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Israel and Palestinian Conflict Added Four More Casualties in Gaza; Calls for Ceasefire Growing from International Community; President Biden with a More Firmer Tone to Israel; Israel Don't Trust Hamas' Actions; Narendra Modi Wants to Ramp Up Vaccination; Japanese Citizens Calling the IOC to Cancel Tokyo Olympics; Business is Back in France's Cafes and Restaurants; Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Oxfam Statement On Gaza; E.U. Expresses Solidarity With Spain Over Ceuta Crisis; Spain Sends 2,700 Migrants Back To Morocco; France Eases COVID Restrictions; Kenya Days Away From Running Out Of Vaccines; Taiwan And Thailand Fighting Outbreaks; Swaying Skyscraper In China; Ethiopian Troops Raid Hospital In War-torn Tigray; Major Step Forward In France- Rwanda Relations. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired May 19, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. And I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, the chorus of calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas fall on deaf ears as both sides continue their attacks.
India's prime minister promises to ramp up vaccination efforts as the daily COVID death toll hits a new high.
And pulling in the welcome. Dozens of Japanese towns set to host Olympic athletes are scrapping their plans over COVID concerns.
Thanks for joining us.
Well, a new round of Israeli airstrikes has claimed four more lives in Gaza, including a local journalist. According to the official Palestinian news agency, and that brings the death toll to 218, with 1,500 wounded.
Israel says its jets struck dozens of Hamas rocket launchers, Tamil networks and commander's homes overnight. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the bombing raids will go on until Hamas and Israel's other enemies learned their lesson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Hamas and Islamic Jihad received blows they didn't expect. We have taken Hamas years back. We'll continue as long as necessary to bring the quiet back to the citizens of Israel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): Journalist Elliott Gotkine is live this hour in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. He joins us now. Good to see you, Elliott. So, what is the latest on this deadly exchange of fire which is clearly going to continue?
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Indeed, Rosemary. Well, we know that yesterday, there were some mortars fired into Israel. One projectile injured an Israeli soldier by one of the crossing points from Israel into the Gaza Strip which had been open to allow humanitarian aid and that prompted the authorities in Israel to reseal those borders.
And then there were two Thai migrant workers working in an agricultural packaging factory in a farm just outside of the Gaza Strip and they were killed when a mortar shell hit them yesterday as well. That brings the death toll inside of Israel to a dozen, three of which happen to be migrant workers.
So, that was yesterday. There was about a four-hour lull this morning in terms of rocket fire into Israel, but certainly, the Israeli air force continued, as you say, striking targets within the Gaza Strip, overnight attacking rocket launchers, attacking Hamas commanders and other infrastructure belonging to the militant group.
And I can tell you that the overhead here in Ashdod we can hear Israeli fighter jets, you know, heading to or from missions over the Gaza Strip as well. So, no sign of the fighting ending, but of course, at the same time, there is perhaps a little bit of momentum gathering towards reaching some kind of ceasefire.
Reports were all over the Israeli media this morning saying the ceasefire had actually been agreed and had been brokered by the Egyptians. That was rubbish by a senior Hamas leader that spoke with CNN. This is Isak al-Risak, (Ph) he is a member of Hamas's political bureau. He said that those reports were not true but that, you know, negotiations or attempts to try to broker a ceasefire are ongoing.
Now we know that leaders of Egypt and also France and the Jordanian king held a virtual meeting yesterday to try to push forward their attempts to get a ceasefire, and we understand as well that there are a couple stumbling blocks really. That for example, Israel has been demanding that Hamas go first that there be three hours of quiet on their part before Israel do the same.
And then Hamas at the same time making demands on Israel that it doesn't want to abide by, such as ceasing what Hamas described as provocations over Al Aqsa and also resolving the situation in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
[03:04:58]
So, no ceasefire just yet, but as I say, there is hope, and there is always hope that momentum, some kind of momentum is building towards that end. Rosemary? CHURCH: And we will certainly continue to watch that part of the
story. Elliott Gotkine joining us live from Ashdod in Israel, many thanks for bringing us up to date.
