Browse content similar to 18/12/2015. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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At a malice Baxter. -- I am Alice Baxter. | :00:00. | :00:16. | |
World powers meeting in New York have agreed a draft resolution | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
A spokesperson for President Assad says the West must change its | :00:21. | :00:29. | |
attitude. I think there is a certain reality created in the heads of the | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
Western media and western people that has no region with our reality | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
whatsoever. It is totally divorced. We will have action on that for you, | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
but there is a warning the country may collapse unless President Assad | :00:44. | :00:51. | |
is sidelined, from the opposition. We are very close to becoming a | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
failed state. In rewind the people vote on changes to the Constitution | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
which could mean president Paul Kagame could remain in power until | :01:02. | :01:10. | |
2034 -- in Rwanda. And we learn how six tonne elephants are being used | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
to scare animals away from people's homes. | :01:17. | :01:24. | |
World powers meeting in New York have agreed on a draft resolution | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
It gives UN approval to efforts to reach a ceasefire and launch | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
They're expected to vote on it shortly. | :01:37. | :01:44. | |
the government and the opposition as early as January. | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
It's supported by countries backing both the Syrian government | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
Our chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet who has | :01:51. | :02:11. | |
just returned from Damascus joins me now in the studio. How do you think | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
this news will go down in Syria? I think every Syrian wants to end this | :02:18. | :02:25. | |
war. This is to warn the country, in that humanitarian appeal, nearly 14 | :02:26. | :02:26. | |
million people, half the of Syria, they now need humanitarian | :02:27. | :02:37. | |
assistance. Before the war, the comparison, a huge descent into | :02:38. | :02:40. | |
darkness for this country. Before this bought, almost every UN envoy | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
quit blaming gridlock for their failure to make progress. The fact | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
that both enemies and allies of President Assad today, because he | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
remains the main issue, have been able to sit down and come up with | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
this and presented to the Council resolution is a big step forward but | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
it is not enough because the gaps between the Syrian side remains | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
wide. On that, how important do you think it was that Iran was around | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
the table in these discussions? You cannot solve an issue if one of the | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
biggest players on the issue is not in the | :03:17. | :03:16. | |
important Russia and Iran where they are, the two main allies of | :03:17. | :03:26. | |
President Assad. It gives a fighting chance for the process to move | :03:27. | :03:28. | |
forward but there are still significant differences and you can | :03:29. | :03:31. | |
hear the reports coming out throughout the day from New York | :03:32. | :03:34. | |
about the main gaps between the parties. For example, about which | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
opposition groups are acceptable to sit at the table and which, the | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
question Russia has been pushing, our terrorist groups linked to | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
Al-Qaeda who should not be sitting at the table discussing the future | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
of Syria. And as we wait for the UN security council to vote on this | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
draft resolution we are expecting the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
speak shortly. As I said earlier, you had just returned from Damascus | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
where you were speaking to a number of people involved in this process. | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
What will be saying to you? On the trip I was quite taken by how | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
confident they seem in Damascus. They have always been very | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
belligerent in terms of saying that they are waiting for discussions. | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
Resident Assad must not go, but that has been bolstered by the military | :04:27. | :04:30. | |
intervention of Russia into the ward -- president. It has been playing a | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
big role on the front lines against opposition forces, and I was able to | :04:35. | :04:44. | |
ask Assad's adviser, Bouthaina Shabaan, whether they were able to | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
go for talks. I am cautious, you know, about what is happening. We | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
have seen good moments and then they came to no results. I think it all | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
depends on the people who are supporting the armed groups in | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
Syria, whether they want to stop supporting these armed groups and | :05:05. | :05:07. | |
moved to a political solution. For us, we are ready. In the last round | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
of talks they said the Syrian envoy was not really ready to talk | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
