Browse content similar to Lakhdar Brahimi - UN Special Representative for Syria. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
This is BBC News. A summary of the news now. Details of David | :00:13. | :00:15. | |
Cameron's first re-reshuffle since becoming prime minister have | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
started to emerge. Andrew Mitchell, the International Development | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
Secretary, will be moved to Government Chief Whip. Meanwhile, | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
Liberal Democrat MP David Laws, the former Chief Secretary to the | :00:24. | :00:32. | |
Treasury, is expected to return to a senior Government position. | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
It has been another successful day for British athletes at the | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
Paralympic Games. The British swimmer Ellie Simmonds won her | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
second gold medal of the games in the final of the 200 metre | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
individual medley. Nine police officers have been | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
injured after rioting in Belfast for the second night running. Three | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
of the officers have been taken to hospital. Tonight's disorder | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
follows violence yesterday when a Republican parade resulted in | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
nearly 50 officers being injured. Michael Gove says planned changes | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
to the GCSE examination will prevent a repeat of the marking | :01:04. | :01:10. | |
controversy which have affected this summer's English papers. The | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
Education Secretary says the new exam, which could be phased in from | :01:13. | :01:23. | |
:01:23. | :01:26. | ||
2015, would have the academic rigour of the old O-level. | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
It has been another day of violence in Syria. Opposition activists | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
claim more than 30 people have been killed in a government airstrike on | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
a town north of Aleppo. And in Damascus, a bomb has killed at | :01:37. | :01:39. | |
least five people and wounded many more. Meanwhile, the new | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
international envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has been | :01:42. | :01:52. | |
:01:52. | :02:06. | ||
discussing his role with the BBC's Welcome. It is nearly 18 months | :02:06. | :02:15. | |
into the uprising in Syria. Here in New York, there is the division | :02:15. | :02:20. | |
over what to do next. This week, a new envoy takes over from where | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
Kofi Annan takes off, trying to bring peace to a country that many | :02:24. | :02:30. | |
say is in the midst of a view -- brutal civil war. How can a veteran | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
Algerian diplomat, one of the UN's most experienced troubleshooters, | :02:36. | :02:45. | |
succeed where his predators have failed? Welcome. His it Mission | :02:45. | :02:55. | |
:02:55. | :03:03. | ||
impossible? I suppose it is, if Kofi Annan says so. It is | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
definitely a very, very difficult issue. Kofi Annan has done | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
everything possible. I was in touch with him all the time. We discussed | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
this several times. I can't think of anything that I would have done | :03:15. | :03:21. | |
differently from him. So he ran into a brick wall? Exactly. That is | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
what everybody is saying. I am standing in front of that wall, I | :03:26. | :03:34. | |
will see Kofi again a couple of days. I suppose we will have a look. | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
Some people have said there are some cracks in that wall. We will | :03:37. | :03:42. | |
see if those cracks exist. If they don't, we will have to see if we | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
can go round the wall. There is no other choice. Whether we can work | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
out something, something out of those cracks that are in the wall, | :03:51. | :04:00. | |
whether we can around it, I don't know. Some say that you would not | :04:00. | :04:10. | |
:04:10. | :04:14. | ||
have risked your reputation unless you saw some hope somewhere. No, no. | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
What is the crack you see? I don't see any cracks. Somebody else said | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
there may be cracks. We're trying to find them. You don't see any | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
yourself? I don't see any myself yet. We are examining the wall to | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
see if there are any cracks to work on. 78 years old - coming into this, | :04:30. | :04:40. | |
I am coming into it with my eyes open. With no illusions that it is | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
going to be easy. But then, have you heard of a mission that the | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
United Nations has undertaken which has been easy? So, you know, it is | :04:48. | :04:58. | |
:04:58. | :04:59. | ||
