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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Starving in Plain Sight in Niger; Facts on Niger; More Arrests in London; Young Victims in Niger; Discovery Needs Repairs
Aired August 01, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Kitty, thank you. Thanks very much, Kitty.
We are live in Maradi, Niger, where hunger is happening in plain sight. A food crisis in Niger. That's a special edition of 360 tonight. It is 7:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 4 p.m. in the West and midnight here in Maradi. 360 starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: "Starving in Plain Sight." Anderson Cooper on an extraordinary journey into the heart of Africa, and a hunger crisis with more than 3 million on the brink. Locusts, famine, drought and disease. At last, aid on the way, after months and months of cries for help. But who heard them and is there time to stop the apocalypse now?
Ground zero. It doesn't look like you imagined. There's a drought. But there's water. Starvation, but there's food. Anderson is up close, and what he sees is very personal.
Houston, we have a problem. Lives on the line in space. With the shuttle fleet grounded, now more problems for those who are so far away in deep space.
This is a special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360, with Anderson Cooper in Maradi, Niger, and Heidi Collins in New York.
COOPER: And good evening, everyone. It is midnight here in Maradi, Niger. And I hope you stay with us throughout this hour for a very special edition of 360.
Niger is a country in crisis right now. A food crisis. An extreme shortage of food. Three-and-a-half million people here are at risk of starvation, according to relief officials. Eight-hundred- thousand of them are children. They are the most in need right now. Maradi is a country about twice the size of Texas, but it is a country that has seen drought and problems many times before, but never like this. This year is different.
Last year, a plague of locusts and a terrible drought destroyed crops. About a third of the crops here in this country were destroyed. And now the people here, many of them, the poorest, the children of the poor, have no food left and are struggling day-to-day just to survive. Take a look at what one typical day is like here in Niger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER, (voice over): This is what desperation looks like. In a small village in southern Niger, hundreds of mothers gather with their hungry children hoping somebody will help them.
Hunger is nothing new in Niger. Every year there's a several- month gap -- they call it the hungry season -- between when the crops have been planted and they're actually harvested. What happened is with the drought last year, the crops simply didn't come up this year, so that hungry season is longer and more intense than it's been.
That's why Niger is in crisis. Aid agencies say the severe food shortage has put some 3.6 million Nigerians at risk of starvation, most of them children.
Some of the worst cases aren't necessarily in the big cities in Niger, they're in smaller, outlying villages. The relief groups come to villages like this one and offer screening. Mothers bring their children. The worst cases are brought back to the city, back to the hospital.
At this village screening, however, the crowds are simply too big.
It's a bit overwhelming when you first come to a center like this because there are just so many people, so many mothers who have brought their children. Not all of them are starving. Not all of them are severely malnourished. In fact, some of them look pretty healthy. They're smiling. But they know that there's food here. They know there's medical care here. So they bring their children looking for help.
Christophe (ph), a relief worker with Doctors Without Borders, decides it's impossible to safely screen children in these conditions.
What's the problem today?
CHRISTOPHE, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Today the problem is there are too much people and uncontrolled.
COOPER: The village elders are trying to restore some semblance of order but they're not having much luck. There are just too many people, too many people trying to get food for their kids. The relief workers are actually going to cancel the program in this village for today because it's impossible to screen out the most needy. They hope they're going to be able to come back tomorrow.
A few miles away, Doctors Without Borders is able to screen other children. They're weighed and measured. Some immediately receive milk. The worst cases wind up here in the hospital. It's not known how many children have died in Niger because of this year's severe food shortage, but relief agencies say there have been thousands. Their deaths don't make headlines, only their parents remember their names.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Just want to let you know where I'm standing right now. I'm in an emergency center set up by a group called Doctors Without Borders - Medecins Sans Frontieres (ph). They're one of the many groups here who are doing heroic work trying to save the lives of so many of these children who are facing starvation. I mean that's basically what it is. All night long, I said it's about midnight here, but there are people awake. Behind me is the intensive care ward that is filled with children and their mothers who are watching after them.
There are about 200 children being treated right now in this camp. There's about 300 more who are being treated on an outpatient basis. And this one group, Doctors Without Borders, they've been treating about 5,000 children in this entire region. So there is certainly a lot of work to be done. No-one knows that more than Jeff Koinange, CNN's West African bureau chief, who has spent an awful lot of time here over the last week or so.
