As
delivered
BRIEFING
TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL BY JOINT UN-LAS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR
SYRIA
LAKHDAR
BRAHIMI
24
September 2012
Mr.
President, Distinguished members of the Council.
 |
Lakhdar
Brahimi, Joint Special Representative of the UN
and the
League of Arab States for Syria, on his way
to his
office at UN Headquarters in New York.
24
September 2012 (Click on picture)
|
1.
It is an honour for me, to return to the Council in an official
capacity almost seven years after I left the United Nations. I look
forward to a fruitful cooperation with you on Syria, which is a
particularly difficult crisis.
2.
My initial remarks will be as brief as possible. And I look forward
to the exchange that will take place afterwards.
3.
In my remarks, I will first say a few words on how we are trying to
organize our Office. I will then list the contacts I have made during
the past four or live weeks. And finally, I will share a few
impressions about the present situation in and around Syria and just
a couple of preliminary, very tentative thoughts concerning the way
forward.
4.
Concerning the way our work is being organized, the
United Nations is in the liquidation phase of both UNSMIS in Syria
and the set up by Annan in Geneva. At the same time, we are in the
process of establishing an in Damascus. That Office is headed by
Mokhtar Lamani, a Canadian national of Moroccan origin who knows the
region very well, and already in Damascus and has started working.
5.
The natural place for myself and all my colleagues in this is in
Damascus. But for a variety of reasons, it is necessary for the time
being to operate from outside of Syria. We first thought our should
be established here at the United Nations Headquarters. But we are
now thinking of perhaps establishing it in Cairo as a more convenient
location. In both Damascus and Cairo, we shall do our very best to
respect the print” principle but we naturally look up to the United
Nations to provide us with all the staff and equipment necessary for
us to do our work properly.
6.
Since my appointment, I
have seen and talked to many people
in many capitals, including Damascus. I am very grateful to the
Foreign Ministers, and you in particular Mr. President, who kindly
called me to express support and discuss aspects of the Syrian
crisis. lt was an honour and a pleasure to talk to each one of them.
It was also a privilege to get together informally with you, the
Security Council members, at a meeting kindly organized by Monsieur
Araude Ambassador of France, and your Predecessor at the Chair, Mr.
President. I also met Ambassador Bashar J aafarir the Permanent
Representative of Syria here at the United Nations.
7.
In Cairo, l naturally met Dr. Nabil Al-Arabi, Secretary General of
the League of Arab States and Sheikh Hamad bin Jasem bin Jabr
Al-Thani, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar
who is the Chairman of the Arab League’s Standing Committee on
Syria. 1 attended a session of their Council of Ambassadors also.
And, President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt gmnted me an audience and I met
over dinner with the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Iran and Turkey who
were in town for the meeting of the Quartet suggested by President
Morsi. As you know, Saudi Arabia did not attend that meetmg.
8.
In Damascus, Cairo and Paris, I met a very large number of Syrian
nationals, mostly belonging to the opposition. I met also local human
rights activists, intellectuals and businessmen. I also met President
Bashar Al-Assad, Foreign Minister Walid AlMuallem, Deputy Foreign
Minister Faisal Mokdad as well as a few other Senior Officials of the
present Government in Syria. In Syria, I also meta few members of the
internal opposition, as it is called.
Mr.
President,
9-
To say that the situation in Syria is bad and getting worse is to
state the obvious. Incliscriminate shelling ofdcnsely populated
areas, excessive use of force, arbitrary and wide use of torture
continue unabated. There is no safe place for those who are caught in
violence, which is now engulfing almost the entire country. A measure
of the catastrophic magnitude of the crisis is given by the fact that
during the month of August perhaps as many as 5,000 people were
killed -- 1,600 of them during the last week of the month alone. It
is diffieult to give an accurate estimate of the people who have been
arrested — most observers put that number at “more than 30, 000
”. Among the opposition, many speak of 50000 and even 60,000.
President Assad himself does not deny that “thousands” are
detained but thinks that 30,000 is far too high a number.
10.
The sad truth is that a Syrian citizen, man woman or teenager does
not need to do much these days to be picked up by one of the many
security agencies and be kept either in a recognized jail or in one
of the much feared "'seeret" detention centers where
maltreatment
and medieval forms of torture are so common that victims do not even
talk about until a direct question is asked. I was told that at least
1,000 people have died inside detention centers as a result of sever
torture. Many travelers are picked up on the way to or from the
Damascus Airport. This was the case, a few days ago, of members of a
delegation of the opposition parties returning from China. As you
know Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have assembled
impressive, well documented, files on the subject. UNSMIS has done
its share as well, when it was operating. Our in Damascus will try to
continue this work but of course, our means are for the moment very
limited. The issue is high on the Agenda of the ICRC, the of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council in Geneva,
as you all know. President Assad told me that he has assured ICRC
President Mr. Peter Maurer, during his recent visit to Syria that his
Government would fully cooperate with the ICRC and grant full access
to all places of detention. To date, I don't think the Government has
acted on these promises.
