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INSIDE AFRICA
The Year in Africa in Review
Aired December 27, 2008 - 12:30:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: A year in review for Africa. Somalia-based pirates play catch me if you can and share their (AUDIO GAP).
A global food crisis brings a key vulnerability into sharper focus. And the world says goodbye to a singing legend and pillar of the anti-Apartheid movement.
In this special edition of INSIDE AFRICA, we look back at the standout stories of 2008.
Hello, I'm Isha Sesay. Let's pick up where we left off last week and continue our look back at the big stories of 2008. Modern-day pirates in the waters off Somalia grabbed the headlines worldwide. And they showed that (AUDIO GAP) while hijacking massive cargo ships and receiving huge ransoms. I asked our David McKenzie about what it was like to cover this story by land, sea and air.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We think of them as buccaneers, something from "Pirates of the Caribbean," but really it's a big issue here in Africa. And we caught wind of this earlier this year, the bureau here, and through our contacts in the region. We were hearing repeated stories of attacks off Somalia.
The problem is how do you cover that? Going to Somalia is very difficult, but getting on those ships that are actually patrolling for pirates seemed a bit more realistic. But it ended up being months of work to find the time that we could actually get on the ship.
Now to explain this, you have to understand the logistics, Isha. These ships are all over this region out to sea, but for them to actually be close to land and for us to get on them is quite challenging. So that -- the window we had kept on moving.
The captain told me that they have a sheet of orders in the morning. They just change those orders all the time. Essentially they're listening up for merchant vessels, when those vessels will be in distress. They're tracking those vessels, and if they're in distress, if that vessel is close enough, they'll take it -- they'll go to ...
Finally, we got word when I was way out in western Kenya with the CNN team that the next day (AUDIO GAP).
And very frustrating, as you can imagine. I mean, I'm sure you've covered stories occasionally that can't physically be there. It's always a last resort for us. Somalia obviously is a very challenging and dangerous place to go as a journalists. Just recently, there were some foreign journalists kidnapped there. We've always been looking at ways to go there, but we really can't guarantee the safety of the crew, and make sure we can get back.
So, the way we work, really, is we're constantly digging to see if stringers there, if our contacts there can come up with good material. We managed to get quite a big scoop with material shot by the pirates themselves as they took on a vessel, which was a Korean fishing vessel, some years ago.
Now, it's things like that that we have to work on a constant basis, so it's very challenging, but frustrating.
Obviously, the bigger problem is for the local journalists in Somalia. As you know, Isha, I mean, that is one of the worst places -- I think the second most dangerous place to work as a journalist in the world. So, those journalists on a daily basis are getting out material to the wires, to broadcast networks like ourselves, and they really are the true heroes of any story coming out of Somalia.
SESAY: I mean, this is just -- this is the story that just seem to keep getting bigger, you know, by the day. I mean, with that, I should also ask the question whether you've been surprised by how much attention it has now -- it is now getting from the world's media.
MCKENZIE: Well, I'm surprised, Isha, and I'm not surprised. I mean, obviously, there is initially that sort of quirky appeal to the story. As I said before, I mean piracy, you don't expect it in the modern world. But when you start digging deeper, you realize how serious the situation is, and besides the stories we always hear about modern buccaneers and pirates of the Caribbean and -- off Somalia, the real meat of the issue and what we've tried to focus on is how big this piracy problem has been for commerce, for security in the region. Because initially, you can have traction on the story just because of, you know, the -- the oddity of it. But for it to have legs, long-term, there needs to be something behind it, and I think that's why piracy has been such a big story this year. And I really don't see any reason for it to slow down.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: That was our David McKenzie who's based in Nairobi.
Now it said (AUDIO GAP) and that was certainly born out in Africa in 2008. World food crisis (AUDIO GAP) in several countries.
After a quick break, our Christian Purefoy tells us what happened in Senegal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Welcome back. Events in 2008 underlined just how much the world is interconnected. Before the global financial crisis eased prices in many countries, a widespread food shortage caused food prices to spike. No continent was harder hit than Africa. Our Christian Purefoy was in Senegal as the crisis reached its height.
CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It affected everybody. But what was unique about Senegal was that it was a microcosm of the extreme end of the problem. Senegal is a poor country with a lot of people in poverty, and there were riots because people couldn't afford to feed themselves. And in a global crisis, that was extremely unique to see and witness on the ground, people who had to go onto the streets and riot because they simply couldn't afford a loaf of bread.
SESAY: Christian, as you pointed out, you know, this is the situation where tempers were flaring, and certainly nerves were frayed. I'm wondering how were you received by people as you tried to get the details from them, and really shed light on this?
PUREFOY: Well, I was actually perceived extremely well by almost everyone. Senegal is actually a very pleasant country. The activists who had been at the forefront of the demonstrations were extremely glad to see world media there, and showed me around, and were very happy to talk.
