18/12/2015 World News Today


18/12/2015

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At a malice Baxter. -- I am Alice Baxter.

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World powers meeting in New York have agreed a draft resolution

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A spokesperson for President Assad says the West must change its

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attitude. I think there is a certain reality created in the heads of the

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Western media and western people that has no region with our reality

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whatsoever. It is totally divorced. We will have action on that for you,

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but there is a warning the country may collapse unless President Assad

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is sidelined, from the opposition. We are very close to becoming a

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failed state. In rewind the people vote on changes to the Constitution

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which could mean president Paul Kagame could remain in power until

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2034 -- in Rwanda. And we learn how six tonne elephants are being used

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to scare animals away from people's homes.

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World powers meeting in New York have agreed on a draft resolution

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It gives UN approval to efforts to reach a ceasefire and launch

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They're expected to vote on it shortly.

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the government and the opposition as early as January.

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It's supported by countries backing both the Syrian government

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Our chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet who has

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just returned from Damascus joins me now in the studio. How do you think

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this news will go down in Syria? I think every Syrian wants to end this

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war. This is to warn the country, in that humanitarian appeal, nearly 14

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million people, half the of Syria, they now need humanitarian

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assistance. Before the war, the comparison, a huge descent into

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darkness for this country. Before this bought, almost every UN envoy

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quit blaming gridlock for their failure to make progress. The fact

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that both enemies and allies of President Assad today, because he

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remains the main issue, have been able to sit down and come up with

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this and presented to the Council resolution is a big step forward but

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it is not enough because the gaps between the Syrian side remains

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wide. On that, how important do you think it was that Iran was around

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the table in these discussions? You cannot solve an issue if one of the

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biggest players on the issue is not in the

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important Russia and Iran where they are, the two main allies of

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President Assad. It gives a fighting chance for the process to move

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forward but there are still significant differences and you can

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hear the reports coming out throughout the day from New York

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about the main gaps between the parties. For example, about which

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opposition groups are acceptable to sit at the table and which, the

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question Russia has been pushing, our terrorist groups linked to

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Al-Qaeda who should not be sitting at the table discussing the future

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of Syria. And as we wait for the UN security council to vote on this

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draft resolution we are expecting the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to

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speak shortly. As I said earlier, you had just returned from Damascus

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where you were speaking to a number of people involved in this process.

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What will be saying to you? On the trip I was quite taken by how

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confident they seem in Damascus. They have always been very

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belligerent in terms of saying that they are waiting for discussions.

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Resident Assad must not go, but that has been bolstered by the military

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intervention of Russia into the ward -- president. It has been playing a

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big role on the front lines against opposition forces, and I was able to

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ask Assad's adviser, Bouthaina Shabaan, whether they were able to

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go for talks. I am cautious, you know, about what is happening. We

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have seen good moments and then they came to no results. I think it all

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depends on the people who are supporting the armed groups in

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Syria, whether they want to stop supporting these armed groups and

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moved to a political solution. For us, we are ready. In the last round

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of talks they said the Syrian envoy was not really ready to talk

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politics. Has the view of the Syrian government changed? We are talking

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politics all the time, the only thing we are talking about! Nothing

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else, just politics. Is discussing President Assad's future... That is

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not politics. That is interference in the Syrian government and the

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Syrian people. I do not know where the logic came from that any country

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can speak about the right of a president in another country to stay

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off go. This is illogical. The logical thing is to have a dialogue

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between opposition and the government to speak about

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institutions, the political steps, to speak about unity government, a

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national unity government. These are the logical steps. I do not get the

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impression in Damascus that senior officials like you and others have a

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sense that significant political change lies ahead? You need partners

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to move to a political process. We have to start at the beginning. The

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beginning is to find the partners who want to speak to the Syrian

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government. Where is the list of the opposition that wants to dialogue

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with us? We are ready. The Syrian government has been positive all the

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way through about a political dialogue and political solution, but