11.
Many tragedies, Mr. President, have affected individuals, communities
and propefly since the start of the Syrian uprising 18 months ago.
One aspect that we do not hear oiten about, but which clearly
indicates the gravity of the situation is that Syria's cultural
heritage is being destroyed. Throughout the country, archeological
sites of the Antiquity, historic churches, medieval mosques and
Crusader Castles have been subject to shelling, gunfire and often
military occupation. Some of the worst hit monuments are situated in
cities that have been the focus of sustained bombing. These include
Homs where countless mosques, churches and old markets now lay in
ruin. These, Mr. President, include the Syrian Orthodox church
“Um dating back to 59 AD. It was built in 59 AD and is now
destroyed. The K Irafed Ibn A1- Wafid Mosque dating back to the
beginning offslnm has been destroyed as well.
12.
There is also Dara’a where the uprising began in March 2011: its
‘Umari Mosque - also founded at the very beginning of Islam in
the country - has sustained heavy shelling, as has the Mudiq
Citadel dose to the Heflenistic site of Apamea.
13.
Six major sites in Syria are part of the UNESCO World Heritage list:
Palmyra, Bosra, Darnascus, Aleppo, and the ancient villages
0fN0rthern Syria, as well as the Crak des Chevaliers and the Castle
of Salah A1-Din. Many are said to have been damaged by attacks and
illicit excavations
14.
Now in Aleppo, gunfire is engulfing the medieval citadel in the
centre of town, There are also reports of dozens of other examples of
destmction throughout the country, not to mention instances of brazen
theft, plunder, looting and consequent risk ofillegal exports of
cultural heritage, particularly archeological objects.
Mr.
President,
15.
The United Nations Country Team in Damascus is working diligently to
offer help where help is needed and that is practically the entire
country. Perhaps as many as two and a half million people are
affected by the conflict and need help. One and a half million people
have been forced to leave their homes and are now sheltering with
family and friends or in public buildings, especially schools.
280,000 have fled to neighbouring countries. These numbers can be
much higher, and certainly are growing by the day.
16.
Food shoflages are looming due to poor harvest. Syria used to produce
about 90% of its pharmaceutical needs. Most of the factories and
laboratories have been destroyed or otherwise forced to stop
production. As a result, medical supplies are no longer available to
most Syrians, especially in conflict zones. Hospitals have been
damaged and the fear of security agents present in many hospitals
keeps patients away from those hospitals.
17.
The new school year has just started. But in reality, not all of the
schools have been able to open to pupils. A large number of schools
have been destroyed. It is estimated that more than 2,000 schools ofa
total of the 22,000 schools in the country have been damaged and at
least 88 staff have lost their lives. Other schools, as said a
moment
ago, are used to shelter families whose homes have been damaged. We
were told that the Government wants to evacuate internally displaced
people from 50 per cent of the schools, in which they are sheltered,
to give them back to education. UNHCR, UNICEF and other partners will
distribute 100,000 school bags to support basic education for
displaced and vulnerable children.
Mr.
President,
18.
Visiting refugee camps is never a happy experience. Going lo Altinozu
camp in Hatay, Turkey and Za’atari camp in Mafraq in Jordan was no
exception. We tend to speak of them as numbers and we try to help
provide basic needs for them. But these are men and women who,
yesterday, had a life, a home, a family, a business perhaps, or a
shop, or a small farm. They had hopes, plans for the future, and all
ofa sudden, nothing. They are dependent on the goodness of others.
They live day by day, hour by hour, longing to go back where they
eame from, to bring their children back home. One of them listed
seven or eight cities in my own country, Algeria, he had visited.
Another one asked me this terrible question: “Please tell me, Sir,
are we humans?” In Za’atari camp, another man said: “we left a
large prison in Syria. And here we are, locked up behind barbed wire,
with nothing to do, nothing to hope for”.
19.
Turkey has spent U SD $300 million dollars to accommodate refugees
from Syria. Jordan does not have the means to match that kind of
generosity. But, UNHCR people told us that Jordan was definitely one
of the most hospitable countries in the world for refugees.
20.