politics. Has the view of the Syrian government changed? We are talking | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
politics all the time, the only thing we are talking about! Nothing | :05:24. | :05:32. | |
else, just politics. Is discussing President Assad's future... That is | :05:33. | :05:34. | |
not politics. That is interference in the Syrian government and the | :05:35. | :05:37. | |
Syrian people. I do not know where the logic came from that any country | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
can speak about the right of a president in another country to stay | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
off go. This is illogical. The logical thing is to have a dialogue | :05:46. | :05:53. | |
between opposition and the government to speak about | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
institutions, the political steps, to speak about unity government, a | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
national unity government. These are the logical steps. I do not get the | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
impression in Damascus that senior officials like you and others have a | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
sense that significant political change lies ahead? You need partners | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
to move to a political process. We have to start at the beginning. The | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
beginning is to find the partners who want to speak to the Syrian | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
government. Where is the list of the opposition that wants to dialogue | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
with us? We are ready. The Syrian government has been positive all the | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
way through about a political dialogue and political solution, but | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
unfortunately Western media and the West is having an attitude against | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
the Syrian government and supporting people who are carrying arms, | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
committing crimes and who will breach the gates, doing the same | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
thing as they have been doing in our country. -- they will breach the | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
gates of Europe. Does it worry you when senior Russian and Iranians | :06:58. | :07:05. | |
figures say they are not wedded to President Assad. We don't want them | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
to be focused only on President Assad. It is the Syrian people's | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
business to elect or not re-elect Assad but it is no one else's | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
business. We wish people would not focus on President Assad. But it | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
will make you nervous to think of the pressure on your... No, because | :07:24. | :07:30. | |
the president himself, he has said many times I would go by what my | :07:31. | :07:37. | |
people want, so it does not make us nervous or worry us at all. I think | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
there is a certain reality that is created in the heads of Western | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
media and western people that has no relation to our reality whatsoever. | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
It is totally divorced from our reality and I just hope they will | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
start to act knowledge of reality as it is an act accordingly. That is | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
reallocate as seen from Damascus. Confident and defiant about -- that | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
is reality as it is seen from Damascus. These outside powers in | :08:07. | :08:13. | |
New York, of them are not even up for discussion. What we have seen on | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
the opposition side, they insist it is the biggest gap, that Assad | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
should go. They say the process can start with him and that is primarily | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
because they do not want to see a collapse in Damascus of the kind we | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
have seen in Iraq and Libya and that is one thing uniting everyone in | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
this process now. I went and sat down with a man who is more and more | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
a permanent member of the delegation and has been attending peace talks | :08:42. | :08:44. | |
since the uprising began five years ago. He is a prominent London-based | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
businessman, Ayman Asfari. He was at the last big gathering and I asked | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
him whether the opposition would be willing to go to the table without a | :08:54. | :09:03. | |
definite date for Assad's departure. It is dying. | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
I think the opposition will find it extremely difficult to go | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
You cannot take a patient into an ICU and have him next one of the | :09:11. | :09:24. | |
others because he would kill him. Can you start working out without is | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
certainty about his role, a date for him leaving? I think the opposition | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
would find it extremely difficult to go into any transition if there is | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
no clarity the transition be real. And there will be no real transition | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
if people do not see that 45 years of the Assad regime is going to be | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
over. People now access the institutions of the state have to be | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
retained. Nobody wants another Iraq or another Libya but they want to | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