Well, thousands of Palestinians have filled the streets of the West Bank in east Jerusalem, protesting in solidarity with Gaza residents.
At least four people were killed in violent clashes with security forces. Demonstrators set fires and threw rocks at police. Many complained about restrictions on their movements as they go to work and school. Some compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to apartheid in South Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMI ABU SHEHADEH, ARAB ISRAELI POLITICIAN: The administration is against Israeli aggression. We are against the Israeli attack on our people, in Gaza, the West Bank, Sheikh Jarrah within the green line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): Demonstrators in cities around the world have been marching in support of the Palestinians, from New York to Beirut, and Berlin and Madrid in Europe.
Well the last 24 hours have brought an intensified international push for an end to the violence, as we heard in the Elliott Gotkine's report. The European Union's foreign policy chief is calling for an immediate ceasefire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEP BORRELL, E.U. FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: We condemn the rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups under Israel territory. And we fully support Israel right to defend, but we have also considered it and stated that this has to be done in a proportionate manner and respecting international humanitarian law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): Jordan, Egypt, and France are coordinating diplomatic efforts to de-escalate. France plans to circulate a new resolution for the U.N. Security Council despite U.S. opposition. China has also called on the Security Council to take action, and Russian President Vladimir Putin point to a large number of civilian victims as he called for an end to the violence.
White the White House has insisted behind the scenes diplomacy is more effective in the situation. But the Biden administration is under growing pressure to engage more publicly.
CNN's Phil Mattingly reports the tone is shifting.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: White House officials have made clear publicly now for several days when it comes to the conditions in the Middle East, they believe their best pathway forward to try and reach some type of de-escalatory outcome is through quiet but intensive diplomacy. Those are the words they have used repeatedly, saying on message repeatedly as they have conducted more than 60 calls behind the scenes, not just to the Israelis, not just to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but also to key regional players they hope will play a role in creating the conditions for some type of de-escalation.
Well, we're told the tone, however, particularly as it pertains to Israeli officials, has started to shift. President Biden himself in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday taking a firmer tone, making clear to the prime minister according to people familiar with that call that the international outcry is growing.
The pressure for the U.S. to say something more definitive related to a ceasefire is growing. And the White House can only hold off that pressure for so long. The implicit message there, it's time to start ramping things up. It's time to start the process of ending military operations. That's a message that was conveyed not just from president to prime minister but also from other senior administration officials to their Israeli counterparts.
As for that overall strategy, well, the White House press secretary briefing reporters on Air Force One, making clear they are sticking to their plan. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This has been going on now for eight days. Everyone who loses their life, every day it continues, is one we'd like to see end to the conflict. But our tactical approach is that most of our conversations, the majority of them will happen behind the scenes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY (on camera): Now one person familiar with the calls between U.S. officials and their Israeli counterparts says there has been some signals that perhaps Israelis could be wrapping up their operations in the days ahead. So firm timeline no clear signal as to when exactly that will be, but clearly, the U.S. efforts rely heavily on that process starting to kick into gear, also the process of those regional players playing more of a role in actually securing some type of de- escalation, some type of ceasefire, some type of pause at least to stop an escalation that simply hasn't over the course of more than a week.
Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House.
CHURCH: Jordan's foreign minister also weighed in on why a ceasefire has taken so long. He pinned the blame squarely on Israel.
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AYMAN SAFADI, JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER & DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Look, my understanding is that talks for a ceasefire have not been progressing because Israel is not agreeing to it yet. I think what needs to happen now is to agree on the principle of the ceasefire and then details will have to be worked out.
I know our Egyptian brothers are working very, very hard in Gaza, trying to deliver that. I know that everybody else is trying. We are trying, engaging with everybody to try to get to that point. What is important now is to get everybody agreeing to a ceasefire in principle, and then the elements of a longer-term, truce will have to be discussed.
But we do not have and we should not be negotiating the terms of a truce why people are being killed. Let the hostilities stop. The details will be worked out later. We've been at this before. Who fires the last bullet, who fires the last missile? That is just absurd given the tremendous human cost that's going on.