my duty. My duty to try, and that is what I will do. And yet, in | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
public, you told the UN Secretary General that you were honoured, but | :05:03. | :05:10. | |
also scared. What are you scared of? I am scared of the weight of | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
the responsibility. People are already saying that people are | :05:15. | :05:25. | |
:05:25. | :05:25. | ||
dying - what are you doing to help? Indeed, we are not doing much. That | :05:25. | :05:33. | |
in itself is a terrible weight. I realise the importance and the | :05:33. | :05:41. | |
difficulty of the responsibility. This is, I think, what they expect. | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
The importance of succeeding, if it is possible? Absolutely, it should | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
be possible. But you see this is also an appeal to everybody inside | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
Syria and outside Syria to say - this is not the number of people | :05:56. | :06:04. | |
that are getting killed every day only. As bad as that is, it is much | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
more than that. What's going to happen to Syria next year if we | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
don't find some kind of solution - the beginning of a solution right | :06:14. | :06:21. | |
now? What is going to happen around Syria? Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, | :06:21. | :06:31. | |
:06:31. | :06:32. | ||
Iraq, and further afield. This is what we are doing. This is what | :06:32. | :06:39. | |
Kofi Annan said in his resignation statement. This is what we're | :06:39. | :06:45. | |
continuing to say every day. have come to New York, you have now | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
talked to or met every member of the Security Council. The divided | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
Security Council that Kofi Annan cited as the main reasons for his | :06:53. | :07:00. | |
failure. Did you see a glimmer of hope? Not yet. We are in touch with | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
them. We are continuing to talk to them. They have all expressed | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
welcome, support, thanks for accepting the difficult mission, | :07:07. | :07:13. | |
which is great. That individual support they have expressed will | :07:13. | :07:23. | |
have to translate into a collective support. But it is paralysed. Some | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
have even gone so far as to say that it is almost a new Cold War. | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
You have Russia and China backing President Assad. You have Western | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
and Arab states backing the opposition. Sure. Yeah. Do you see | :07:37. | :07:43. | |
it as a new Cold War? I don't know if it is a new Cold War, but it is | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
bad. It is a worry for us. There is no vitality that will remain like | :07:47. | :07:53. | |
that, next week, next month, after that. The General Assembly is | :07:53. | :07:58. | |
coming, everyone will be here. Everybody is talking, you know, I | :07:58. | :08:08. | |
have seen statements by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. A | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
lot of people have talked to me directly, the Russian Foreign | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
Minister, the Chinese Foreign Minister. Quite a few other people. | :08:16. | :08:24. | |
We will be trying to see how they can work together. Did any of them | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
say to you, "We are really sorry that Kofi Annan had to resign | :08:27. | :08:35. | |
because of us and we will try harder?" In those terms, no. No. | :08:35. | :08:45. | |
But it is there. Because Kofi Annan denounced finger-pointing. But he | :08:45. | :08:53. | |
pointed quite a few fingers himself. I think they are aware of that. | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
Nobody said it isn't true. You have already made it clear - a veiled | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
threat - you said, "If I don't have support, I don't have a job." | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
say that? Yes. Well, you know, this is literally true. It's not the | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
first time that I have told the Security Council, "You asked me to | :09:10. | :09:15. | |
do something and then you don't give me any support." The last time | :09:15. | :09:25. | |
:09:25. | :09:26. | ||
was in Afghanistan in 1999. There was no Cold War behaviour then. | :09:26. | :09:33. | |
do see it as Cold War behaviour? That is what you say. There was no | :09:33. | :09:40. | |
Cold War behaviour then, and yet there was no support for me. I | :09:40. | :09:46. | |
politely said, you know, in these conditions, there is no work for me. | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
When you call for fundamental and urgent change, what does that mean | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
for you? I think it is clear in every single | :09:55. | :10:05. | |
country, the people in the Arab world are asking for change. Some | :10:05. | :10:15. | |
:10:15. | :10:16. | ||
are asking for a regime change, some use other slogans. But the | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
need for change is real. In February last year, 2011, I said | :10:20. | :10:30. | |
:10:30. | :10:30. | ||
