YouSaid · the spoken record

Power

lines on the record: 1,841
first: 2013-08-06
most recent: 2019-07-09
sittings or episodes: 165
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Because of the technical complexity of the SA-11, it is unlikely that the separatists could effectively operate the system without assistance from knowledgeable personnel. Therefore, we cannot rule out technical assistance from Russian personnel in operating the systems. The Ukrainians do have SA-ll systems in their inventory; however, we are not aware of any Ukrainian SAM. systems in the area of the shoot- down. More important, since the beginning of the crisis Ukrainian air defences have not fired a single missile, despite several alleged violations of their airspace by Russian aircraft. This also follows a pattern of actions by Russian- backed separatists. On 13 June, separatists shot down a Ukrainian transport plane carrying 40 paratroopers and 9 crew members.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“We can rule out shorter-range SAMSs known to be in separatist hands, including man- portable air defence systems, and SA-8 and SA-13 systems, which are not capable of hitting an aircraft at that altitude. Early Thursday, an SA-ll SAM. system was reported near Zahnitkiv by a western reporter, and separatists were spotted hours before the incident with an SA-Il system at a location close to the site where the plane went down. Separatists initially claimed responsibility for shooting down a military transport plane, and posted videos that are now being connected to the Malaysia Airlines crash. Separatist leaders also boasted on social media about shooting down a plane, but later deleted those messages.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“We assess that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, carrying 298 people from Amsterdan to Kuala Lumpur, was likely downed by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) - an SA-11 - operated from a separatist-held location in eastern Ukraine. The airliner was travelling at a cruise altitude of 33,000 feet, and its speed was typical for an airliner along an established flight corridor frequented by commercial traffic. The flight was transmiting its assigned transponder code, corresponding with its flight plan, and flight tracking data was publicly available on the Internet. There was nothing threatening or provocative about MH-17. Of the operational SAM. systems located near the border, only the SA-Il, SA-20 and SA-22 systems are capable of hitting an aircraft at the flight's altitude of 33,000 feet.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“Yesterday we were all shocked by the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. All 298 people aboard - 283 passangers and 15 crew members - were killed. As we stared at the passanger list yesterday, we saw next to three of the passangers' names a capital "I". As we now know, that letter stands for "infant". To the families and friends of the victims, it is impossible to find words to express our condolences. We can only commit to them that we will not rest until we find out what happened. A full, credible and unimpeded international investigation must begin immediately. The perpetrators must be brought to justice; they must not be sheltered by any State Member of the United Nations. Let me share with the Council our assesment of the evidence so far.”
2014-07-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7219 (2014) · source
“In February, we stood together in calling on the Syrian regime to allow free and unfettered access for humanitarian assistance and to end the systematic besieging of civilian areas, yet that resolution went largely unheeded. Today, we are taking steps to ensure that our resolution 2139 (2014) from February has a real impact on the ground, unlocking the impediments that stand in the way of cross-border assistance. There is other unfinished work from that resolution, including ending the systematic targeting of medical facilities and schools and the monstrous use of barrel bombs against civilian areas. The Council must now take the cooperation and unity we have shown today and bring it to bear in ensuring the end of the horrors being perpetrated against the Syrian people.”
2014-07-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7216 (2014) · source
“To that end, I would remind the Syrian regime that, under Article 25 of the Charter of the United Nations, Syria is obligated to accept and carry out the decisions made by the Security Council in the resolution. At a time when many are raising questions about the ability of the Council to fulfil its purpose regarding Syria, we have shown again today that we can come together and take action to address the horrific crisis in Syria. In September of last year, we stood together in demanding that the Al-Assad regime end its use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people. Today, 100 per cent of declared chemical weapons in Syria have been removed from the country.”
2014-07-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7216 (2014) · source
“Instead of opening paths for aid, it has deliberately closed them; rather than providing free and unfettered humanitarian access to all Syrians, it has used the denial of aid and the starvation, sickness and misery it imposes as yet another weapon in its cruel and devastating arsenal against opposition-held areas. The effectiveness of today's resolution will depend on the efforts and cooperation of many parties. Those parties include the United Nations and international humanitarian agencies, which have made clear their interest in using those crossings. They also include us, as members of the Security Council, who must ensure that the resolution is fully enforced. The Council must be prepared to take decisive action should the parties to the conflict, particularly the Al-Assad regime, fail to comply with it.”