see the institutions of the regime under some new leadership. Some | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
people from the regime itself will be committed to a gradual process to | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
meet the aspirations of the Syrian people and unless this is done and | :10:05. | :10:06. | |
they see there is a credible transition things will not come to | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
an end. They will not come to an end without a coherent opposition | :10:13. | :10:15. | |
delegation but, as you know, because you were at the conference, there | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
were still big differences from the very moderate to the very extreme at | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
that meeting. Yes, but I think the important thing is there is a | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
unifying document. For me it does not matter who goes to these | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
discussions... But it does in the sense of who speaks for Syria. Some | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
of the Islamist groups who attended... Or is it more moderate, | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
secular groups like yourself... The basis of the negotiation is the | :10:44. | :10:52. | |
declaration made in Riyadh. Nobody spoke about and Islamic State. They | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
all spoke about a civil date, democracy in the country, pluralism, | :10:58. | :11:00. | |
nonsectarian -ism. Everybody signed up to these and if they negotiate | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
outside of those parameters it will be a problem, but those were the | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
parameters of the Riyadh conference which is the basis for any future | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
negotiation. What do you say to President Assad and his ally Russia | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
when they say they cannot hock to terrorists, Al-Qaeda linked groups | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
that should not be part of the future of Syria? -- cannot speak. | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
Don't you consider bombing for five years terrorism? Don't you consider | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
killing dated knees, the way they are tortured, terrorism? -- | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
detainees. I can tell you 95% of the Syrian civilians who died died at | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
the hands of the Syrian regime. There has been more state terrorism | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
in Syria on the hands of Assad than all of Isil combined obviously Isil | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
are terrorists and they need to be defeated, but people are ignoring | :11:53. | :11:55. | |
this state terrorism that is killing its own people and it has been going | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
on for five years. I think the terrorism on both sides of the | :12:01. | :12:03. | |
equation should not be part of any future transition. That was Ayman | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
Asfari. And that is the other issue they have been grappling with. Which | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
opposition groups can sit at the table? They do not seem to have come | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
to an agreement on that. Jordan was tasked with that part of the Google | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
gestures and they do not have seemed to have come to an agreed list. | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
Really difficult. Let's take our viewers live to the UN security | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
council meeting in the dark. They are due to vote in this draft -- on | :12:32. | :12:39. | |
this draft resolution. # Meeting in New York. The president | :12:40. | :12:46. | |
of the security council, distinguished ministers of | :12:47. | :12:48. | |
excellency and ladies and gentlemen, the Syrian conflict began with | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
peaceful popular demands for political change but soon became | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
defined by into regional and international divisions including in | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
this very council. Almost five years later, we see a country in ruins, | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
billions of people scattered across the world and the radicalism and | :13:10. | :13:16. | |
sick hearing is that challenges regional and global security. | :13:17. | :13:27. | |
I recognise the statesmanship of the US Secretary of State John Kerry and | :13:28. | :13:34. | |
the Russian Foreign Minister. I also welcomed the resolution the Security | :13:35. | :13:43. | |
Council will adopt at this meeting. As the first resolution to focus on | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
the political path to resolving the crisis, this marks a very important | :13:48. | :13:55. | |
step on which we must build. I would like to take this opportunity to | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
thank all of the distinguished ministers who have taken such great | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
leadership impetus to beating in this meeting. At the two recent | :14:03. | :14:14. | |
meetings in Vienna, the ISSG made two major requests of the United | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
Nations, firstly to convene in January formal negotiations between | :14:20. | :14:22. | |
the Syrian government and opposition representatives focused on the | :14:23. | :14:28. | |
Syrian transition process. Second, and imperative to determine the | :14:29. | :14:35. | |
requirements of a nationwide ceasefire. The United Nations stands | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
ready to undertake these important tasks. We welcome the meeting | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
convened in Riyadh that brought together a broad spectrum of the | :14:44. | :14:51. | |
Syrian opposition. As a government -- the government and opposition | :14:52. | :14:54. | |