Jeff, it's in the countryside where so many of the problems lay.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's no doubt about it, Anderson. And we drove all the way from Nigeria, about a five, six hour drive. All across the countryside, we see a country of contrast and contradictions. In fact, it looks so green out there and yet the people are starving and the animals are dying. This is what we found out when we drove into the countryside.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOINANGE, (voice over): On the road in the countryside in one of the world's poorest nations. This is rural Niger, a land littered with contradictions, where both crops and cattle abound, while a nation faces one of its worst famines in recent memory. Village after village looks empty and abandoned. Many have opted for the big cities where aid agencies distribute food.
Those too weak to walk scratch the ground for scraps. Around here, a handful of grain can often go a long way. Further a-field, communities live in abject poverty, where the strong have to fend for the weak, the young fending for the old. Seventy-five-year-old Abdullah Omar (ph) is so weak from hunger he can hardly walk. His 10- year-old daughter Amena (ph) has to pound the family's few remaining grains in fear that her father will starve to death.
I can't remember the last time we ate. We are so hungry, he says.
Much of their livestock has been decimated by a famine that's killed thousands and threatens millions more.
Now what's deceiving about this scene here is that it all looks so green and fertile. But just scratch a bit of this surface here and you'll find that these soils are bone dry. Now speaking of bones, scenes that are repeated across this land, the bones of dead horses, donkeys and cows, an indicator the famine has been going on for quite a while with little or no relief in sight.
Osman Abubicar (ph) is a nomadic herdsman who grazes his fast thinning herds near the carcasses of his 20 dead cows. He says cattle are his life, providing much needed food for his two wives and nine children.
What else can I do? I've been herding cattle for many years. I can't do anything else, he says.
The aid agency OXFAM may have found a solution to the dying herds. It's buying cattle from local herdsmen at a premium and converting the herds into meat and then giving it back to the community under a work for food program, a program that's getting food where it's needed most.
LOUIS BELANGER, OXFAM SPOKESMAN: So it's basically, you know, bringing relief to some of the nomadic communities, which are very much affected because of the famine, because they've lost most of their herds.
KOINANGE: This enables hundreds of starving villagers like Parti Balari (ph) to get the minimum $5 food vouchers from feeding centers like this one, under a tree in the middle of nowhere. She happily receives her rice from Pakistan, sugar from Brazil, cooking oil and tea from China.
I am so happy, she says. Without this, we would surely die. Enough food to feed her five children for only a few days as they await long overdue rains.
BELANGER: The worst case scenario for Niger today is if there's no rain in the next two or three weeks, you're looking at a third year in a row with a very bad harvest and this would just bring disaster to the country.
KOINANGE: A disaster many here are hoping they can still avert in a land as unforgiving as it is unrelenting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOINANGE: No doubt a land that is so unforgiving and so unrelenting.
And, Anderson, the one thing that we notice is that this is no doubt a country of contrasts and ironies. The biggest irony, this famine didn't have to happen at all.
COOPER: There was lots of warning about it because of the locusts last year, because of the drought, the relief workers who were here, the U.N. who was here. They all said back in February, at the very latest, look, we're going to have a problem. But so much of the world was focused on the tsunami, people weren't paying attention to what was going on here.
KOINANGE: Exactly. And the warning came out in November and the world could have acted there. On December 26, the tsunami hit and the whole world's direction was directed toward Southeast Asia. And that's when Africa fell off the radar.
COOPER: We're going to talk with Jeff a little bit later on in this program. Coming up next, we're going to explain the roots of this crisis, exactly why it has happened. It's a very interesting look back at what has gone on here over the last year. I'll also take you on my own journey to Maradi, to this town. A reporter's notebook, behind the scenes and what it's like reporting from here during this food crisis.
Also, we have news from around the world, in the United States and also from London. More arrests today. And one terror suspect who said he didn't want to kill anybody, he just wanted to send a message. All that and more. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: It is such a startling figure. One quarter of all children die in Niger before they reach the age of four, and that is even in the best of times. That's not including this time right now where people are suffering from last year's drought and last year's invasion of locusts. This is a country, one of the poorest in Africa, one of the poorest in the world -- a country that is used to suffering.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER, (voice over): These are the faces of Niger. Hollow eyes. Hunger. More than 11 million people, some of them desert nomads, inhabit this fragile country. Eighty percent of them are Muslim. Christians make up just a small percentage of the population here.
Originally, a French colony until 1960, French is still the primary language spoken here. It wasn't until 1993 that Niger held its first free and open elections.