2014-07-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7216 (2014) · source
“We are grateful to Syria's neighbours for their crucial cooperation in this effort and their tremendous generosity in helping respond to the massive humanitarian crisis. Yet even as we recognize the promise this resolution holds for reaching more people in need, we must not forget that it should have never required a Security Council resolution for a Government to allow food and medicine to reach millions of families whose lives have been hanging in the balance. Yet when the United Nations has requested such permission over the past year, its letters have gone unanswered and its requests have been rejected. The Al-Assad regime has seized every opportunity to make it more, and not less, difficult to provide such crucial assistance to civilians in dire need.”
2014-07-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7216 (2014) · source
“The resolution also authorizes the United Nations to cross conflict lines between regime and opposition forces to deliver aid, and the Syrian regime, which is systematically denying cross-line humanitarian assistance, must heed that obligation. In addition, the resolution adopted today establishes a United Nations monitoring mechanism, under the authority of the Secretary-General and with the consent of Syria's neighbours, to monitor the United Nations aid consignments in order to confirm that they indeed contain humanitarian aid. The mechanism conforms with the Secretary-General's proposal and the resolution stipulates that the inspections will occur at loading facilities in neighbouring countries.”
2014-07-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7216 (2014) · source
“The Al-Assad regime has until now refused to allow United Nations humanitarian assistance to flow through border crossings it does not control - something members of the Security Council address with resolution 2165 (2014). By adopting that resolution, the Council has opened four crossings to United Nations humanitarian agencies and their implementing partners without the need for approval from the regime. Those humanitarian agencies will increase the supply of life-saving aid, including food to eat and medicine to care for the sick and injured. If implemented fully, the resolution will allow critical aid to reach up to 2 million Syrians who have been denied adequate assistance for the past year and suffered immeasurably as a result.”
2014-07-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7216 (2014) · source
“As we sit here today, nearly 11 million Syrians are struggling to survive the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. I met with some of them last month when I visited the massive and ever-expanding refugee camps along Syria's border with Turkey. One family after another shared harrowing stories of their communities being bombarded from the air by the Al-Assad regime and their families being deliberately denied humanitarian aid simply because they lived in areas controlled by the opposition. I met children whose parents had fled with them to Turkey because those kids were gravely malnourished, inhumanly denied food and medicine by the Syrian regime.”
2014-07-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7216 (2014) · source
“And there must be consequences for the widespread crimes and abuses committed by the armed separatists Russia supports - both because the victims of those crimes merit justice and because, as we have seen, unless Russia feels effective pressure to de-escalate, it will continue to choose to escalate the crisis. We have urged Russia to be part of the political solution to the crisis in Ukraine. But, if it persists with the same escalatory tactics, it must face additional costs.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“As we sit here, eight monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are being held captive for the crime of bearing witness and gathering facts, actions that are dangerous only to those who would distort those facts. The monitors have been held captive for nearly a month - a month - by separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk, with no justification. For these crimes there must be consequences. There also must be continued consequences for Russia's consistent violations of the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations and for its ongoing failure to meet the commitments it has made.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“It is even harder to take seriously given that Russia's track record of repeatedly breaking its commitments to dialogue and to peace, as it did after the Geneva statement in April and after the pledges that President Putin made to President Obama in Normandy earlier this month. While we welcome the more conciliatory rhetoric from President Putin in recent days, those words now need to be reflected in a genuine shift in the facts on the ground. Those facts are best gathered by unbiased reporting, like that conducted by international monitoring missions. But the Russians and the armed separatists that they support do not seem comfortable with facts or with monitors.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“That is a welcome development. Yet, on the other hand, Russia has recently returned a significant number of its troops to the border and has ramped up the flow of weapons and materiel to separatists, an increasing number of whom are Russian citizens with no personal connection to eastern Ukraine. President Putin has also placed Russian troops on combat alert and launched a new surprise military exercise. President Putin's recent statements are welcome. But it is hard to take a little rhetoric of reconciliation seriously when it is accompanied by actions that are clearly aimed at stoking tension.