:00:00. > :00:16.At a malice Baxter. -- I am Alice Baxter.
:00:17. > :00:20.World powers meeting in New York have agreed a draft resolution
:00:21. > :00:29.A spokesperson for President Assad says the West must change its
:00:30. > :00:33.attitude. I think there is a certain reality created in the heads of the
:00:34. > :00:38.Western media and western people that has no region with our reality
:00:39. > :00:43.whatsoever. It is totally divorced. We will have action on that for you,
:00:44. > :00:51.but there is a warning the country may collapse unless President Assad
:00:52. > :00:55.is sidelined, from the opposition. We are very close to becoming a
:00:56. > :01:01.failed state. In rewind the people vote on changes to the Constitution
:01:02. > :01:10.which could mean president Paul Kagame could remain in power until
:01:11. > :01:16.2034 -- in Rwanda. And we learn how six tonne elephants are being used
:01:17. > :01:24.to scare animals away from people's homes.
:01:25. > :01:30.World powers meeting in New York have agreed on a draft resolution
:01:31. > :01:36.It gives UN approval to efforts to reach a ceasefire and launch
:01:37. > :01:44.They're expected to vote on it shortly.
:01:45. > :01:47.the government and the opposition as early as January.
:01:48. > :01:50.It's supported by countries backing both the Syrian government
:01:51. > :02:11.Our chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet who has
:02:12. > :02:17.just returned from Damascus joins me now in the studio. How do you think
:02:18. > :02:25.this news will go down in Syria? I think every Syrian wants to end this
:02:26. > :02:26.war. This is to warn the country, in that humanitarian appeal, nearly 14
:02:27. > :02:37.million people, half the of Syria, they now need humanitarian
:02:38. > :02:40.assistance. Before the war, the comparison, a huge descent into
:02:41. > :02:45.darkness for this country. Before this bought, almost every UN envoy
:02:46. > :02:50.quit blaming gridlock for their failure to make progress. The fact
:02:51. > :02:53.that both enemies and allies of President Assad today, because he
:02:54. > :02:57.remains the main issue, have been able to sit down and come up with
:02:58. > :03:02.this and presented to the Council resolution is a big step forward but
:03:03. > :03:05.it is not enough because the gaps between the Syrian side remains
:03:06. > :03:12.wide. On that, how important do you think it was that Iran was around
:03:13. > :03:16.the table in these discussions? You cannot solve an issue if one of the
:03:17. > :03:16.biggest players on the issue is not in the
:03:17. > :03:26.important Russia and Iran where they are, the two main allies of
:03:27. > :03:28.President Assad. It gives a fighting chance for the process to move
:03:29. > :03:31.forward but there are still significant differences and you can
:03:32. > :03:34.hear the reports coming out throughout the day from New York
:03:35. > :03:40.about the main gaps between the parties. For example, about which
:03:41. > :03:44.opposition groups are acceptable to sit at the table and which, the
:03:45. > :03:47.question Russia has been pushing, our terrorist groups linked to
:03:48. > :03:53.Al-Qaeda who should not be sitting at the table discussing the future
:03:54. > :03:57.of Syria. And as we wait for the UN security council to vote on this
:03:58. > :04:02.draft resolution we are expecting the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to
:04:03. > :04:06.speak shortly. As I said earlier, you had just returned from Damascus
:04:07. > :04:11.where you were speaking to a number of people involved in this process.
:04:12. > :04:16.What will be saying to you? On the trip I was quite taken by how
:04:17. > :04:22.confident they seem in Damascus. They have always been very
:04:23. > :04:26.belligerent in terms of saying that they are waiting for discussions.