something like "Change is needed, change is unavoidable." Governments | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
can lead that change in their respective countries, but if they | :10:33. | :10:42. | |
don't, they will be its victim. I stand by that. By those statements. | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
Bashar al-Assad has had 18 months, almost. Is that enough time to show | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
whether he is willing to lead the change? A lot of Syrians have | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
decided that it shows he hasn't. You know, I still need to talk to a | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
lot more people to make up my mind about which direction things will | :10:58. | :11:08. | |
:11:08. | :11:13. | ||
go. I am a man of peace. A mediator. I am optimistic - I have to be | :11:13. | :11:19. | |
optimistic, even in the face of extreme difficulty. Again, I am not | :11:19. | :11:28. | |
going to pass judgement - or at least, not yet. You said that you | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
agree with almost everything Kofi Annan did or said. In his parting | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
advice he said, "It is clear President Bashar al-Assad must | :11:37. | :11:45. | |
leave office." Do you agree? Again, I'm not going to comment. I stand | :11:45. | :11:53. | |
by what I said about Kofi. He is a friend and I have been very close | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
to him throughout the time he has been working. That is what I meant | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
- don't take it literally that I approve of every single word he has | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
said. It has been noted that in your other difficult negotiations | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
you seem to have chosen the no victor, no vanquished approach, | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
which means kind of power-sharing. Do you see this in a situation like | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
Syria where President Assad is facing opposition but still retains | :12:18. | :12:24. | |
some support? Again, if you talk about my approach - my approach is | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
that in every situation there is a common ground. Even if the people | :12:30. | :12:40. | |
:12:40. | :12:41. | ||
involved in the conflict don't see it to begin with. What the mediator | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
tries to make them aware of that common ground and to investigate | :12:45. | :12:53. | |
how they can extend that ground. Who will, at the end of the process, | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
hold what share of power is, of course - will be the result of the | :12:58. | :13:05. | |
negotiations and the discussions, the debate. This is really for the | :13:05. | :13:12. | |
people of the country to decide. I think you are aware of my great | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
insistence on the fact that people from outside can help a process, | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
but the decisions, the ownership of the process has to be in the hands | :13:20. | :13:30. | |
:13:30. | :13:34. | ||
of the people. This is not just the manner of speaking with me. I | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
believe that 100%. You know, it will be the Syrian people, once | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
they realise, as I hope they will, that every conflict has to end up | :13:43. | :13:51. | |
in a negotiation. The earlier they realise that, the better. When they | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
do that, then it is up to them to decide who will hold what part of | :13:56. | :14:03. | |
the power. If I have understood you correctly - at this point you don't | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
want to say publicly whether you believe or not that President Assad | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
should step down, but you believe he should be part of a transition? | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
I'm not making any similar statements of who is where and so | :14:16. | :14:26. | |
:14:26. | :14:28. | ||
on. I will go back to my statement from February 2011. Change is | :14:28. | :14:30. | |
indispensable, change is unavoidable, it cannot be cosmetic | :14:30. | :14:40. | |
:14:40. | :14:42. | ||
and governments have to accept it otherwise they will have problems. | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
In effect, you are being very diplomatic, you are saying it in | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
other words. The definition of fundamental - and you yourself may | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
have been one of the first people to say there will be a revolution - | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
that means, by definition, there will have to be a new order, a new | :14:58. | :15:04. | |
leader. You know, there will be a new order. Who the people will be | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
in that new order, I don't know. If they can adapt and accept the new | :15:08. | :15:18. | |
:15:18. | :15:19. | ||
order, genuinely, you know, maybe the people will accept that. | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
don't know - that is not for me to say now. So does it worry you that | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
your reticence to make a statement has angered the opposition even | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