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“We welcome yesterday's reports that representatives of the Ukrainian and Russian Governments and separatists groups met together, leading to an announcement by some separatist leaders that they would respect the ceasefire. President Poroshenko and his Government have taken steps to decentralize power, increase transparency, combat corruption and protect the rights of minorities. And he has put on the table a comprehensive and just peace plan. In sum, he and the Ukrainian people have done everything that could be expected, in an effort to make peace in accordance with international law and norms. Over the last few days, we have seen more contradictory behaviour on the part of Russia. On the one hand, President Putin expresses his support for President Poroshenko's ceasefire and his intention to work towards a peaceful settlement.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“Yet, remarkably, even in the face of separatist attacks and inflammatory propaganda, the Ukrainian Government and Ukrainian people have shown in word and in deed a sustained willingness to work towards a peaceful solution. The Ukrainian people elected a leader, Petro Poroshenko, who campaigned on creating a democratic, unified and peaceful Ukraine. Since taking office, President Poroshenko has persistently sought to achieve that goal through dialogue and reconciliation, even in the face of provocations and violence. He proposed, and then implemented, a unilateral ceasefire to allow separatists to lay down their arms. He offered to create a safe passage for Russian fighters to return to their country. And he proposed amnesty to Russian- backed separatists who had not committed serious crimes.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“Russia claims that 100,000 people have fled Ukraine for Russia. Yet Under-Secretary-General Amos informed the Council in a briefing last week that the real number was around 4,600. I do not for one moment intend to minimize the very real humanitarian consequences of the crises in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, including the tens of thousands of internally displaced people within Ukraine's borders. But we have to be objective and fact-based in our claims, and candid about what has brought about these dire humanitarian consequences, namely, the political and military support that Russia continues to provide to armed violent separatists.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“Those are just the type of surface-to-air missiles, I would note, that were used to bring down a Ukrainian military transport plane last week, killing all 49 people on board. And we see it in the alarming redeployment of thousands of Russian troops and military hardware along the border with Ukraine, at the closest proximity since the invasion of Crimea in February. Russia has attempted - erroneously - to characterize the events unfolding in eastern Ukraine as a humanitarian crisis. They falsely have cast themselves as the defender of rights and Vindicator of the vulnerable, and the Russian army and its operatives as a humanitarian aid agency. But this Russian aid operation sends soldiers, not doctors. It mans armoured personnel carriers, not relief tents. It provides surface-to-air missiles, not meals ready-to-eat.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“We do not need to look very far or hard to find evidence of that campaign. We see it in the three T-64 Russian tanks that suddenly showed up in the hands of separatists in eastern Ukraine. We see it in the burned out BM-21 rocket launcher, one of many that suddenly appeared in eastern Ukraine in the past weeks, which photographs show recently belonged to Russia's eighteenth motorized rifle brigade, based in Chechnya. We see it in surface-to-air missiles that were recently seized by Ukrainian forces after a clash with separatists; they were still accompanied by their official paperwork, revealing that as recently as two months ago those missiles were held on a Russian air- defence base in the Krasnodar region.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“And its members have been told that they and all Crimeans must give up their Ukrainian citizenship or else be treated like foreigners in their own land. Meanwhile, in areas controlled by illegal separatist groups in south-east Ukraine, we continue to see Russia's extensive support for the campaign of violence and separatist terror. The crimes committed by those groups are methodically documented in the United Nations monitoring mission's reports and follow a pattern set by Russia's unlawful intervention in Crimea. They include the violent seizure and occupation of public and Government buildings, unprovoked lethal attacks against Ukrainian security forces and arbitrary arrests, torture, beatings, death threats, disappearances, killings and other serious abuses carried out by Russian fighters and the pro-Russian separatists.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“But baseless claims like those have the effect of radicalizing Russian separatists, escalating this horrible crisis and further eviscerating the credibility of Russian reports from the region. We should consider such claims alongside the facts on the ground, such as the situation of the ethnic Tatar community in Crimea following Russia's purported annexation, which the international community will never recognize. The homes of Tatar leaders have been arbitrarily searched and editors of their main newspaper have been threatened with prosecution. Tatars who have participated in peaceful protests have been locked up by the dozens, and many more insulted and harassed for speaking their language in public.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“Time and again - at least 17 times since February - we have gathered here to discuss the situation in Ukraine. And time and again, we have had to dedicate significant amounts of time to reviewing the efforts of Russia to destabilize its neighbour and to refuting the bald misinformation and outright fiction about what is happening on the ground in Ukraine. Russian rhetoric has been inaccurate, inflammatory and self-justifying. On 17 June, just last week, Foreign Minister Lavrov accused Ukrainian military authorities of carrying out ethnic cleaning. Days earlier, a leader in the Duma accused Ukraine of committing mass genocide. My Government, the Security Council and the United Nations take extremely seriously any reports of ethnic cleaning or genocide.”