MOMAR NDAO, CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION OF SENEGAL: The thing that's getting around in Senegal is the high -- the high prices. Every time the prices are rising, the Senegalese are (inaudible) because of the poverty. And the government does not do the real job to put the prices down.
PUREFOY: But as well, the government, they were very happy to talk to us and get their side of the story. Because in many ways, they felt they were to blame for this crisis and that they had plans to help move it along.
MAMADOU DIOP, MINISTER OF COMMERCE: There was no vision about agriculture issues in Senegal. But now we understand what's happening.
PUREFOY: And then, your average person in Senegal, this was a problem affecting them, and they really wanted to talk about it and get their opinions across.
SESAY: (AUDIO GAP) unique challenges for correspondents. What were the unique challenges you faced?
(AUDIO GAP)
PUREFOY: So, I was -- it was OK there, but the main challenge was the problem of the story itself. These people are hungry, some of them are starving, and it's extremely difficult to -- to capture that in -- on a camera. I think at the end of one of my stories, I showed a young boy outside a bakery, and he was in rags, and he was hungry and begging for food. I hope that that picture did it justice, but it was extremely difficult to capture the idea of a hungry population rioting in streets, Isha.
SESAY: How is Senegal doing now?
PUREFOY: Well, there haven't been anymore riots or demonstrations in Senegal since the middle of the year. And the government has proposed several schemes for self-sufficiency, particularly in rice after partnering with an Indian company. But the problem actually is still there. It's still a big problem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: That was our Christian Purefoy, who's based in Lagos. 2008, Africa and the world lost an iconic (inaudible). Coming up on INSIDE AFRICA, our Robyn Curnow explores the legacy of Miriam Makeba.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Making business news in Africa. Nigeria's new finance minister is setting a tone of urgency for his country's banking industry. He says Nigerian banks need to speed up the pace of reforms to avoid more fallout from the world's financial crisis. Mansur Muhtar issued the warning at his swearing in. He joins the finance ministry from the African Development Bank.
The global economic downturn has taken a major toll on stocks in South Africa. The Johannesburg stock exchange is heading for its first down year in six years, and its steepest drop in more than a decade.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Welcome back. You're watching INSIDE AFRICA.
In 2008, the world said goodbye to Mama Africa. South African singing sensation Miriam Makeba died of a heart attack after a performance in Italy. Our Robyn Curnow actually interviewed Makeba several months ago. I asked about Makeba's impact as a revered public figure who spoke her mind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think I was surprised by perhaps how much heartache she seems to carry on her. She seemed quite sad, but at the same time, she was also incredibly stoic and incredibly brave about her ups and downs.
I think Miriam Makeba acknowledged that she'd had -- she'd had quite a rocky road in terms of her life. She'd been married a number of times, and she'd been in an exile a number of times from South Africa.
MIRIAM MAKEBA: Because I wasn't allowed to come home to bury my mother. And when we got there, and my aunt was there, I couldn't (inaudible), and just sat on her grave like a baby sitting on its mother's lap, and I cried.
CURNOW: I interviewed Miriam Makeba at a home that she had set up for young girls, mostly teenagers, most of them had been abused. And she'd taken them in, the local welfare authorities brought them to this house. It wasn't a very luxurious house, and a lot of these girls were sort of crammed into rooms, it was sort of -- it was -- it was quite a meager existence. She was giving everything she had.
MAKEBA: I'm not rich, but I shared with these children whatever it is I could afford.
CURNOW: You know, she didn't open up right away, actually. She was quite prickly when I first interviewed her. I think she's one of these people who perhaps has had a lot of heartache in her life, and I found that it took her a while to sort of get her to trust me. Actually, at one set, I thought, I don't know how I'm going to do this interview, she clearly doesn't like me. But it was -- it was less about that and more about the fact that I think she just came across as somebody who was quite guarded. And the more I chatted with her, the more I made her realize that I wasn't, you know, I wasn't a nasty piece of work and I wasn't trying to catch her out or to try and get some sort of tabloid stuff information out of her -- and we just chatted in the end, and we actually got on really well afterwards. And it turned out to be a wonderful interview, when she -- when she realized that she could -- she could talk about her life.
And I think anybody, particularly when you reach your 70s, you know, is quite happy to talk about your life. But she definitely was not as forthcoming as I initially thought she would be. But she -- by the end of the interview, she was warm, she was laughing, and she was very open.
MAKEBA: People would kill me if I do a performance and not singing "Pata Pata," or (inaudible).
So what I do is I try to put them in a medley of songs. I do a medley of songs, then I just sing bits and pieces of them, because I'm too tired of singing the song.