:04:27. > :04:30.Resident Assad must not go, but that has been bolstered by the military
:04:31. > :04:34.intervention of Russia into the ward -- president. It has been playing a
:04:35. > :04:44.big role on the front lines against opposition forces, and I was able to
:04:45. > :04:50.ask Assad's adviser, Bouthaina Shabaan, whether they were able to
:04:51. > :04:54.go for talks. I am cautious, you know, about what is happening. We
:04:55. > :05:00.have seen good moments and then they came to no results. I think it all
:05:01. > :05:04.depends on the people who are supporting the armed groups in
:05:05. > :05:07.Syria, whether they want to stop supporting these armed groups and
:05:08. > :05:14.moved to a political solution. For us, we are ready. In the last round
:05:15. > :05:19.of talks they said the Syrian envoy was not really ready to talk
:05:20. > :05:23.politics. Has the view of the Syrian government changed? We are talking
:05:24. > :05:32.politics all the time, the only thing we are talking about! Nothing
:05:33. > :05:34.else, just politics. Is discussing President Assad's future... That is
:05:35. > :05:37.not politics. That is interference in the Syrian government and the
:05:38. > :05:41.Syrian people. I do not know where the logic came from that any country
:05:42. > :05:45.can speak about the right of a president in another country to stay
:05:46. > :05:53.off go. This is illogical. The logical thing is to have a dialogue
:05:54. > :05:57.between opposition and the government to speak about
:05:58. > :06:03.institutions, the political steps, to speak about unity government, a
:06:04. > :06:07.national unity government. These are the logical steps. I do not get the
:06:08. > :06:12.impression in Damascus that senior officials like you and others have a
:06:13. > :06:16.sense that significant political change lies ahead? You need partners
:06:17. > :06:21.to move to a political process. We have to start at the beginning. The
:06:22. > :06:25.beginning is to find the partners who want to speak to the Syrian
:06:26. > :06:29.government. Where is the list of the opposition that wants to dialogue
:06:30. > :06:34.with us? We are ready. The Syrian government has been positive all the
:06:35. > :06:39.way through about a political dialogue and political solution, but
:06:40. > :06:42.unfortunately Western media and the West is having an attitude against
:06:43. > :06:47.the Syrian government and supporting people who are carrying arms,
:06:48. > :06:52.committing crimes and who will breach the gates, doing the same
:06:53. > :06:57.thing as they have been doing in our country. -- they will breach the
:06:58. > :07:05.gates of Europe. Does it worry you when senior Russian and Iranians
:07:06. > :07:09.figures say they are not wedded to President Assad. We don't want them
:07:10. > :07:15.to be focused only on President Assad. It is the Syrian people's
:07:16. > :07:20.business to elect or not re-elect Assad but it is no one else's
:07:21. > :07:23.business. We wish people would not focus on President Assad. But it
:07:24. > :07:30.will make you nervous to think of the pressure on your... No, because
:07:31. > :07:37.the president himself, he has said many times I would go by what my
:07:38. > :07:43.people want, so it does not make us nervous or worry us at all. I think
:07:44. > :07:47.there is a certain reality that is created in the heads of Western
:07:48. > :07:51.media and western people that has no relation to our reality whatsoever.
:07:52. > :07:55.It is totally divorced from our reality and I just hope they will
:07:56. > :08:01.start to act knowledge of reality as it is an act accordingly. That is
:08:02. > :08:06.reallocate as seen from Damascus. Confident and defiant about -- that
:08:07. > :08:13.is reality as it is seen from Damascus. These outside powers in
:08:14. > :08:17.New York, of them are not even up for discussion. What we have seen on
:08:18. > :08:22.the opposition side, they insist it is the biggest gap, that Assad
:08:23. > :08:26.should go. They say the process can start with him and that is primarily
:08:27. > :08:30.because they do not want to see a collapse in Damascus of the kind we
:08:31. > :08:35.have seen in Iraq and Libya and that is one thing uniting everyone in
:08:36. > :08:41.this process now. I went and sat down with a man who is more and more
:08:42. > :08:44.a permanent member of the delegation and has been attending peace talks
:08:45. > :08:49.since the uprising began five years ago. He is a prominent London-based
:08:50. > :08:53.businessman, Ayman Asfari. He was at the last big gathering and I asked
:08:54. > :09:03.him whether the opposition would be willing to go to the table without a
:09:04. > :09:07.definite date for Assad's departure. It is dying.
