this, whether it is mission
:24:40. > :24:44.impossible, or your toughest assignment yet, let us finish with,
:24:44. > :24:53.there must have been something that you saw that you could do to turn
:24:53. > :24:57.this around. What is it that made you decide to take on the job?
:24:57. > :25:06.made me decide to take on the job is, perhaps a little bit of vanity.
:25:06. > :25:09.Perhaps an excessive sense of duty. I knew perfectly well that the
:25:09. > :25:14.United Nations cannot stay away from a problem like this. If they
:25:14. > :25:21.asked me to help, who am I to say no? That is what has led me here.
:25:21. > :25:31.Once again, I know how difficult it is. I know how nearly impossible it
:25:31. > :25:33.
:25:33. > :25:43.is. I am not here to try and win another battle for myself. That is
:25:43. > :25:50.
:25:50. > :26:00.totally unimportant. What is important is the victory that the
:26:00. > :26:01.
:26:01. > :26:11.Syrian people need to win. If I can help a little bit and I think it is
:26:11. > :26:14.
:26:14. > :26:24.worth the risks. Thank you. Thank worth the risks. Thank you. Thank
:26:24. > :26:28.
:26:28. > :26:36.you very much. September arrives, you get a
:26:36. > :26:41.glorious day like she did on Monday. 25 degrees in Aberdeen. It was not
:26:41. > :26:49.all plain sailing. This deep area of low pressure strengthened the
:26:49. > :26:54.winds in northern Scotland. This is what it looks like to begin the day
:26:54. > :27:04.today. Cloudy and damp weather. Sunshine in the south-east.
:27:04. > :27:08.
:27:08. > :27:18.Northern Scotland, strong winds, 60mph. Possibly stronger than that
:27:18. > :27:20.
:27:20. > :27:28.in the Northern Isles. Behind it, sunshine but it will feel fresher.
:27:28. > :27:35.At 4pm, north and west of Wales, sunnier skies. Northern Ireland,
:27:35. > :27:43.cloud and sunshine. 18 degrees in Belfast. Pleasant in the sunshine.
:27:43. > :27:50.Gusty winds continue in Scotland. The effect on the temperature is
:27:50. > :27:55.around 17 degrees in Aberdeen. Sunshine in northern England.
:27:55. > :28:01.Further south, we come into an area of cloud. Very warm in the far
:28:01. > :28:07.south-east. South-west England increasing cloud in the afternoon.
:28:07. > :28:15.A lot of drizzly and damp weather. As we move on through Tuesday night,
:28:15. > :28:20.that clears the way. A cool night to begin Wednesday morning.
:28:20. > :28:28.Wednesday delivers the best of the sunshine from the Midlands the
:28:28. > :28:37.south. For the rest of the week, across the bulk of the UK, the best