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unfortunately Western media and the West is having an attitude against

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the Syrian government and supporting people who are carrying arms,

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committing crimes and who will breach the gates, doing the same

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thing as they have been doing in our country. -- they will breach the

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gates of Europe. Does it worry you when senior Russian and Iranians

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figures say they are not wedded to President Assad. We don't want them

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to be focused only on President Assad. It is the Syrian people's

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business to elect or not re-elect Assad but it is no one else's

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business. We wish people would not focus on President Assad. But it

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will make you nervous to think of the pressure on your... No, because

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the president himself, he has said many times I would go by what my

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people want, so it does not make us nervous or worry us at all. I think

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there is a certain reality that is created in the heads of Western

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media and western people that has no relation to our reality whatsoever.

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It is totally divorced from our reality and I just hope they will

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start to act knowledge of reality as it is an act accordingly. That is

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reallocate as seen from Damascus. Confident and defiant about -- that

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is reality as it is seen from Damascus. These outside powers in

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New York, of them are not even up for discussion. What we have seen on

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the opposition side, they insist it is the biggest gap, that Assad

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should go. They say the process can start with him and that is primarily

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because they do not want to see a collapse in Damascus of the kind we

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have seen in Iraq and Libya and that is one thing uniting everyone in

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this process now. I went and sat down with a man who is more and more

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a permanent member of the delegation and has been attending peace talks

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since the uprising began five years ago. He is a prominent London-based

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businessman, Ayman Asfari. He was at the last big gathering and I asked

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him whether the opposition would be willing to go to the table without a

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definite date for Assad's departure. It is dying.

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I think the opposition will find it extremely difficult to go

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You cannot take a patient into an ICU and have him next one of the

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others because he would kill him. Can you start working out without is

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certainty about his role, a date for him leaving? I think the opposition

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would find it extremely difficult to go into any transition if there is

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no clarity the transition be real. And there will be no real transition

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if people do not see that 45 years of the Assad regime is going to be

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over. People now access the institutions of the state have to be

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retained. Nobody wants another Iraq or another Libya but they want to

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see the institutions of the regime under some new leadership. Some

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people from the regime itself will be committed to a gradual process to

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meet the aspirations of the Syrian people and unless this is done and

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they see there is a credible transition things will not come to

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an end. They will not come to an end without a coherent opposition

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delegation but, as you know, because you were at the conference, there

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were still big differences from the very moderate to the very extreme at

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that meeting. Yes, but I think the important thing is there is a

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unifying document. For me it does not matter who goes to these

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discussions... But it does in the sense of who speaks for Syria. Some

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of the Islamist groups who attended... Or is it more moderate,

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secular groups like yourself... The basis of the negotiation is the

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declaration made in Riyadh. Nobody spoke about and Islamic State. They

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all spoke about a civil date, democracy in the country, pluralism,

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nonsectarian -ism. Everybody signed up to these and if they negotiate

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outside of those parameters it will be a problem, but those were the

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parameters of the Riyadh conference which is the basis for any future

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negotiation. What do you say to President Assad and his ally Russia

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when they say they cannot hock to terrorists, Al-Qaeda linked groups

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that should not be part of the future of Syria? -- cannot speak.

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Don't you consider bombing for five years terrorism? Don't you consider

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killing dated knees, the way they are tortured, terrorism? --

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detainees. I can tell you 95% of the Syrian civilians who died died at

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the hands of the Syrian regime. There has been more state terrorism

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in Syria on the hands of Assad than all of Isil combined obviously Isil

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are terrorists and they need to be defeated, but people are ignoring

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this state terrorism that is killing its own people and it has been going

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on for five years. I think the terrorism on both sides of the

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equation should not be part of any future transition. That was Ayman

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Asfari. And that is the other issue they have been grappling with. Which

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opposition groups can sit at the table? They do not seem to have come

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to an agreement on that. Jordan was tasked with that part of the Google

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gestures and they do not have seemed to have come to an agreed list.