:09:08. > :09:10.I think the opposition will find it extremely difficult to go
:09:11. > :09:24.You cannot take a patient into an ICU and have him next one of the
:09:25. > :09:29.others because he would kill him. Can you start working out without is
:09:30. > :09:33.certainty about his role, a date for him leaving? I think the opposition
:09:34. > :09:38.would find it extremely difficult to go into any transition if there is
:09:39. > :09:43.no clarity the transition be real. And there will be no real transition
:09:44. > :09:48.if people do not see that 45 years of the Assad regime is going to be
:09:49. > :09:52.over. People now access the institutions of the state have to be
:09:53. > :09:56.retained. Nobody wants another Iraq or another Libya but they want to
:09:57. > :09:59.see the institutions of the regime under some new leadership. Some
:10:00. > :10:04.people from the regime itself will be committed to a gradual process to
:10:05. > :10:06.meet the aspirations of the Syrian people and unless this is done and
:10:07. > :10:12.they see there is a credible transition things will not come to
:10:13. > :10:15.an end. They will not come to an end without a coherent opposition
:10:16. > :10:20.delegation but, as you know, because you were at the conference, there
:10:21. > :10:25.were still big differences from the very moderate to the very extreme at
:10:26. > :10:29.that meeting. Yes, but I think the important thing is there is a
:10:30. > :10:33.unifying document. For me it does not matter who goes to these
:10:34. > :10:38.discussions... But it does in the sense of who speaks for Syria. Some
:10:39. > :10:43.of the Islamist groups who attended... Or is it more moderate,
:10:44. > :10:52.secular groups like yourself... The basis of the negotiation is the
:10:53. > :10:57.declaration made in Riyadh. Nobody spoke about and Islamic State. They
:10:58. > :11:00.all spoke about a civil date, democracy in the country, pluralism,
:11:01. > :11:05.nonsectarian -ism. Everybody signed up to these and if they negotiate
:11:06. > :11:08.outside of those parameters it will be a problem, but those were the
:11:09. > :11:12.parameters of the Riyadh conference which is the basis for any future
:11:13. > :11:17.negotiation. What do you say to President Assad and his ally Russia
:11:18. > :11:21.when they say they cannot hock to terrorists, Al-Qaeda linked groups
:11:22. > :11:27.that should not be part of the future of Syria? -- cannot speak.
:11:28. > :11:33.Don't you consider bombing for five years terrorism? Don't you consider
:11:34. > :11:37.killing dated knees, the way they are tortured, terrorism? --
:11:38. > :11:41.detainees. I can tell you 95% of the Syrian civilians who died died at
:11:42. > :11:47.the hands of the Syrian regime. There has been more state terrorism
:11:48. > :11:52.in Syria on the hands of Assad than all of Isil combined obviously Isil
:11:53. > :11:55.are terrorists and they need to be defeated, but people are ignoring
:11:56. > :12:00.this state terrorism that is killing its own people and it has been going
:12:01. > :12:03.on for five years. I think the terrorism on both sides of the
:12:04. > :12:09.equation should not be part of any future transition. That was Ayman
:12:10. > :12:13.Asfari. And that is the other issue they have been grappling with. Which
:12:14. > :12:17.opposition groups can sit at the table? They do not seem to have come
:12:18. > :12:21.to an agreement on that. Jordan was tasked with that part of the Google
:12:22. > :12:25.gestures and they do not have seemed to have come to an agreed list.
:12:26. > :12:31.Really difficult. Let's take our viewers live to the UN security
:12:32. > :12:39.council meeting in the dark. They are due to vote in this draft -- on
:12:40. > :12:46.this draft resolution. # Meeting in New York. The president
:12:47. > :12:48.of the security council, distinguished ministers of
:12:49. > :12:53.excellency and ladies and gentlemen, the Syrian conflict began with
:12:54. > :12:59.peaceful popular demands for political change but soon became
:13:00. > :13:04.defined by into regional and international divisions including in
:13:05. > :13:09.this very council. Almost five years later, we see a country in ruins,
:13:10. > :13:16.billions of people scattered across the world and the radicalism and
:13:17. > :13:27.sick hearing is that challenges regional and global security.
:13:28. > :13:34.I recognise the statesmanship of the US Secretary of State John Kerry and
:13:35. > :13:43.the Russian Foreign Minister. I also welcomed the resolution the Security
:13:44. > :13:47.Council will adopt at this meeting. As the first resolution to focus on
:13:48. > :13:55.the political path to resolving the crisis, this marks a very important
:13:56. > :13:59.step on which we must build. I would like to take this opportunity to
:14:00. > :14:02.thank all of the distinguished ministers who have taken such great
:14:03. > :14:14.leadership impetus to beating in this meeting. At the two recent
:14:15. > :14:19.meetings in Vienna, the ISSG made two major requests of the United
:14:20. > :14:22.Nations, firstly to convene in January formal negotiations between