Niger is in the northwest of Africa. It's about two times the size of Texas. Its capital is Niamey. It's known as the sub-Saharan region. Goats, oxen and camel prowl this difficult terrain. Persistent drought, even plagues of locust, are very much a part of its recent history. Man and animal compete for precious resources. Academics say Niger's land-locked position and unforgiving desert terrain are key ingredients in keeping it on the brink of ruin.
LORENZO MORRIS, ASSOC PROF. HOWARD UNIV.: Its lack of ocean access is symbolic of its lack of access to world trade in the economy. It has very limited resources and poor trade relations.
COOPER: Just how poor is one of the poorest countries on Earth? Many here subsist on less than $1 a day. Unlike other countries in Africa, however, Niger's problems are not caused by war.
So how can one failed crop push a country into crisis? People look to Niger's president Tanja Mamadou.
MORRIS: When you have only one election to count as a clearly democratic election, then you have a limited claim to stable democracy. Ethnic divisions are difficult to manage as we...
COOPER: Part of this country's instability is traced ironically to one of its major industries, uranium mining. Most of us, if we've heard of Niger at all, know about it in the context of the CIA and Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame and yellowcake uranium. Uranium was discovered here in the late 1970s and Niger's uranium boom is blamed on creating not only huge disparities of wealth here, but military unrest.
MORRIS: The wealth of uranium has been a source of instability in the sense that as potential income for the economy grows, the separatist interests of some of the minority group are stronger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: When you talk about the problems that face Niger and what has caused the problems we're in now, it's not just environmental problems. Of course, there are politics and corruption and indifference.
But we're really not here to place blame tonight. There will be plenty of time for that down the road. We're here to bear witness to what is happening to the people of Niger, in particular the children. Some 800,000 children at risk of starvation right now.
Behind me is the intensive care ward here at Doctors Without Borders' relief center in Maradi. We're going to take you inside that intensive care ward for some extraordinary stories of children fighting for their lives and doctors fighting to keep them alive. That's a little later on this special edition of 360.
First, let's go back to Heidi Collins for the day's other news.
Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Such incredible stories, Anderson. Thanks so much. We'll see you in just a moment.
Erica Hill now from HEADLINE NEWS is joining us with some of the other stories that we are following tonight.
Hi, Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNNHN ANCHOR: Hi, Heidi.
Actually just a short time ago, NASA decided to go ahead with that space walk they've been talking about to make repairs to Shuttle Discovery. Astronauts will try to remove the gap fillers which are sticking out from the underbelly of the shuttle. NASA officials say they decided to make the unprecedented in-flight repair because of uncertainty as to whether or not those gap fillers could cause problems during the shuttle's re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. We're going to bring you a live report on this developing story coming up on 360. Stay with us for that.
Meantime, President Bush bypassing the Senate and using what he calls his constitutional authority to appoint John Bolton as the new U.N. ambassador. Bolton was nominated for the job nearly five months ago but Senate Democrats blocked a vote, questioning whether Bolton abused his authority or exaggerated key intelligence findings as under secretary of state for arms control. Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy called the appointment an "abuse of power." President Bush says the position is too important to leave vacant.
In Khartoum, Sudan, bloody riots. Christian and Arab gangs filling the streets, full of anger over the death of Sudan's vice president, a former rebel leader. According to Sudan TV, the vice president died in a helicopter crash blamed on poor visibility. The vice president took office just two months ago as part of a peace agreement that ended more than 20 years of civil war in Sudan.
In Baltimore, Maryland, Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro suspended now for 10 days for testing positive for steroids. Back in March, though, Palmeiro flatly denied using steroids when he testified before Congress, saying he didn't think athletes or children should use them. So a few questions there tonight, Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, I remember when he said that.
All right, Erica, thanks a lot. We'll see you again in about 30 minutes.
And in London, no let-up in security. Ahead on 360, a city on edge as more men are arrested, suspected of having connections with the botched bombings of the London transport system.
Also tonight, when food finally reaches a region in the midst of a hunger crisis, and it still doesn't get into the mouths of starving people. We'll meet one mother as she battles to find food for her family.
Plus, Anderson's reporter's notebook. His own account of a region where people are "Starving in Plain Sight".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back to 360, everybody. Anderson will be back with more on the hunger crisis in Niger.
But first, no rest for London police. Today they arrested two more men in connection with the failed bombings of the London transport bombing on July 21. In tonight's "World in 360", CNN's Matthew Chance joining us now from a city that is still on edge.
Matthew, what's the latest now about these two arrests today? What do we know?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these arrests took place, Heidi, within the last several hours in South London, the area of Streatham, where much of the arrests have taken place and where many of the police operations have taken place regarding the July 21 attacks attempted attacks on the city's transport system. They're now in custody. The police have 14 days to either come up with charges to interrogate them or, under the British anti-terrorism laws, they'll have to release them.