What needs to happen is for Israel to accept the ceasefire, Hamas to accept the ceasefire, the aggression to atop, and the details can be worked out and there's a lot of countries out there in the region, in the states, in Europe, and beyond in France. Everybody is trying to help achieve a longer-term calm, but in order for that to happen, the attack on Gaza needs to stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): CNN asked the Israeli prime minister's senior adviser about the frustrating lack of progress in halting hostilities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK REGEV, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Our intelligence is reporting to us that Hamas is eager for a cessation of hostilities because Hamas is being hit hard by our military forces. We have taken out as you reported earlier, that we've taken out their underground structure that they spent so much time building.
They had this whole series of tunnels connecting with each other that was part of their strategic objective to use to attack us and to defend themselves if we attack them. We've taken out their command and control, we've taken out their communications, we've taken out their arsenals, we've taken out their rockets. We've taken out their ability to make more rockets. We have hit some of their most technologically significant sites.
We are hitting them hard. We have taken out a few of their commanders as well, which is a good thing. We are hitting them hard, so of course they want us to stop. The question is, if they just get used to the idea that they can shoot thousands of rockets in Israel and then the international community demands Israel to stop, so then why would they ever stop shooting rockets at Israel if they can get the international community to protect them.
Israel wants quiet to be restored. Let me be clear about that. We have whether on the receiving end of these rockets of course, we want quiet restored. But of course, it has to be done right and not wrong. If it's done in a way that Hamas can claim victory, that Hamas just has a time to rest and regroup and then to attack us in a week or in a month, then nothing is achieved.
We've got to come out of this with a protracted period of peace and quiet that's good for Israel that's good for Palestinians too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): India just reported more than a 4,500 COVID related deaths, the most in one day since the pandemic began. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is speaking out after remaining silent for weeks, saying the government is ramping up vaccine production.
CNN's Anna Coren joins me now with more from her vantage point there in Hong Kong. Good to see you, Anna.
So, a grim COVID death toll for India as the nation struggles, also with the deadly cyclone, while trying to figure out how to get more people vaccinated. So, what is the latest on all this?
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was a terrible double blow to the west coast of India, which as you say, has been ravaged by COVID. Some of those states hit particularly hard. And the state of Gujarat which is where the cyclone Tauktae made landfall on Monday night has seen rising infections for the last few weeks.
The cyclone, and now that the massive cleanup only further complicating that situation. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is on his way to the state of Gujarat, which I should also mention is his home state. He is going to be doing some aerial surveillance of the devastation, the cleanup that will entail. He is also going to meet with the state's chief minister.
We heard from the prime minister yesterday, it's the second time in a week that he has appeared in public. Before that, he had been missing for more than three weeks during the peak of the pandemic. But yesterday he talked about the need to scale up, ramp up the vaccination program across the country, which as we know, has been faltering.
[03:15:01]
Numbers have been dropping. They were initially vaccinating three million a day, it's now dropped below two million a day. And that is because of that acute shortage of vaccine supply. Take a listen to what the prime minister had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA (through translator): Continuous efforts are being made to increase the supply of COVID-19 vaccines on a large scale. The health ministry is continuously streamlining the system and the process of vaccination. An attempt is being made to give the schedule of the next 15 days to the states in advance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN (on camera): The prime minister said the fight is to save every single life. Rosemary, we also heard from the chief executive of the Serum Institute of India, one of the largest vaccine manufacturers in the world. And they have obviously come under a lot of criticism for not producing enough vaccine for their residents at home. They had a contract with COVAX, which was providing poorer countries with up to 200 million doses of vaccine that had to be suspended, 66 million have been sent.
But the chief executive came out yesterday saying that, quote, "we never exported vaccines at the cost of the people of India." They are now ramping up production of AstraZeneca which is what they are producing, their focus is purely on local demand. They said they will then be providing, resuming production for COVAX, hopefully supply will get to them by the end of the year. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Absolutely. Anna Coren bringing us the latest on what is happening across India. I appreciate that.