before you took the job? I met them and I told them - please, please | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
remember I am not working only for you. I am working for two | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
situations - I am a diplomat, I am a mediator, a negotiator. I don't | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
speak the same language as you. I met them, and I hope that that has | :15:43. | :15:53. | |
:15:53. | :16:05. | ||
In a conflict like this, a very brutal conflict - is it the | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
government's side that has to take the first step because they are in | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
power? This is what Kofi Annan ended up by saying. He said that | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
the government has the main responsibility. They have the big | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
guns, they have the army, I don't know how big the Syrian army is - | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
hundreds of thousands. Much more important than that - every | :16:28. | :16:35. | |
government is responsible for the security of its own people. So, you | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
know, I am sure they will not object if you ask them to have more | :16:40. | :16:50. | |
:16:50. | :16:51. | ||
responsibility than any other group in the country. This the view of | :16:51. | :16:59. | |
the government of Syria. Kofi Annan called them intransigent. Yes. Is | :16:59. | :17:07. | |
your first task a ceasefire? That would be great. Is it possible? | :17:07. | :17:17. | |
:17:17. | :17:30. | ||
Kofi Annan didn't succeed with that. All parties started by saying yes. | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
I hope that they are now more aware of all of the damage that a | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
continuation of fighting would inflict. I certainly will be | :17:37. | :17:47. | |
:17:47. | :17:50. | ||
discussing this with them. President Assad said he needs more | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
time, he talks about crushing the opposition. The opposition has | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
repeatedly said it will not talk to President Assad. There are so many | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
different groups. It is difficult to know who to talk to. It is not | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
uncommon in these situations. We will talk to all of those who are | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
ready to talk to us and are representative. They say they did | :18:09. | :18:19. | |
not want to talk to one another. If they did, they would not need me. I | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
hope that they will be talking to me. That will lead us to them | :18:23. | :18:30. | |
talking to one another. We need to take a different approach than Kofi | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
Annan did. His peace plan failed. The ceasefire never held. You have | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
changed the name of your job. You've asked for a different | :18:36. | :18:46. | |
:18:46. | :18:52. | ||
mandate. How do you want to do things differently? I don't know. | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
Kofi said in his press conference about the plan, he said those six | :18:56. | :19:04. | |
points, I'm not taking them with me, they will stay on the table. What I | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
am saying is that now we have a tool box in which we put all of the | :19:09. | :19:19. | |
:19:19. | :19:29. | ||
instruments. Why put tools in the box when that have not worked? Many | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
observers have said that the plan is dead. It has not succeeded. | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
is not true. Kofi Annan is gone. He says the plan stays behind. We'll | :19:38. | :19:46. | |
not use it in exactly same manner as it was used. Kofi found that it | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
was not right. It is good to have it. We will see what we can make of | :19:51. | :20:01. | |
:20:01. | :20:10. | ||
it. You have said it is urgent. Every day more people are dying. In | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
your experience as a negotiator, do you not have a plan? You have been | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
meeting opposition leaders for more than one year in Paris. You have | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
been talking to Kofi Annan through the six months. You must have | :20:21. | :20:27. | |
formed some ideas. I have a few ideas but I do not have a plan. | :20:27. | :20:36. | |
do not want to pretend that I have things that do not exist. Talking | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
to a few people when you're just an observer, it is not at all the same | :20:40. | :20:46. | |
thing as talking to people when you have such a responsibility. The | :20:46. | :20:53. | |
argument that people are dying is absolutely true. Yes. People are | :20:53. | :21:02. | |
dying. Some people even say you were responsible for the deaths | :21:02. | :21:12. | |
:21:12. | :21:19. | ||
because you have not managed from day one. I wish it were possible by | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
announcing to stop the fighting... It does not work that way. Syria is | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
a civil war. You have already called it that, a sectarian war, a | :21:26. | :21:35. | |