But it brings to 20 the number of people currently being held in connection with these July 21 attempted attacks -- most of them, including the four main suspects, or three of the main suspects, rather, being held in British custody. The other main suspect being held by Italian police after he was tracked across Europe making telephone calls on his personal cell phone. Finally arrested by Italian police last week and being interrogated there.
We're not getting much information, Heidi, about the three main suspects being held in the Paddington Green high security police station here in London. But we're getting lots of reports and trickles of information coming out of Italy as this individual faces extradition proceedings from Britain. We understand that he denies any link to al Qaeda. We understand also, according to his defense attorney, that he denies any link with the previous, very deadly bombings of the 7th of July. We also believe that he's saying that the bombings of the 21st of July were not intended to kill anybody, mainly to scare Londoners as a result of Britain's campaign in Iraq.
Heidi.
COLLINS: Matthew Chance, thanks for that. The latest from London.
ANNOUNCER: Ground zero. It doesn't look like you imagined. There's a drought, but there's water. Starvation, but there's food. Anderson is up close and what he sees is very personal.
Houston, we have a problem. Lives on the line in space. With the shuttle fleet grounded, now more problems for those who are so far away in deep space. 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back to "Starving in Plain Sight: The Food Crisis in Niger". A very special edition of 360.
We are in Maradi, Niger, which is really ground zero of this crisis. It's where a lot of relief agencies have set up centers to try to help the hundreds of thousands of children who are at risk of starvation right now. We're in a relief camp set up by Doctors Without Borders. It's one of many camps that they have set up in this region. And right now, tonight, at midnight, 12:30, they are treating 200 children who are being watched over by their mothers and by some very dedicated doctors and nurses.
When you hear these figures, 800,000 children at risk of starvation, it's overwhelming and it risks almost just being statistics. We wanted to, just for a few minutes, introduce you to some of the children who are most at risk right now. They are some of the children who are behind me right now in this hospital ward in intensive care.
Before we do show it to you, though, I just want to warn you, some of the images you're going to see are no doubt disturbing. But this is real life. This is what is happening right now in Niger. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: On a plastic covered mattress, in a makeshift hospital ward, a 10-month-old child fights to stay alive. His name is Habu Rabyu (ph). His tiny body riddled with infections from months of severe malnutrition.
So he came in on the 19th of July?
DR. MILTON TECHTONADISH (ph), DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Yes.
COOPER: And by the 30th . . .
TECHTONADISH: And did well until about the 23rd and then he crashed.
COOPER: So he's actually worse?
TECHTONADISH: And now he came up a bit and, yes, he's worse than when he came in.
COOPER: Worse than when he came in.
Dr. Milton Techtonadish works for the relief group Doctor Without Boarders. Since January, in Niger, they've treated more than 14,000 children at risk of starvation. They know there are many more too sick to make it to the hospital.
Mothers bring their children here from out of the bush. And there's one child here who is probably going to be admitted to the hospital.
What do you look for?
TECHTONADISH: Well, usually in a kid, you look for sunken eyes and skin that doesn't come back, decreased skin turgor (ph). Skin that -- see like that, doesn't go right back. It stays folded.
COOPER: This child's name is Rashido Mamal (ph). He's two years old and his pain is beyond tears.
TECHTONADISH: This is a maraznic wash (ph). Actually, it's the worst case possible.
COOPER: So there's fluid in . . .
TECHTONADISH: His fluid. You can feel it. If you will, as you can feel, he's got water in his tissues. I think we'll get him. And they will give him fluid. They will give him sugar right away to make sure that he's not hypoglycemic and then antibiotics and milk. And if he makes it through the first day or two, he'll be -- he'll -- and you'll see him running around in another week.
COOPER: Really?
TECHTONADISH: Yes, yes, yes. It's miraculous.
COOPER: A few beds away, covered with a blanket, we find Ameno Yahaya (ph) watched over by his mom.
TECHTONADISH: How are you? How are you doing? Huh? How are you doing? Oh, move your hand a bit. OK. OK. Shh.
So, he came in with edema everywhere.
COOPER (on camera): Edema is -- is what?
TECHTONADISH: Water in the tissues. So, water every where. Water in the tissues. Water around his eyes. And their skin desquamates. Desquamates the skin.
COOPER: Desquamates means...
TECHTONADISH: Comes off. It comes off because of a zinc deficiency.
COOPER: So his skin is literally just peeling off?