:14:23. > :14:28.the Syrian government and opposition representatives focused on the
:14:29. > :14:35.Syrian transition process. Second, and imperative to determine the
:14:36. > :14:39.requirements of a nationwide ceasefire. The United Nations stands
:14:40. > :14:43.ready to undertake these important tasks. We welcome the meeting
:14:44. > :14:51.convened in Riyadh that brought together a broad spectrum of the
:14:52. > :14:54.Syrian opposition. As a government -- the government and opposition
:14:55. > :15:03.delegations are getting ready, they are getting ready to launch talks
:15:04. > :15:04.mediated by my envoy as set out in the Geneva communique. The parties
:15:05. > :15:12.must ensure the full and dissipation of women in these
:15:13. > :15:18.discussions. This morning at the meeting I urged the ISSG to apply
:15:19. > :15:21.the necessary pressure on the Syrian parties to immediately
:15:22. > :15:28.following confidence building measures. Firstly, to stop the use
:15:29. > :15:41.of which have continued despite the
:15:42. > :15:49.government, the to stop this. Secondly, on aid
:15:50. > :15:55.convoys. Tens of thousands of people in besieged areas have been forced
:15:56. > :16:02.to leave. This is outrageous. Thirdly, it packs on educational and
:16:03. > :16:07.medical facilities must be halted and all restrictions must be lifted
:16:08. > :16:15.for medical and surgical supplies from humanitarian convoys. Fourth,
:16:16. > :16:22.release all bikinis. Reports indicate prisoners faced torture and
:16:23. > :16:27.terrible conditions -- release all detainees. The people of Syria have
:16:28. > :16:37.suffered enough. I call for you to show vision and leadership in
:16:38. > :16:40.overcoming your differences. The opportunity for peace has emerged
:16:41. > :16:46.and your duty is to seize it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Secretary
:16:47. > :16:52.General, and in thanking you for your leadership
:16:53. > :16:55.and all the help the United Nations has given. The council is now ready
:16:56. > :17:06.to proceed resolution before it. Members of the
:17:07. > :17:11.council have before them a document and the text of a draft resolution
:17:12. > :17:13.is admitted by the native states of America. I will put this draft
:17:14. > :17:27.resolution to a in favour of the draft resolution
:17:28. > :17:41.taken -- contained in the document please raise their hands? The result
:17:42. > :17:44.of the voting is clear. The draft resolution has received 15 votes in
:17:45. > :17:54.favour and therefore at the draft resolution has been adopted
:17:55. > :17:59.unanimously as resolution 2254 of 2015. I will now make a statement in
:18:00. > :18:02.my capacity as Secretary of State of the United States. Mr Secretary
:18:03. > :18:10.General, special envoy, distinguished colleagues, I want to
:18:11. > :18:14.begin by thanking the other members who joined together to help fashion
:18:15. > :18:18.this resolution and who spent time this morning working with our
:18:19. > :18:30.colleagues in order to bring us here this afternoon. Plus our non-P4
:18:31. > :18:33.member, Germany, for whom we are grateful for their participation
:18:34. > :18:36.also. I want to thank all the member is of the Council for coming
:18:37. > :18:42.together at this late hour and I thank you in particular, Secretary
:18:43. > :18:48.General and special envoy, for your leadership and effort. I also want
:18:49. > :18:53.to thank the Foreign Minister of Russia for his collaboration and
:18:54. > :18:58.efforts over the course of both the Vienna conference is to produce the
:18:59. > :19:03.two Vienna communiques which are integrated into this resolution here
:19:04. > :19:10.today. By approving resolution 2254 today this council is sending a
:19:11. > :19:18.clear message to all concerned that the time is now to stop the killing
:19:19. > :19:24.in Syria and lay the groundwork for a government for the long-suffering
:19:25. > :19:27.people of that battered line, that they can support. After four and a
:19:28. > :19:31.half years of war this is the first and we have been able to come
:19:32. > :19:38.together at the native nations in the Security Council to embrace a
:19:39. > :19:44.road forward. -- the United Nations. One civilian in 20 has been killed
:19:45. > :19:48.or wounded and one in five is a refugee, and one in two has been
:19:49. > :19:53.displaced, of the Syrian people. Average life expectancy in Syria has
:19:54. > :19:58.dropped by 20 years. We need to reverse this course and that is our
:19:59. > :20:02.goal this afternoon, to put an end to the indiscriminate bombing, the
:20:03. > :20:07.acts of terror, the torture and the bloodshed. Our shared task is to
:20:08. > :20:13.find a way to make that happen. In support of this objective, President
:20:14. > :20:17.Obama has set for my country three interrelated Gauls, firstly to
:20:18. > :20:22.support our friends and ensure the instability created by the civil war
:20:23. > :20:26.in Syria does not spread further beyond its borders -- interrelated
:20:27. > :20:29.goals. That is why we are providing a record amount of Hugh Manichaean
:20:30. > :20:38.assistance and is why we are doing more to help Syria's neighbours to
