INTERVIEW WITH AKASHI [Main Title]

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  • Title: INTERVIEW WITH AKASHI [Main Title]
  • Film Number: UNT 799
  • Other titles: AKASHI INTERVIEW [Alternative Title] UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: Outgoing SRSG Yasushi Akashi's final interview before departing Zagreb.
  • Description: Footage of Yasushi Akashi at the airport, leaving the region after serving as Special Representative to the United Nations in Yugoslavia for twenty-two months. Before he left, he was interviewed by UNTV’s Series Editor, Roy Head. Akashi says that he is leaving with a basic sense of optimism still intact. The latest peace initiative has promising aspects and though there are gaps in the plan still to be filled, all parties in this conflict have become more or less exhausted and have come to realise that as there is no easy military solution it makes sense to seek a political settlement. Additionally, now that international players are more united, the peace process is in an encouraging position. Akashi says that although the UN were unable to prevent war in Croatia this summer this does not mean that their efforts over the previous few years have been worthless. He points to an article by Mr Mikarić (sp?) in Belgrade’s ‘Politika’ newspaper, who wrote that it was a great pity that Krajina leaders did not heed the advice of the UN and did not have a good attitude towards negotiations. Roy Head asks about the events of August 1995. He says that they watched the UN doing everything they could to avoid war yet in capitals like Berlin and Washington, other messages were being given to Croatian leaders. He asks whether Akashi felt that he was being undercut from the outside? Akashi says that he did not feel that as he is used to disappointments and setbacks. He says that you do not always get the support you would like, but those two countries have often supported us and after the war they have both been outspoken in criticising human rights violations that occurred during the war. Roy Head then compares Yasushi Akashi’s attitude here and during his time in Cambodia. There, Akashi decided to hold elections despite threats from Khmer Rouge and advice from international sources that it was unsafe to hold them. By sticking to that programme, the freest elections for many years were held in Cambodia. Yet Akashi has been criticised here for not being robust enough, and for allowing Serbia to call the UN’s bluff on occasion. How does he answer these criticisms? Akashi says that these criticism are misplaced. He says that they have had to act without complete focus from international parties and at a time when the parties in conflict here were not exhausted. The UN did what it could but the UN was not mandated to fight a war here. The UN is leaving with notable achievements, namely the organisation and distribution of humanitarian aid that has saved many people from starvation and from freezing to death during the winter months. The UN has also organised temporary ceasefires which are better than no ceasefires at all. They have been working in very difficult circumstances and were not given enough resources to protect Protection Areas. They asked for 34, 000 troops but only received 7000, a number that was insufficient to prevent insurgencies and protect civilians. On the use of NATO airstrikes, Akashi says that even NATO recognises that force is not the only way forward, and the use of airstrikes is just one of the ways that circumstances have changed. A combination of many factors means that parties are more prepared to talk about peace now than previously.
  • Alternative Title: AKASHI INTERVIEW [Alternative Title] UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: English (Tape Code A)
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: UNT 799
  • Sound: Bosnian (Tape Code B)
  • Access Conditions:
  • Featured Period: 1990-2000
  • Production Date: 1995-10 1995-11-08
  • Production Country: UN
  • Production Details: Turner, Mark (Production individual) Bu, James (Production individual) Thurnau, Karen (Production individual) Head, Roy (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Akashi, Yasushi (person)
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: English (Tape Code A) Sound format: Bosnian (Tape Code B) Soundtrack language: Croatian (Tape Code C) Title language: Serbian (Tape D)
  • Technical Details: Format: Beta-SP Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Running time: 8 mins 12 secs
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    UNT 799

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    UNT 800 (UNTV PROGRAMME NO 134 [Main Title]) UNT 799 X (INTERVIEW WITH AKASHI (UNEDITED RUSHES) [Allocated Title])
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