TECHTONADISH: Yes. Here it's gotten -- it's back down to normal again. It's gotten better, but there are some places it hasn't completely finished and he's, unfortunately, developed some lesions of pressure sores from being sick so long. But he's getting better fast. I'm sure we're going to save him, if he makes it through another day or two.
COOPER: That's a question: Whether he would make it through a day or two?
TECHTONADISH: Yes. For sure. He can get -- in an hour, he can die if he gets too much bacteria in his blood. What a life, huh? What a life.
COOPER (voice-over): If a child in this intensive care unit is able to drink milk formula, there's a good chance they'll live.
(on camera): He's drinking.
TECHTONADISH: He's going to drink the whole thing. Bravo. Bravo, bambini (ph). Bravo. Bravo. Bravo. All finished. Bravo. Bravo. Bravo.
COOPER (voice-over): Rashido (ph) is trying to drink milk as well, but he can't take as much.
TECHTONADISH: Slowly, slowly. He's hungry. You have to go slowly, slowly. But he wants it, which is a very good sign.
COOPER: Habu, however, can't drink at all. Doctors don't think he'll live through the night.
The next morning when we return, the arrivals tent is once again filled; children getting weighed and measured. Some immediately receive milk.
Inside intensive care, Amino (ph) is still asleep. Rashido (ph) is awake and Habu (ph) is alive. His breathing, shallow and quick, but the nurses say he's stable. This is the last time we'll see him. When we return later in the day, Habu's bed is empty. (on camera): It's shocking how quickly things can change here, how in the blink of an eye, a child can simply vanish. When we came in this morning, the three kids we met yesterday were doing OK. At least they made it through the night. They were still alive. Well, now it's the evening, several hours later and things have changed. Amino (ph) is OK and his mom is pretty confident, but Rashido (ph) is in septic shock and Habu -- well, Habu died several hours ago. He was just 10 months old.
(voice-over): On the bed, Habu's cup and bowl are all that remain. His mother lives more than 100 miles away and is already returning home. She left Habu behind, buried in an unmarked grave somewhere on the outskirts of town.
(on camera): Do you get used to seeing this?
TECHTONADISH: Yes, there's two or three a day. So, we know which ones are going to go. There's some surprises. Those are a bit harder. You have to keep going. You can't stop for a -- one death. The mothers understand. They don't expect you to show sympathy. They expect you to try your best. If you cry in front of the mothers, what good is that? They just start worrying about their own kid. So, if you start doing that in front of the mothers, they start: What's going to happen to my kid?
COOPER (voice-over): Tomorrow, it's likely Habu's bed will get filled. In Niger, in this terrible time, there's always another child fighting to stay alive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And just a few hours ago we found out that Amino (ph), that little boy you met in that piece, whose skin was peeling off, Amino died. Doctors thought he was going to make it, but he didn't. We don't know exactly what it is that killed him in the final minutes, but his bed has already been filled by another child and as of now, last we checked, Rashido (ph), that little child who we found -- who was admitted while we were videotaping that piece, Rashido is still alive, being watched over right now by his mother back there in that tent.
It's incredible when you think that the average life expectancy of a woman in Niger is 42 years. Forty-two years, that's almost half as much as the average life expectancy of a woman in the United States. Forty-two years old and then you die. It is an extraordinary statistic in this country which has seen so much suffering over the years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The village Sarkiama (ph) on the southern edge of Niger is a place steeped in tradition and folklore. Religion plays an integral part of everyday life. Traditions date back centuries. Time seems to have stood still. It's a place where men simply sit while women work the land. Women, like 42-year-old Barka Sanni. The mother of six knows what it's like to go to bed hungry. Her country is facing its worst famine in recent history. Thousands have already died, millions more are threatened. Sanni says every day is an uphill battle.
Life is very difficult these days. All we are doing is trying to live one day at a time, she says.
Sanni used to belong to a community of small-scale farmers who would take turns tilling each other's land and in that way, share the profits as well as shoulder the losses. Two consecutive years without rain and a devastating locust invasion last year made life for Sanni and her fellow farmers even more difficult than usual.
We lost everything. Everything, she says.
Now she's back, tilling her own plot of land, aided by her children and in-laws. Across this harsh and unforgiving land, many are living hand to mouth, wondering when the rains will come, when the suffering will stop.
(on camera): Now on an average year in any one of these typical fields, these millet stalks would be about two meters high, way above my head. Now they are just below my knees; an indicator the famine is far from over.