delegations are getting ready, they are getting ready to launch talks | :14:55. | :15:03. | |
mediated by my envoy as set out in the Geneva communique. The parties | :15:04. | :15:04. | |
must ensure the full and dissipation of women in these | :15:05. | :15:12. | |
discussions. This morning at the meeting I urged the ISSG to apply | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
the necessary pressure on the Syrian parties to immediately | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
following confidence building measures. Firstly, to stop the use | :15:22. | :15:28. | |
of which have continued despite the | :15:29. | :15:41. | |
government, the to stop this. Secondly, on aid | :15:42. | :15:49. | |
convoys. Tens of thousands of people in besieged areas have been forced | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
to leave. This is outrageous. Thirdly, it packs on educational and | :15:56. | :16:02. | |
medical facilities must be halted and all restrictions must be lifted | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
for medical and surgical supplies from humanitarian convoys. Fourth, | :16:08. | :16:15. | |
release all bikinis. Reports indicate prisoners faced torture and | :16:16. | :16:22. | |
terrible conditions -- release all detainees. The people of Syria have | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
suffered enough. I call for you to show vision and leadership in | :16:28. | :16:37. | |
overcoming your differences. The opportunity for peace has emerged | :16:38. | :16:40. | |
and your duty is to seize it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Secretary | :16:41. | :16:46. | |
General, and in thanking you for your leadership | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
and all the help the United Nations has given. The council is now ready | :16:53. | :16:55. | |
to proceed resolution before it. Members of the | :16:56. | :17:06. | |
council have before them a document and the text of a draft resolution | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
is admitted by the native states of America. I will put this draft | :17:12. | :17:13. | |
resolution to a in favour of the draft resolution | :17:14. | :17:27. | |
taken -- contained in the document please raise their hands? The result | :17:28. | :17:41. | |
of the voting is clear. The draft resolution has received 15 votes in | :17:42. | :17:44. | |
favour and therefore at the draft resolution has been adopted | :17:45. | :17:54. | |
unanimously as resolution 2254 of 2015. I will now make a statement in | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
my capacity as Secretary of State of the United States. Mr Secretary | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
General, special envoy, distinguished colleagues, I want to | :18:03. | :18:10. | |
begin by thanking the other members who joined together to help fashion | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
this resolution and who spent time this morning working with our | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
colleagues in order to bring us here this afternoon. Plus our non-P4 | :18:19. | :18:30. | |
member, Germany, for whom we are grateful for their participation | :18:31. | :18:33. | |
also. I want to thank all the member is of the Council for coming | :18:34. | :18:36. | |
together at this late hour and I thank you in particular, Secretary | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
General and special envoy, for your leadership and effort. I also want | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
to thank the Foreign Minister of Russia for his collaboration and | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
efforts over the course of both the Vienna conference is to produce the | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
two Vienna communiques which are integrated into this resolution here | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
today. By approving resolution 2254 today this council is sending a | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
clear message to all concerned that the time is now to stop the killing | :19:11. | :19:18. | |
in Syria and lay the groundwork for a government for the long-suffering | :19:19. | :19:24. | |
people of that battered line, that they can support. After four and a | :19:25. | :19:27. | |
half years of war this is the first and we have been able to come | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
together at the native nations in the Security Council to embrace a | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
road forward. -- the United Nations. One civilian in 20 has been killed | :19:39. | :19:44. | |
or wounded and one in five is a refugee, and one in two has been | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
displaced, of the Syrian people. Average life expectancy in Syria has | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
dropped by 20 years. We need to reverse this course and that is our | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
goal this afternoon, to put an end to the indiscriminate bombing, the | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
acts of terror, the torture and the bloodshed. Our shared task is to | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
find a way to make that happen. In support of this objective, President | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
Obama has set for my country three interrelated Gauls, firstly to | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
support our friends and ensure the instability created by the civil war | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
in Syria does not spread further beyond its borders -- interrelated | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
goals. That is why we are providing a record amount of Hugh Manichaean | :20:27. | :20:29. | |
assistance and is why we are doing more to help Syria's neighbours to | :20:30. | :20:38. | |
safeguard their territory -- humanitarian assistance. We are also | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
determined with our coalition partners to degrade and defeat the | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
terrorist organisation known as Daesh. In the past year the | :20:49. | :20:57. | |
coalition and its partners worked to liberate Tikrit, free Sinjar, cut of | :20:58. | :21:03. | |