proxy war, a new Cold War. It is an awful lot for one person to fix. | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
is extremely difficult to fix. A situation like this is not static. | :21:39. | :21:49. | |
:21:49. | :21:55. | ||
It is never static. If it does not improve it gets worse. Everyone | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
says they want... All the regional players want peace. They are all | :21:59. | :22:09. | |
:22:09. | :22:09. | ||
involved in perpetuating the war. The government in Damascus says the | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
rebels have been armed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. They will | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
not lay down their arms until those channels are closed. The opposition | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
says that Russia and Iran are arming President Assad. That seems | :22:20. | :22:30. | |
:22:30. | :22:47. | ||
to be the trend. No situation is static. The trend is for greater | :22:47. | :22:57. | |
:22:57. | :22:59. | ||
militarisation. The UN would call on all of those who were arming | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
parties to stop doing so. As mediators you can only repeat this. | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
People are angry with Kofi Annan. The government say it is our right, | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
we have the monopoly on the use of force. The opposition says they are | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
being massacred. How can we tell them to accept the slaughter. I | :23:13. | :23:23. | |
:23:23. | :23:26. | ||
understand that position. When they accept a political solution it is | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
much better than this fight... It is an existential battle. Kill or | :23:29. | :23:39. | |
:23:39. | :23:40. | ||
be killed is the driving force. It is not true. It is not about | :23:40. | :23:50. | |
:23:50. | :23:59. | ||
killing. I have been going on for Syria for 50 years. More. | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
incredible existence. What people call a mosaic of communities was | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
incredibly harmonious. People have multiple identities. They took | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
their Syrian identity first. I refuse to believe that they are | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
going to forget that. I refuse to believe that they would go back to | :24:13. | :24:23. | |
:24:23. | :24:37. | ||
narrow identities. As you start this, whether it is mission | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
impossible, or your toughest assignment yet, let us finish with, | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
there must have been something that you saw that you could do to turn | :24:44. | :24:53. | |
this around. What is it that made you decide to take on the job? | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
made me decide to take on the job is, perhaps a little bit of vanity. | :24:57. | :25:06. | |
Perhaps an excessive sense of duty. I knew perfectly well that the | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
United Nations cannot stay away from a problem like this. If they | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
asked me to help, who am I to say no? That is what has led me here. | :25:14. | :25:21. | |
Once again, I know how difficult it is. I know how nearly impossible it | :25:21. | :25:31. | |
:25:31. | :25:33. | ||
is. I am not here to try and win another battle for myself. That is | :25:33. | :25:43. | |
:25:43. | :25:50. | ||
totally unimportant. What is important is the victory that the | :25:50. | :26:00. | |
:26:00. | :26:01. | ||
Syrian people need to win. If I can help a little bit and I think it is | :26:01. | :26:11. | |
:26:11. | :26:14. | ||
worth the risks. Thank you. Thank worth the risks. Thank you. Thank | :26:14. | :26:24. | |
:26:24. | :26:28. | ||
you very much. September arrives, you get a | :26:28. | :26:36. | |
glorious day like she did on Monday. 25 degrees in Aberdeen. It was not | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
all plain sailing. This deep area of low pressure strengthened the | :26:41. | :26:49. | |
winds in northern Scotland. This is what it looks like to begin the day | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
today. Cloudy and damp weather. Sunshine in the south-east. | :26:54. | :27:04. | |
:27:04. | :27:08. | ||
Northern Scotland, strong winds, 60mph. Possibly stronger than that | :27:08. | :27:18. | |
:27:18. | :27:20. | ||
in the Northern Isles. Behind it, sunshine but it will feel fresher. | :27:20. | :27:28. | |
At 4pm, north and west of Wales, sunnier skies. Northern Ireland, | :27:28. | :27:35. | |
cloud and sunshine. 18 degrees in Belfast. Pleasant in the sunshine. | :27:35. | :27:43. | |
Gusty winds continue in Scotland. The effect on the temperature is | :27:43. | :27:50. | |
around 17 degrees in Aberdeen. Sunshine in northern England. | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
Further south, we come into an area of cloud. Very warm in the far | :27:55. | :28:01. | |
south-east. South-west England increasing cloud in the afternoon. | :28:01. | :28:07. | |
A lot of drizzly and damp weather. As we move on through Tuesday night, | :28:07. | :28:15. | |
that clears the way. A cool night to begin Wednesday morning. | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
Wednesday delivers the best of the sunshine from the Midlands the | :28:20. | :28:28. | |
south. For the rest of the week, across the bulk of the UK, the best | :28:28. | :28:37. |