2014-06-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7205 (2014) · source
“There is no limit to our determination to see that the victims of the atrocities in Syria and their loved ones receive answers in accordance with the majesty of law. In that quest, we will be guided by the fundamental principle of civilization, which has truly stood the test of time. As Solon, the Athenian sage, said more than 2,500 years ago, "Those who are not wronged, no less than those who are wronged, exert themselves to punish the wrongdoers." The overwhelming majority of Council members affirmed that today.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“While there may be no accountability before the ICC today for the horrific crimes being carried out against the Syrian people, there should be accountability for those members of the Council that have prevented such accountability. The representative of Syria and perhaps of Russia may suggest that the draft resolution voted on today was biased, and I agree. It was biased in the direction of establishing facts and tilted in the direction of a peace that comes from holding accountable individuals, not entire groups, such as the Alawites, Sunnis or Kurds. The outcome oftoday's vote, disappointing as it is, will not end our pursuit ofjustice. My Government will continue to work with the many other Governments and organizations to encourage and facilitate the further gathering of evidence.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“We have launched commissions of inquiry to find facts and held meeting after meeting but before today, we have not put forward a draft resolution to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court. We have not done so because we were afraid that it would be vetoed. However, the victims of Al-Assad's industrial killing machine and of terrorist attacks deserve more than to have more dead counted. They deserve to have each member of the Security Council counted and held to account. They deserve to have history record those who stood with them and were willing to raise their hands to deny them the chance of justice.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“The history books may well depict photographs taken by Caesar of emaciated, acid-scarred corpses juxtaposed with a photo of the two members of the Council that prevented justice for the victims, such as Qusai, who longed to see the end of such horrors. Today is therefore about accountability not just for the victims of Al-Assad's regime or Qusai and his neighbours in Moadamiyah but for members of the Security Council. Month after month, year after year, we have each spoken about the importance of justice and the need for accountability in Syria. Victims and survivors have begged for action and cried out for justice. The international community has supported the ad hoc efforts to collect evidence to record testimony.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“Why is it that the people of Uganda, Darfur, Libya, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Kenya deserve international and impartial justice, but the Syrian people do not? Why should the International Criminal Court pursue accountabililty for the atrocities in Africa but not those in Syria, where the worst horrors of our time are being perpetrated? For those who have asked the Security Council that very reasoanble question, today they have their answer - the Russian and Chinese vetoes. Our grandchildren will ask us years from now how we could have failed to bring justice to people living in hell on Earth.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“It deserves to be examined by an independent court and, if crimes are proven, those responsible deserve to be held accountable. The vetoes cast today prevent that from happening. Strikingly, those vetoes also protect the monstrous terrorist organizations operating in Syria. Those who would behead civilians and attack religious minorities will not be soon held accountable at the ICC either, for today's vetoes by Russia and China protect not only Al-Assad and his henchmen but also the radical Islamic terrorists who continue a fundamentalist assault on the Syrian people that knows no decency or humanity. Such vetoes have aided impunity not just for Al-Assad but for terrorist groups, as well. In the past, when extraordinary crimes have been carried out, the International Criminal Court has been able to act.