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Really difficult. Let's take our viewers live to the UN security

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council meeting in the dark. They are due to vote in this draft -- on

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this draft resolution. # Meeting in New York. The president

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of the security council, distinguished ministers of

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excellency and ladies and gentlemen, the Syrian conflict began with

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peaceful popular demands for political change but soon became

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defined by into regional and international divisions including in

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this very council. Almost five years later, we see a country in ruins,

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billions of people scattered across the world and the radicalism and

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sick hearing is that challenges regional and global security.

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I recognise the statesmanship of the US Secretary of State John Kerry and

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the Russian Foreign Minister. I also welcomed the resolution the Security

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Council will adopt at this meeting. As the first resolution to focus on

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the political path to resolving the crisis, this marks a very important

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step on which we must build. I would like to take this opportunity to

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thank all of the distinguished ministers who have taken such great

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leadership impetus to beating in this meeting. At the two recent

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meetings in Vienna, the ISSG made two major requests of the United

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Nations, firstly to convene in January formal negotiations between

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the Syrian government and opposition representatives focused on the

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Syrian transition process. Second, and imperative to determine the

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requirements of a nationwide ceasefire. The United Nations stands

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ready to undertake these important tasks. We welcome the meeting

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convened in Riyadh that brought together a broad spectrum of the

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Syrian opposition. As a government -- the government and opposition

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delegations are getting ready, they are getting ready to launch talks

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mediated by my envoy as set out in the Geneva communique. The parties

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must ensure the full and dissipation of women in these

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discussions. This morning at the meeting I urged the ISSG to apply

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the necessary pressure on the Syrian parties to immediately

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following confidence building measures. Firstly, to stop the use

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of which have continued despite the

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government, the to stop this. Secondly, on aid

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convoys. Tens of thousands of people in besieged areas have been forced

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to leave. This is outrageous. Thirdly, it packs on educational and

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medical facilities must be halted and all restrictions must be lifted

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for medical and surgical supplies from humanitarian convoys. Fourth,

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release all bikinis. Reports indicate prisoners faced torture and

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terrible conditions -- release all detainees. The people of Syria have

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suffered enough. I call for you to show vision and leadership in

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overcoming your differences. The opportunity for peace has emerged

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and your duty is to seize it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Secretary

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General, and in thanking you for your leadership

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and all the help the United Nations has given. The council is now ready

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to proceed resolution before it. Members of the

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council have before them a document and the text of a draft resolution

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is admitted by the native states of America. I will put this draft

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resolution to a in favour of the draft resolution

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taken -- contained in the document please raise their hands? The result

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of the voting is clear. The draft resolution has received 15 votes in

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favour and therefore at the draft resolution has been adopted

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unanimously as resolution 2254 of 2015. I will now make a statement in

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my capacity as Secretary of State of the United States. Mr Secretary

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General, special envoy, distinguished colleagues, I want to

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begin by thanking the other members who joined together to help fashion

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this resolution and who spent time this morning working with our

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colleagues in order to bring us here this afternoon. Plus our non-P4

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member, Germany, for whom we are grateful for their participation

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also. I want to thank all the member is of the Council for coming

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together at this late hour and I thank you in particular, Secretary

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General and special envoy, for your leadership and effort. I also want

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to thank the Foreign Minister of Russia for his collaboration and

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efforts over the course of both the Vienna conference is to produce the

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two Vienna communiques which are integrated into this resolution here

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today. By approving resolution 2254 today this council is sending a

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clear message to all concerned that the time is now to stop the killing

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in Syria and lay the groundwork for a government for the long-suffering

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people of that battered line, that they can support. After four and a

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half years of war this is the first and we have been able to come

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together at the native nations in the Security Council to embrace a

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road forward. -- the United Nations. One civilian in 20 has been killed

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or wounded and one in five is a refugee, and one in two has been

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displaced, of the Syrian people. Average life expectancy in Syria has