:20:39. > :20:42.safeguard their territory -- humanitarian assistance. We are also
:20:43. > :20:48.determined with our coalition partners to degrade and defeat the
:20:49. > :20:57.terrorist organisation known as Daesh. In the past year the
:20:58. > :21:03.coalition and its partners worked to liberate Tikrit, free Sinjar, cut of
:21:04. > :21:09.terrorist supply lines and their oral capacity. Depriving them of
:21:10. > :21:14.territory they once controlled -- oil capacity. Now we are redoubling
:21:15. > :21:17.the pressure to help our partners take Ron Maddy, squeeze into more
:21:18. > :21:25.Zol and we are pushing ahead into northern Syria -- Ramadi. And also
:21:26. > :21:32.on recruiting and propaganda efforts. Following the meeting held
:21:33. > :21:39.here yesterday we are multiplying our efforts to cut Daesh of from the
:21:40. > :21:43.revenue sources that support its depravity, its criminality --
:21:44. > :21:47.off-mac. The truth is nothing would do more to bolster the fight against
:21:48. > :21:52.the terrorists than a broadly supported diplomatic process that
:21:53. > :21:59.gives the Syrian people in real choice, not a choice between Assad
:22:00. > :22:03.or Daesh, but between war and peace, between the violent extremes and the
:22:04. > :22:07.newly empowered political centre. That is why we have joined with so
:22:08. > :22:16.many of you in support of an urgent diplomatic initiative. Again and
:22:17. > :22:19.again, countries, not just around us today but in countless meetings in
:22:20. > :22:24.various parts of the world, have reaffirmed the notion that there has
:22:25. > :22:30.to be a political settlement. Well, this is the test. This is why we
:22:31. > :22:35.have joined here in a broader more action orientated effort than ever
:22:36. > :22:41.before attempted regarding Syria, to isolate the terrorists and put Syria
:22:42. > :22:45.on the road to a political transition in vision and by the
:22:46. > :22:49.Geneva communique and now embraced by the international community and
:22:50. > :22:56.the UN Security Council resolution. As the council's action today
:22:57. > :23:00.reflects, we have made important progress in recent weeks. Progress
:23:01. > :23:07.that should get us all fresh grounds for encouragement. Last month in
:23:08. > :23:12.Vienna it was agreed, they agreed on a series of steps to stop the
:23:13. > :23:16.bleeding in Syria, to advance a political transition, to isolate the
:23:17. > :23:28.terrorists and to help the Syrian people begin to rebuild their
:23:29. > :23:31.country. Last week in Riyadh a broad coalition came together to form a
:23:32. > :23:36.committee for renegotiation. Under the resolution approved today the
:23:37. > :23:39.purpose of those, between the responsible opposition and the
:23:40. > :23:45.Government is to facilitate it transition within Syria to a
:23:46. > :23:49.credible inclusive nonsectarian government within six months. The
:23:50. > :23:53.process would lead to the drafting of a new constitution and
:23:54. > :23:58.arrangements for internationally supervised election within 18
:23:59. > :24:04.months. I might add. Geneva never had those dates. It is the Vienna
:24:05. > :24:10.process and communicate that has produced a six-month and 18 month
:24:11. > :24:14.timeline and it is that process that has also embraced the ceasefire
:24:15. > :24:22.concept as well as embracing a set of principles and values about the
:24:23. > :24:26.shape that a new Syria might be able to take, as directed by Syrian
:24:27. > :24:31.you have just been listening to the US Secretary of State there are
:24:32. > :24:35.speaking after the council unanimously agreed a resolution
:24:36. > :24:41.endorsing an international road map for a peace process in Syria. A
:24:42. > :24:44.conflict that has of course claimed more than a quarter of a million
:24:45. > :24:51.lives and has dragged on for more than five years. Lyse Doucet it is
:24:52. > :24:55.still with me in the studio. John Kerry said it is time to stop the
:24:56. > :25:00.killing and bleeding in Syria. What are the next steps here. This is
:25:01. > :25:06.extraordinary in many ways. It marked the end of what might have
:25:07. > :25:09.been more than four years of deadlock in the UN security council,
:25:10. > :25:13.with the world powers completely and bitterly divided about how to move
:25:14. > :25:18.forward in Syria. Now they have this document. They have a resolution,
:25:19. > :25:23.unanimously agreed, and you have just heard John Kerry see, now is
:25:24. > :25:27.the time to stop the killing. Just listen to what he said -- you have
:25:28. > :25:34.heard him say. Many people will doubt whether this is possible.
:25:35. > :25:37.Inclusive nonsectarian Government within six months, huge order but at
:25:38. > :25:42.least they are saying they will try it. Wonderful to hear your thoughts,
:25:43. > :25:46.our chief international correspondent there. This historic
:25:47. > :25:49.moment, the UN security council unanimously agreeing on this
:25:50. > :25:53.resolution for a peace process in Syria. You have been watching World
:25:54. > :25:57.News Today. Thank you for being with us.