(voice-over): And in the country ranked among the poorest in the world, where illiteracy is high, finding work outside the farms is tough. Many women collect firewood to sell as an alternative source of income, even though it buys just a little food. In the marketplaces of towns like Maradi, food is plentiful, but many here simply can't afford to pay the high prices.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is sad. It is difficult. It is really catastrophic.
KOINANGE: It's an ongoing irony in this land of contradictions: No rains, no harvest, no work, no money. A land where people farm despite the famine. People like Barka Sanni. Today she's making leaves from a local vegetable, which she'll mix with pounded brown nut to make a stew. It's just enough to keep her six children smiling in a land where millions go to bed hungry every night.
Jeff Koinange, CNN, Sarkiama (ph), Niger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, the aid -- the aid has started to arrive here and people are being fed and at camps like this run by Doctors Without Borders. They are being treated not only with food, but with medicine as well. Lives are being saved here every day and there are so many remarkable stories. We're going to have some more of them for you, coming up on 360. We're also going to tell you the story of people praying for rain, trying desperately, any way they can, to make the skies open up and their fields once again grow. We'll also have the latest from New York on the space shuttle, whether or not NASA has made a decision about a space walk. CNN Heidi Collins will have that.
Our special edition, "Starving in Plain Sight: The Food Crisis in Niger", continues in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back to this special edition of 360; "Starving in Plain Sight: The Food Crisis in Niger." We are live in Maradi, Niger.
You know, when the rains don't come and when a plague of locusts eat the crops as they did last year, and the food trucks don't arrive in time, there is one left -- one thing left for people who are hungry, who are starving, to do. And that is to pray for a miracle.
CNN's Jeff Koinange has more now on the cries for help here in Maradi, Niger.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOINANGE (voice-over): Praying for a miracle in a land where a devastating famine has killed thousands and threatens millions more. Christians make up a small percentage of Niger's nearly 12 million people, but that's not stopping them from seeking answers to the country's crisis from a higher authority.
Father Jose Collado knows a thing or two about survival. He's lived and worked in Niger for nearly four decades, and says he sees no end in sight to the suffering.
This year has been very difficult, he says. Many have died and many more are dying nearly every day, especially in the countryside.
Islam is the dominant religion here, and signs of the faithful performing their daily rituals are everywhere. Here, the faithful too admit these are tough times in any language or religion.
This famine has made us completely useless as a people, he says. Our dignity, our pride, everything is destroyed.
Despite the bruised egos, some here say they aren't too proud to ask for a helping hand.
The situation is catastrophic, says policeman Musa Jibu. We urge the international community to help the people of Niger out of their misery. Please help us. A short drive outside the main towns, and it's evident the famine is taking its toll. Man and animal find themselves competing for precious resources. Sometimes, the razor-thin herds of cattle get priority.
Other times, humans find themselves having to dig a little deeper. Dry riverbeds like this can only mean more doom and gloom for the people of Niger.
And in village after village, it's the same story. Hunger has a way of making people turn to prayer in search of an elusive miracle.
Our children are dying. Our elderly are dying. Look at us. We're all dying. We need help, he pleads.
As an entire nation prays for more rain, a group of nomadic women performs a rain dance, but even they know that a country cannot survive on hope alone.
Jeff Koinange, CNN, Maradi, in southern Niger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We'll have more coming up on this special edition of 360: "Starving in Plain Sight." More about what it is like to be here in these terrible, terrible days for the people of Niger.
We're also going to have more from New York, from CNN's Heidi Collins, about trying to fix the glue that is keeping the exterior of the space shuttle together. What needs to be done to fix this problem? We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back to 360, everybody. Coming up, Anderson will join us again with special coverage on the hunger crisis in Niger. But first, some of the other news we're following tonight. We begin with a developing story, a decision by NASA to go ahead and try to make repairs to the Shuttle Discovery.
CNN's John Zarrella reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After days of deliberating, the space shuttle management team decided not to take any chances. Protruding gap fillers, like two bad teeth, will be pulled by a spacewalking astronaut.
WAYNE HALE, DEPUTY MANAGER, SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM: When we looked at the unknown versus what we do know about EVA, it was a very easy decision to add the task to EVA number three to go remove the two little gap fillers.
ZARRELLA: Gap fillers are just that. They fill gaps between the shuttle's thermal tiles. The two protruding gap fillers are near Discovery's nose landing gear. For engineering teams and mission managers, the questions were, if the gap fillers are left in as is, will dangerous levels of heat build up behind them on reentry, because the shuttle's surface will no longer be smooth? Will the gap fillers simply burn off or fold over on reentry? And how difficult is a never- before practiced space walk?