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“He was captured by Al-Assad's mercenaries, tortured with acid and ultimately killed. His body was thrown on Highway 40. Without medicine to treat her heart condition, Abou Mohammed's seven-year-old daughter died. Qusai might also tell the story of Rana, an 18-month-old baby girl. Rana's dad ran a grocery store before the siege. After the siege, he watched as his daughter Rana died from malnutrition because she could not get milk that used to sit on his store's shelves. Qusai has said that when he walks around the United States, he notices people in restaurants getting on with day-to-day life. He notices the small leftovers that we leave on our plates, and he remembers watching his neighbours' desperation to get a small piece of rotten bread in Moadamiyah. Qusai's account of his experience in Moadamiyah deserves to be heard.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“Qusai recounts his bewilderment as he watched neighbours suffocate, friends panic and families perish. He remembers the face ofa 13-year-old boy just a few feet from his home. He describes the boy as so innocent. He recalls that he had done nothing, yet the expression on the 13-year-old's face was the most terrifying thing that Qusai has ever seen as white foam streamed from his mouth and death crept in. If Qusai could testify, he might tell the story of his neighbour, Abou Mohammed, a waiter in Damascus, while his wife and daughter lived in Moadamiyah. Abou Mohammed's daughter was seven years old. She had a heart condition that required medication not available in besieged Moadamiyah, so Abou Mohammed did what any father would do and attempted to bring her medicine from Damascus.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“Because of the vetoes just cast, one of Al-Assad's victims, Qusai Zakarya, will not soon be called to testify before the International Criminal Court. But Qusai's story of life in Moadamiyah during the siege, as hard as it is to hear, must be heard. Qusai Zakarya is in the Council with us today, and I would like to ask him to stand. Today, I will tell Qusai's story as he told it to us. Qusai's home, Moadamiyah, just outside Damascus, was one ofthe Al-Assad regime's prime targets. During the August 2013 chemical weapons attacks, Qusai ran out to the street and tried to help his neighbours. He quickly lost his ability to breathe. His eyes afire, Qusai's heart stopped, and he was left for dead before a friend stumbled upon him and realized that he had again begun breathing.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“Syrian soldiers had already compelled doctors not to care for the wounded, dragged patients out of hospital beds, laid siege to whole neighbourhoods, cut off access to desperately needed supplies, and carried out chemical weapons attacks and barrel bomb attacks with the full confidence that meaningful action by the Council would be obstructed. A judicial process does more than hold perpetrators accountable. It also allows victims to speak. The vetoes today have prevented the victims of atrocities from testifying at The Hague for now. Nonetheless, it is important for us in the Council today to hear the kind of testimony we might have heard if Russia and China had not raised their hands to oppose accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“On 15 April, the members of the Council were briefed on a report that included 55,000 gruesome photos of the emaciated and tortured bodies of dead Syrians whom world-renowned international lawyers concluded had been methodically eliminated by a Government killing machine. The photos were reportedly provided by an individual, alias Caesar, who worked for 13 years as a member of the Syrian military police. When the fighting began, he says that he was instructed to record the images of people starved, beaten, tortured and executed by Syria's security forces. Those photos shock and horrify, even after some of us wondered if there was anything that the regime could do that would still shock.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“Today is about accountability for crimes so extensive and so deadly that they have few equals in modern history. Today is about accountability for Syria, but it is also about accountability for the Security Council. It is the Council's responsibility to stop atrocities if we can and, at a minimum, to ensure that the perpetrators of atrocities are held accountable. It was towards that minimum that we sought to make progress today. My Government applauds the vast majority of Council members that voted to support and the 64 countries that joined us in sponsoring the effort to refer those atrocities to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Sadly, because of the decision of the Russian Federation to back the Syrian regime no matter what it does, the Syrian people will not see justice today. They will see crime but not punishment.”