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dropped by 20 years. We need to reverse this course and that is our

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goal this afternoon, to put an end to the indiscriminate bombing, the

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acts of terror, the torture and the bloodshed. Our shared task is to

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find a way to make that happen. In support of this objective, President

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Obama has set for my country three interrelated Gauls, firstly to

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support our friends and ensure the instability created by the civil war

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in Syria does not spread further beyond its borders -- interrelated

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goals. That is why we are providing a record amount of Hugh Manichaean

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assistance and is why we are doing more to help Syria's neighbours to

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safeguard their territory -- humanitarian assistance. We are also

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determined with our coalition partners to degrade and defeat the

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terrorist organisation known as Daesh. In the past year the

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coalition and its partners worked to liberate Tikrit, free Sinjar, cut of

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terrorist supply lines and their oral capacity. Depriving them of

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territory they once controlled -- oil capacity. Now we are redoubling

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the pressure to help our partners take Ron Maddy, squeeze into more

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Zol and we are pushing ahead into northern Syria -- Ramadi. And also

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on recruiting and propaganda efforts. Following the meeting held

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here yesterday we are multiplying our efforts to cut Daesh of from the

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revenue sources that support its depravity, its criminality --

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off-mac. The truth is nothing would do more to bolster the fight against

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the terrorists than a broadly supported diplomatic process that

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gives the Syrian people in real choice, not a choice between Assad

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or Daesh, but between war and peace, between the violent extremes and the

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newly empowered political centre. That is why we have joined with so

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many of you in support of an urgent diplomatic initiative. Again and

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again, countries, not just around us today but in countless meetings in

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various parts of the world, have reaffirmed the notion that there has

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to be a political settlement. Well, this is the test. This is why we

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have joined here in a broader more action orientated effort than ever

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before attempted regarding Syria, to isolate the terrorists and put Syria

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on the road to a political transition in vision and by the

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Geneva communique and now embraced by the international community and

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the UN Security Council resolution. As the council's action today

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reflects, we have made important progress in recent weeks. Progress

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that should get us all fresh grounds for encouragement. Last month in

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Vienna it was agreed, they agreed on a series of steps to stop the

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bleeding in Syria, to advance a political transition, to isolate the

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terrorists and to help the Syrian people begin to rebuild their

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country. Last week in Riyadh a broad coalition came together to form a

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committee for renegotiation. Under the resolution approved today the

:23:32.:23:36.

purpose of those, between the responsible opposition and the

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Government is to facilitate it transition within Syria to a

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credible inclusive nonsectarian government within six months. The

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process would lead to the drafting of a new constitution and

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arrangements for internationally supervised election within 18

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months. I might add. Geneva never had those dates. It is the Vienna

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process and communicate that has produced a six-month and 18 month

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timeline and it is that process that has also embraced the ceasefire

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concept as well as embracing a set of principles and values about the

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shape that a new Syria might be able to take, as directed by Syrian

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you have just been listening to the US Secretary of State there are

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speaking after the council unanimously agreed a resolution

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endorsing an international road map for a peace process in Syria. A

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conflict that has of course claimed more than a quarter of a million

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lives and has dragged on for more than five years. Lyse Doucet it is

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still with me in the studio. John Kerry said it is time to stop the

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killing and bleeding in Syria. What are the next steps here. This is

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extraordinary in many ways. It marked the end of what might have

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been more than four years of deadlock in the UN security council,

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with the world powers completely and bitterly divided about how to move

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forward in Syria. Now they have this document. They have a resolution,

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unanimously agreed, and you have just heard John Kerry see, now is

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the time to stop the killing. Just listen to what he said -- you have

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heard him say. Many people will doubt whether this is possible.

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Inclusive nonsectarian Government within six months, huge order but at

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least they are saying they will try it. Wonderful to hear your thoughts,

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our chief international correspondent there. This historic

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moment, the UN security council unanimously agreeing on this

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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.

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