There were no simple answers to any of the questions. The space walk requires one astronaut riding the robotic arm beneath Discovery, and then yank. CINDY BEGLEY, SPACE WALK OFFICER: The first attempt is going to be to pull it out. And we don't expect that to take a lot of force. If it seems to be taking a lot of force, then we're going to look at cutting it off. And we have a number of tools.
ZARRELLA: It is not clear how these fillers came loose. Most likely, engineers believe, it's vibration during liftoff, and it has happened before.
HALE: We have, as you know, on a number of flights prior reentered and found that we had protruding gap fillers after we landed. This is the first time we've ever seen it in flight before entry.
ZARRELLA: They are seeing it for the first time in space because of a new array of cameras and imagers carried on board the shuttle. Lost in all the talk of shuttle dental work in space was the second successful space walk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). Great. Thank you. That's what I need to hear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got a ticket to ride.
ZARRELLA: Astronauts Robinson and Noguchi changed out a broken gyroscope on the International Space Station.
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ZARRELLA: Space Agency officials said they decided to go ahead with repairing, with removing these faulty fillers, because at the end of the day, they could not be certain that the space shuttle could return safely to Earth if they didn't -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Hey, John, something else interesting, too. I know there's only two qualified space walkers there. And these guys have never done it before. They are rookies.
ZARRELLA: That's exactly right. They are rookie space walkers. But NASA says that this is a fairly simple EVA space walk, if any EVA is simple, and they are completely confident that they can get it done -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Sounds good. John Zarrella, thank you.
Erica Hill from HEADLINE NEWS joins us now with some of the day's other top stories. Hi, Erica.
HILL: Hi, Heidi. We start off with a smooth succession in Saudi Arabia, following the death of a king. King Fahd, the oil giant's absolute monarch since 1982, has died. He'll be buried on Tuesday. Oil money fueled an unprecedented prosperity during his reign, but close ties with the United States stirred the passions of Islamic militants. Fahd's half-brother, the former Crown Prince Abdullah, has stepped in as the new king. The wrangling over the legal fate of more than 500 detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay continues. Two former members of the military team that handled prosecutions of terror suspects there complained about the fairness of the trials. The two allege that the system was rigged in favor of the government. Pentagon officials said today those allegations were investigated, and that no legal or ethical violations were found.
Across America, meantime, more than 1,000 gang members arrested, more than half of them in just the past two weeks. The sweep, called Operation Community Shield, was led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The round-up focused on violent Latin American gang members who were arrested on a variety of charges.
And from the infamous prison island of Alcatraz to the San Francisco shore, it's only a 1.2-mile swim. And that's nothing for this guy. Say hello to Jake, a 65-pound golden retriever, who became the first canine to ever paddle the distance in this weekend's Alcatraz invitational swim. He came in, in just under 42 minutes. He was actually 72nd, Heidi. He beat out hundreds of human swimmers. And that water is not warm. So lucky for Jake, he has the fur.
COLLINS: Yeah, you got to love a dog named Jake.
HILL: I do. Because my dog is named Jake.
COLLINS: See? All right, Erica, thanks so much. See you again in about 30 minutes.
And let's find out what's coming up at the top of the hour now on PAULA ZAHN NOW. Hi, Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: They wouldn't even let my dog attempt it, Heidi, because his name is Nigel.
COLLINS: Oh, yeah.
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ZAHN: Yeah, he's not going to make it across the little passage.
We've got a lot to share with you at the top of the hour. We're starting a special CNN "Security Watch" series. Are we safe at home? Tonight, a shocking look at how far we've come toward what some of you might call the Big Brother society. More security cameras. New security checks, ever longer lines. How much privacy are you willing to give up in order for a promise, but not a guarantee, that you'll be safer? Heidi, I think people are going to be really surprised by the reaction of the public to the intrusiveness of cameras, to the idea of racial profiling, to the ideas of, you know, being checked by metal detectors when they go into a public place.
COLLINS: Certainly generating a lot of discussion amongst many different groups. Paula, thank you.
ZAHN: Thank you. COLLINS: Next on this special edition of 360, Anderson's reporter's notebook. His journey to Maradi, Niger.
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COOPER: And welcome back to this special edition of 360: "Starving in Plain Sight: The Food Crisis in Niger."
We are live in Maradi, Niger, where so many relief organizations are setting up camps for -- to give medical care, to give food to people who are desperately in need, in particular, children. Some 800,000 children right now at risk of starvation here in Niger.