CURNOW: She was known as Mama Africa, but her songs, her music, her sassiness, her huge personality sort of definitely went across cultures. And she was a global phenomenon. She even said herself she was probably the first black artist that really crossed boundaries when it came to music in the '50s. Just think about it -- she was this young black woman singing Xhosa. She was singing in her native language, and her music still spoke to even the white inhabitants of apartheid South Africa. She was a hit here.
So she was really great at being able to tell her story through music to audiences who perhaps had nothing in common and definitely didn't understand what she was singing about. And I think perhaps that's her greatest legacy. I sometimes still stick her music on in my car.
(MUSIC)
And the "Pata Pata" song, or the click song, and it really just gets you going. It's wonderful music.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: That was Robyn Curnow who's based in Johannesburg.
In 2008, we saw bloody conflicts and humanitarian crises surge in several African hot spots. After a quick break, we'll examine the human toll and the quest for justice and peace.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. I'm Isha Sesay. We continue our look back now at the big stories of 2008. And hostilities in eastern Congo reached boiling point in late August, with clashes between the forces of rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, government troops, and various militia. As in the years gone by, wanton violence, looting and rape was commonplace. So, where do we stand now? Well, some 250,000 people were forced to flee, and this latest chapter of violence has given birth to a humanitarian crisis.
INSIDE AFRICA wanted to gain some greater understanding of the complexity of this situation. We spoke to John Prendergast, a human rights activist and the co-chair of the Enough Project, which is an organization dedicated to ending genocide around the world. Prendergast stresses that there will be no peace in eastern Congo until a coherent political strategy takes center stage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN PRENDERGAST, ENOUGH PROJECT: This is just a scramble for money and resources, and it hasn't change at all. The names have changed, but the same kind of approach we've seen for the last century and a half continues. And now we have 5 million in this new scramble. It's shocking what is -- what is taking place in Congo. And it's like nothing else in the world. We've thrown billions of dollars of humanitarian aid and billions of dollars in peacekeeping. This is the largest, most expensive peacekeeping force in the entire word, without a political strategy to deal with the root causes. This Rwanda -- the problem of the Rwandan militias, the problem of the mineral extraction. We're not dealing with the fundamental issues in Congo in the context of a peace process, in the context of a political process.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Now, according to UNIFEM -- that's the United Nations Development Fund for Women -- their chief humanitarian coordinator John Holmes recently reported that some 32,000 cases of sexual violence and rape against women were registered in eastern Congo's South Kivu province since 2005 alone. And that is just a fraction of the number of women that are believed to have been the victims of such violence. All too often, these victims remain faceless casualties. We know that they're suffering, but there is a sense that their suffering is just part and parcel of that individual conflict.
Well, Eve Ensler is challenging that notion. Ensler is a famous playwright, human rights activist, and an author. And she believes that the crimes that are perpetrated against women in eastern Congo, basically they have ramifications for all of us, no matter where we live in the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVEN ENSLER, V-DAY: There is this underlying thread through the world, women are desecrated. In the Congo, it is the most extreme example of it. And if we allow what is happening in the Congo to continue happening to women in the Congo, this will not only spread in Africa, it will spread through the world, because we're giving a legitimacy and license to the practice where if you ruin women, if you kill women's bodies, if you are to break their hearts, if you destroy their capacity to function, you destroy the capacity of children to function, and communities to function, and the future of a country to function.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, Immaculee Ilibagiza is a survivor of one of recent history's darkest chapters, the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Over the course of 100 days, Hutu extremists slaughtered some 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates. All the while, for 91 days, Ilibagiza hid in a tiny bathroom along with seven other women, while her family was being murdered.
We traveled to New York, the INSIDE AFRICA crew, to sit down face to face with Ilibagiza, to speak to her and hear her painful yet ultimately inspirational story, and she describes how quickly things started to unravel as the genocide got under way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IMMACULEE ILIBAGIZA, AUTHOR "LED BY FAITH": When I left, around my home, we'd heard about (inaudible) and Tutsis, and Hutus who were just scared, not knowing what was going on, because we have started -- the minute the president died, 15 minutes after, they have started to kill people around.
So, in even my village, they were burning homes. A group of killers, young people, people who went to school with me. They just turned all of a sudden into killers.
But they were prepared, they knew it was coming. They started to search every home of Hutus. After they have killed thousands of Tutsis who run to public places, like stadiums, churches. Now I remember I heard on the radio, they gave order to start searching every home. So that was like another pain, like agony, something you never could again -- you can have fear like that.
So they started to come, and I never forgot one day, they came to search the house, 300 killers, again, people -- neighbors, people I know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: And a mastermind of Rwandan genocide was convicted by an International Criminal Court on genocide and crimes against humanity.
Well, there we must leave it, but before we go, we want to thank all our contributors who came on the show in 2008 and shared their experiences and provided some insight to us all.
Next week, our Christian Purefoy will be hosting the program from the oil- rich and troubled Niger Delta. But until then, happy new year from the entire INSIDE AFRICA crew.
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