Those 2.5 million Syrians who need help inside Syria and over 250,000
refugees deserve a better, more generous attention from the
international community. Efforts of the United Nations, the ICRC, the
Syrian Red Crescent and devoted Syrian volunteers are handicapped by
shortages in funding more than by anything else. Of course__
bureaucratic hurdles, restricted access and insecurity inside the
country do not help.
21.
One can only note that the overwhelming attention of the
international community and media on the political and security
dimensions of this crisis has not yet translated into more genuine
and effective efforts to assist its victims. Millions of lives have
already been shattered. Unless the international community provides
aid to organizations, the necessary space and resources to assist and
help restore the dignity of Syrians most affected, people will
continue to suffer on their own.
22.
However, the best kind of help these IDPS, refugees and people in
Syria in general desperately need is peace, a secure and stable
environment in which they would rebuild their country, and this is,
of course, easier said than done.
23.
I don’t think it is an unfair representation of reality to say
that, on the side ofthe Government, the aim is still to keep, or
return to, the old Syria, even if much is said about dialogue and
reform. Popular demand for change, not reforms. is hardly recognized
by the Government. The crisis is seen mainly as a foreign eonspiraey
engineered from
abroad.
The fact that for about six months the popular movement was peaceful
is hardly remembered in government circles. Indeed, it is often
claimed that mainly non-Syrian jihadists, salafi st and other
Islamists and members of Al Qaeda are being confronted by the
Government whose forces are exercising their duty to protect their
people.
24.
It is generally agreed however that there
are
foreigners among the groups fighting Government forces. But, it is
estimated that those foreign elements are less than 2,000. Government
sources themselves speak of 5,000. In private conversations, Syrian
officials do not really insist that only foreigners are involved in
this insurgency. But they do insist that only the flow of arms and
money from abroad is keeping it going.
25.
Divided as it is, the opposition speaks in one voice in describing
their actions as a National Revolution, as a determined rejection of
an unjust, cruel and corrupt regime that has kept the country under a
system of terror for well over four decades. And they say that there
is no turning back: like in Tunisia and Egypt: the Syrian people want
to see the end of this regime, they say. Which is summed up in their
slogan: “Bashar must go. No dialogue or negotiations until he does
leave”.
26.
The opposition suspects that all the Government sweet talk about
dialogue is but a play to gain time and allow their forces to win on
the ground and again silence the people and impose its will. That is
why they are suspicious of mediation eiTorts._ including Annarfs and
my own. Almost everyday one spokesman of the opposition or another,
goes live on Al J azeera or Al Arabiya satellite television channels
to declare, sometimes rudely or less so, that my efforts, like are a
waste of time. Worse, that in wasting time, in this manner we are
responsible for the death of scores of people every day.
27.
It is also a fact that many in the opposition, whether they say so in
so many words or not, believe that the only solution would be a
military intervention from abroad. And quite a few are certain that
such an intervention is in preparation and shall take place, in spite
of the repeated unambiguous declarations to the contrary by those
very countries who are supposed to be preparing military
intervention.
28.
In the League of Arab States, the majority‘s wish is to see “the
beginning of the transition and a process for a fast transfer of
power”. There is much merit in the SixPoint Plan Annan’s and in
the Geneva Declaration and Action Plan ofthe 30 of June. If has given
up, however, it is evidently because the implementation of both the 6
Point Plan and the Geneva process has hit series ofhurdies. Those
hurdles exist among the Syrian parties as well as at the regional and
international levels.
29.
The initiative of President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt to bring together
four major regional powers has not - or
has not yet
- produce all the good effects its author hoped it would achieve.
30.
Efforts to unite the opposition have produced disappointing results
for the moment. These efforts are continuing, as you know, and it is
important that they be more successful in the near future.
Mr.
President,
31.
In his last press conference as Joint Special Envoy, Koli said that,
“ultimately President Bashar Al-Assad shall have to go”. Indeed,
it bears repeating that the solution of Syria’s problem demands a
clean break with the past. How does that happen is all the question.
Events of the recent past in the region teach us the all important
necessity to avoid the destruction of the state and to prevent the
collapse of the Army and police.
32.
This cannot be achieved by rushing into a new plan ofaetion before
ensuring reasonable chance for such a plan to be implemented. It is
in this perspective that I intend to work. The efforts I intend to
undertake - indeed, the efforts that I have already undertaken —
cannot go anywhere, Mr. President, without a strong collective,
united and sustained support from this Council.
33.
It is this support that I have come to ask for today, Mr. President.
I
thank you for your attention.