2014-05-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7180 (2014) · source
“We urge UNOCA to spare no effort at preventive diplomacy. We remain at a difficult time in Central Africa. International cooperation has been encouraging, but we must do far more to confront Boko Haram, to complete the destruction of the LRA, to counter religious strife and prevent ethnic cleansing, and to disrupt the activities of criminals who seek to prey on the innocent and the weak. The next months will be critical in each of these areas, and we must take advantage of every opportunity to turn the tide on all fronts.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“But above all, we urge Member States to support MISCA and the African Union, which is still trying to protect civilians alongside France and the European Union, and to contribute to MINUSCA, as timely force-generation for both MISCA and MINUSCA is critically needed and needed now. We also express our alarm, as others have done, at the deteriorating political situation in Burundi, where the Government has harrassed and arrested members of opposition parties, pushed for the end of the United Nations political mission in advance of a very fragile election period, and is imposing growing restrictions on civil society, and where we have all seen alarming reports of youth militia being armed, to which the Government has responded only by expelling the United Nations mission's security adviser.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) must do the critical work of protecting civilians, facilitating urgently needed humanitarian access, and supporting the State in that country, which is of course in a weakened position. We call on MINUSCA to coordinate closely with the many actors - the African-led International Support Mission for the Central African Republic (MISCA), French and European Union forces, and the AU Regional Task Force - that are currently deployed and will remain in the Central African Republic.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“I can assure the Council that the United States will remain steadfast in providing tangible and wide-ranging assistance to anti-LRA efforts, including military advisers, air-lift support, humanitarian aid, civilian protection and measures aimed at encouraging defections. We look forward to the day, which we hope will come soon, when all LRA combatants are removed from the battlefield. Mindful that the LRA is but one ofmany significant threats to peace and security in Central Africa, my Government applauds the Council's decision to authorize a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“We find the reports of possible LRA collusion with former Seleka fighters to be particularly disturbing, and we have no doubt that Boko Haram would like nothing more than to exploit the despair of displaced Muslims in the northern part of the Central African Republic. My Government also shares the Secretary-General's concern about the possibility that LRA leaders have again sought a safe haven in Sudanese-controlled areas of the Kafia Kindi enclave. We call on the Government in Khartoum to work cooperatively with the AU to investigate these reports and to deny the LRA any form of rest or support. Any Government should be embarrassed to be sheltering the Lord's Resistance Army. After a quarter-century of merciless brutality, the LRA should not be tolerated, let alone helped, by anyone - not to mention a State Member of the United Nations.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“We urge the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) to coordinate with the AU, the World Bank, national Governments and other stakeholders to advance a plan for the long-term stabilization of those areas. Over the past five years, the United States Government has provided more than $87 million to enhance food security, health, development and other priorities in communities harmed by LRA violence. Collectively, we must ensure that areas ravaged by the LRA are able at long last to enjoy the benefits of peace. Despite some progress, we remain concerned about reports of unfettered LRA activity in the north-eastern parts of the Central African Republic, a country that is beset simultaneously by brutal religious violence and immense and growing humanitarian needs.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“The decline in LRA terror has made it possible for hundreds of thousands to return to their homes, reducing the population displaced by the LRA from more than 320,000 at the end of last year to less than 160,000 today. This still huge and unacceptable number marks the lowest level in over a decade. Credit for these gains belongs to the AU Regional Task Force, international peacekeepers, non-governmental organizations and leaders of local civil society. Because of this progress, the LRA is becoming less relevant. As the threat recedes further, we should place greater emphasis on working with local leaders to help affected communities to recover.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“My Government commends the African Union (AU) Regional Task Force and its partners for making important progress. If defector reports are accurate, the LRA's second-in-command, Okot Odhiambo - one of several prominent LRA leaders who have been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity - was killed late last year. That represents a substantial blow to what little remains of the LRA's command structure. In the past few years, military and political efforts, combined with strong civil society advocacy, have reduced LRA combatants from more than 1,000 to a small fraction of that number. Between 2011 and 2013, the number of people killed by LRA attacks dropped by 75 per cent, and the level of abductions by 50 per cent. Since 2012, more than 180 men, women and children have defected or been released.