terrorist supply lines and their oral capacity. Depriving them of | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
territory they once controlled -- oil capacity. Now we are redoubling | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
the pressure to help our partners take Ron Maddy, squeeze into more | :21:15. | :21:17. | |
Zol and we are pushing ahead into northern Syria -- Ramadi. And also | :21:18. | :21:25. | |
on recruiting and propaganda efforts. Following the meeting held | :21:26. | :21:32. | |
here yesterday we are multiplying our efforts to cut Daesh of from the | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
revenue sources that support its depravity, its criminality -- | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
off-mac. The truth is nothing would do more to bolster the fight against | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
the terrorists than a broadly supported diplomatic process that | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
gives the Syrian people in real choice, not a choice between Assad | :21:53. | :21:59. | |
or Daesh, but between war and peace, between the violent extremes and the | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
newly empowered political centre. That is why we have joined with so | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
many of you in support of an urgent diplomatic initiative. Again and | :22:08. | :22:16. | |
again, countries, not just around us today but in countless meetings in | :22:17. | :22:19. | |
various parts of the world, have reaffirmed the notion that there has | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
to be a political settlement. Well, this is the test. This is why we | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
have joined here in a broader more action orientated effort than ever | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
before attempted regarding Syria, to isolate the terrorists and put Syria | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
on the road to a political transition in vision and by the | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
Geneva communique and now embraced by the international community and | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
the UN Security Council resolution. As the council's action today | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
reflects, we have made important progress in recent weeks. Progress | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
that should get us all fresh grounds for encouragement. Last month in | :23:01. | :23:07. | |
Vienna it was agreed, they agreed on a series of steps to stop the | :23:08. | :23:12. | |
bleeding in Syria, to advance a political transition, to isolate the | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
terrorists and to help the Syrian people begin to rebuild their | :23:17. | :23:28. | |
country. Last week in Riyadh a broad coalition came together to form a | :23:29. | :23:31. | |
committee for renegotiation. Under the resolution approved today the | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
purpose of those, between the responsible opposition and the | :23:37. | :23:39. | |
Government is to facilitate it transition within Syria to a | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
credible inclusive nonsectarian government within six months. The | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
process would lead to the drafting of a new constitution and | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
arrangements for internationally supervised election within 18 | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
months. I might add. Geneva never had those dates. It is the Vienna | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
process and communicate that has produced a six-month and 18 month | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
timeline and it is that process that has also embraced the ceasefire | :24:11. | :24:14. | |
concept as well as embracing a set of principles and values about the | :24:15. | :24:22. | |
shape that a new Syria might be able to take, as directed by Syrian | :24:23. | :24:26. | |
you have just been listening to the US Secretary of State there are | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
speaking after the council unanimously agreed a resolution | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
endorsing an international road map for a peace process in Syria. A | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
conflict that has of course claimed more than a quarter of a million | :24:42. | :24:44. | |
lives and has dragged on for more than five years. Lyse Doucet it is | :24:45. | :24:51. | |
still with me in the studio. John Kerry said it is time to stop the | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
killing and bleeding in Syria. What are the next steps here. This is | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
extraordinary in many ways. It marked the end of what might have | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
been more than four years of deadlock in the UN security council, | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
with the world powers completely and bitterly divided about how to move | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
forward in Syria. Now they have this document. They have a resolution, | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
unanimously agreed, and you have just heard John Kerry see, now is | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
the time to stop the killing. Just listen to what he said -- you have | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
heard him say. Many people will doubt whether this is possible. | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
Inclusive nonsectarian Government within six months, huge order but at | :25:35. | :25:37. | |
least they are saying they will try it. Wonderful to hear your thoughts, | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
our chief international correspondent there. This historic | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
moment, the UN security council unanimously agreeing on this | :25:47. | :25:49. | |
resolution for a peace process in Syria. You have been watching World | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
News Today. Thank you for being with us. | :25:54. | :25:57. |