On a story like this, which has so many complexities, so many different angles, we try as best we can to get to as many places as we can, and show you as much of the story as possible.
Here is some of what I shot in my reporter's notebook on the journey from the Niamey, the capital, Niamey, the capital of Niger, which is about 10 hours away, to this city we are in now, Maradi. Take a look.
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COOPER (voice-over): Dawn was just breaking when we left Niger's capital, Niamey. We were heading for a town called Maradi, where aid groups have set up feeding centers to care for the more than 3.5 million Nigerians they say are at risk of starvation.
(on camera): Maradi is an eight-hour drive east out of Niger's capital. We had wanted to make the drive last night, but were warned the road wasn't safe because of roadblocks and bandits.
(voice-over): Niger is one of Africa's poorest countries, and considering the continent, that's saying a lot. Mile after mile, you see nothing but mud huts and straw structures. Little changed in centuries.
I sort of expected to see convoys of trucks with food aid clogging the highway, but there weren't any. In fact, there were few cars on the road at all. I counted far more donkeys and cattle.
There isn't much in Niger to attract tourists. So any time you stop, you become the main attraction.
Getting gas, the people are friendly, but poverty all around.
(on camera): Life in Niger, even in the best of times, is pretty harsh. This is a town about halfway between the capital and Maradi, where we have stopped for gas. And there is food here. There's a child selling some biscuits. But even here, kids are hungry. They come up to you begging for food.
(voice-over): In Niger, hunger is never far away. Some of these kids may be malnourished, most are no doubt hungry, but they can smile and laugh. Kids who are starving can't do that. When you expect to see famine, it's strange to see crops. Millet and sorghum grow on the side of the road. Most of the country isn't this green, however. In fact, it's mostly desert.
On the horizon, we spot a rainstorm. A year ago, there was a drought. That, plus an invasion of locusts, destroyed a third of last year's crops. As you can see, there isn't really a drought now in Niger. In fact, it's the rainy season. A couple of times a week, rain seems to come out of nowhere, and leaves just as quickly. Doesn't really help those who are already severely malnourished, but certainly good for the crops that have already been planted.
When we finally get to Maradi, there's not much sign of a big relief effort. In fact, there's not much sign of anything going on at all.
To see the crisis, you really have to go to the relief centers. They are filled every day with women and their children, who come because there's really nowhere else for them to go.
(on camera): I suppose the story is really nothing new. Hunger has happened for centuries, starvation, children die every day. We've all seen the pictures of children with bloated bellies from malnutrition, infants with unfocused eyes. But, still, when you are here and you see the children up close -- you know what you're going to see, but nothing prepares you for it. You never get used to seeing a child die.
(voice-over): The crisis in Niger, it's not like any other I've covered. It's not instantly apparent. It's not all around you. You have to look close, you have to travel far. You have to understand that not all suffering is ready-made for TV.
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COOPER: The pictures are certainly hard to look at, but we think they are important. We'll be reporting from here tomorrow as well.
I want to bring in CNN's Jeff Koinange. Jeff, you've been covering this story a lot. Is the aid getting through?
KOINANGE: It is getting through, but clearly not as quickly as people would like it to get here. We've been speaking to officials of the World Food Program. They say they're going to have to increase the number of people they thought they were going to feed, up from 1.6 to 2.5 million people. Clearly, they're going to need more aid in sooner, rather than later.
COOPER: Jeff will join me also tomorrow.
We want to thank Doctors Without Borders, the organization whose camp we are in right now. They have been doing just extraordinary work here as they do in many places around the world all the time, treating 200 children right now in this camp in this intensive care ward right behind me. And I don't know if you were here with us earlier in the program, but we had met three children earlier, really infants, a 10-month-old, a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, Amino (ph), Rashidu (ph) and Habu (ph). Habu (ph), we thought, was going to make it. Doctors -- he was in bad shape, but one morning he seemed stable. Yesterday, Habu (ph) died. And then, the biggest surprise of all for us was a little boy named Amino (ph). He was four years old. He was in very bad shape, but Milton, one of the doctors we talked to, thought he was going to make it, and sadly, just a few hours ago, we learned that Amino (ph) died. Rashidu (ph) is still alive. He is in that tent right now, being watched over by his mother and by some very caring nurses and doctors of Doctors Without Borders.
We'll have more from Niger tomorrow. Right now, our prime-time coverage continues with CNN's Paula Zahn -- Paula.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN HOST: Anderson, thanks so much. So much of what you have reported on this is so difficult for any of us to accept. Just stops the heart.
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