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“My Government has been in close communication with Nigerian officials, including Ambassador ngu here in New York, and we will do all we can to support their efforts to ensure that the missing schoolgirls are returned safely to their homes. Of course, in stealing children, Boko Haram is mimicking tactics first used in the region by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). For more than two decades, the LRA has ravaged the lives of tens of thousands of men, women and children, who have been displaced, maimed, abducted or killed across four countries. In the process, the LRA has compelled countless young people to serve as underage soldiers and sex slaves. Our goal has been, and remains to bring that scourge to a complete and decisive end.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“Boko Haram has primarily chosen targets who cannot fight back: students, hospital patients, teachers and other unarmed civilians. The abduction last month of more 200 Nigerian schoolgirls and subsequent public threats to sell the girls into slavery have shocked us to the core, not only as diplomats and policy leaders but also as parents and human beings. Boko Haram has no agenda other than cowardice, sadism, ignorance and death. As such, it has made itself the adversary of people everywhere. My Government has pledged its support to the Nigerian Government in helping to return the girls to their homes. We are prepared to assist the region in developing a comprehensive strategy to defeat Boko Haram, including by pursuing United Nations sanctions against that group, and to hold its murderous leaders accountable for their actions.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“I thank Special Representative Moussa for his briefing and for all his efforts on behalf of peace in the Central African region. Today marks a pivotal moment to reflect strategically on the myriad of growing concerns surrounding the Central African region, which risks full implosion. Flanked by conflict from the Great Lakes to its immediate south, a struggling new nation to its east, burgeoning terror threats to its west and an explosive religious conflict at its core, the region is one that we must prioritize. We ignore those trend lines and their ability to handicap the region's trajectory towards growth to our peril. We View with horror and outrage the ongoing campaign of destruction perpetrated by Boko Haram, which is migrating east and knocking on Central Africa's door.”
2014-05-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7171 (2014) · source
“Those who ignore this warning should have no doubt that the international community will do all within its power to hold those individuals accountable. The culture of impunity must end. My colleagues, it is imperative that we remain determined and united in pressing the Government and leading opposition figures in South Sudan to reverse their dangerous course and genuinely, actually, pursue peace. Last month, the world stopped for a moment to remember the genocide that took place in Rwanda 20 years ago. President Kiir attended that ceremony to pay his respects. Now President Kiir, former Vice-President Machar and other rebel leaders have a duty to themselves and their fellow citizens to pull their country back from the abyss. It is not too late, but the window is closing.”
2014-05-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7168 (2014) · source
“In the coming days, my Government will join in circulating a draft resolution that will revise the UNMISS mandate so that it focuses more fully on civilian protection, human rights monitoring and investigation, and the delivery of food and other emergency supplies. Given the key role UNMISS plays, the Council should take up that draft resolution with the urgency that this crisis demands. Those who choose the path of further violence and hatred have been given fair notice. No one has licence to attack United Nations peacekeepers, international monitors or civilian non-combatants of any nationality or ethnicity. No one has the right to target others because of their ethnicity, to incite violence or breach the protective walls of a United Nations base.”
2014-05-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7168 (2014) · source
“The meeting is an emergency meeting, and should be treated as such by both sides. Every day the ethnic polarization and violence is growing worse. I emphasize that the United States strongly supports the critical work of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, as well as the relief agencies doing their best in difficult conditions to meet the needs of men, women and children in dire straits. I remind the Government of South Sudan that it has an obligation to the international community to prevent attacks on the United Nations and those agencies. That means, to repeat it again, that the Government itself must cease intimidation, harassment and slander of the United Nations Mission and its personnel.”
2014-05-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7168 (2014) · source
“Earlier today, Secretary of State John Kerry was in Juba, where he reiterated to President Kiir both the support of the international community to the people of South Sudan and our refusal to stand by if the country's leaders continue to go down the path of violence and destruction rather than that of negotiation and cooperation. President Kiir has said that he will implement the cessation-of-hostilities agreement immediately and meet directly with former Vice-President Machar. We have heard many promises from South Sudanese leaders, with no follow-up. We hope, for the sake of the people of South Sudan who are suffering through this terrifying crisis, that this time is different. And we urge President Kiir and Rick Machar to swiftly agree on a date for face-to-face talks.”
2014-05-02 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7168 (2014) · source