And still to come here on CNN, why a growing number of Japanese towns are ditching a program to host Olympic athletes from around the world.
Plus, some restaurants and bars are reopening in France today as the country eases COVID restrictions. We will have a live report from Paris when we come back.
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CHURCH (on camera): Welcome back, everyone. Tokyo is under intense pressure to cancel or postpone the Olympic games this summer due to the pandemic. The International Olympic Committee is addressing those concerns. Just a short time ago, the IOC president announced the games will be held in a safe way, and he believes Tokyo 2020 officials are managing the situation and the risks.
So, let's bring in CNN's Blake Essig in Tokyo. And Blake, of course it has to be said about 80 percent of the Japanese population don't agree. And now host cities are refusing to take Olympic athletes. How might this impact the Olympics going forward?
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Rosemary, with each passing day it seems like the Tokyo Olympics get dealt another blow. Protests, petitions and most recently, a second doctor's group which includes 6,000 Tokyo-based physicians all calling for the games to be canceled.
[03:20:04]
And over the past week dozens of cities across Japan abandoned plans to host training camps all because of COVID-19.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ESSIG (voice over): Things were different when Belize's band last visited Yokoshibahikari.
UNKNOWN (through translator): It is unthinkable now. Nobody is wearing masks.
ESSIG: That was nearly two years ago. Back then, Hideshiken Kaodi Akiba (Ph) threw a party at their resort after inviting the band to celebrate the town's decision to host athletes from the small Caribbean nation in the buildup to the Olympic Games.
UNKNOWN: This is a small town and we have very little chance to communicate with people from abroad. So, we were looking forward to it.
ESSIG: But COVID-19 had other plans, with cases on the rise across Japan and seemingly no end in sight to the pandemic, Yokoshibahikari's mayor was forced to make a choice, the health of his people, or the Olympics.
HARUHIKO SATO, MAYOR, YOKOSHIBAHIKARI, JAPAN (through translator): My biggest mission is to protect the town people's life and health, so I made this decision without any hesitation.
ESSIG: Part of the reason to pull out as host, his town has no PCR testing, which is a requirement in the Olympic playbook outlining COVID-19 countermeasures. In addition, he says medical resources are limited and the public hospitals aren't capable of treating patients requiring treatment for COVID-19.
SATO (through translator): We hear about the medical collapse in Osaka, and I'm afraid the same thing may take place here.
ESSIG: While disappointed, Dr. Akida Taogawa (Ph) says he understands the decision was made to avoid potential risk.
UNKNOWN (through translator): This hospital is the only in-patient facility in town. So, if this hospital was tied up with COVID patients, we cannot operate regular medical care at all.
ESSIG: So far, at least 45 out of 528 host towns and Olympic teams have pulled out from participating in the program because of the pandemic, with some officials saying more are expected to follow.
UNKNOWN: It's putting people at risk.
ESSIG: Superstar athletes have started to cast doubt. Recently, medical professionals, business leaders, and a majority of the Japanese population have called for the games to be canceled.
But will it make a difference? Olympic scholar John Horne says it already has.
JOHN HORNE, PROFESSOR, WASEDA UNIVERSITY: I think the criticisms from athletes and from elsewhere do matter, because they leave a mark on this Olympics. That it's going to be impossible to remove.
ESSIG: Reputational damage that Horne says could be amplified if the games are held.
HORNE: We don't want it to happen, but say there is a spike in COVID cases as a result of the games, well, it would be devastating.
ESSIG: An Olympic story that for now is dominated by the dark cloud of COVID-19.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ESSIG (on camera): Well, Japan is still battling a fourth wave of infection and the severe strain on the medical system is only getting worse. The big concern from the public and medical professions has to do with what could happen when tens of thousands of athletes and support staff enter Japan for the Olympics? Especially when only about one percent of Japan's population is currently vaccinated, Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Blake Essig, many thanks for that report, joining us there live from Tokyo. I appreciate it.
Well, nonessential businesses in France are welcoming back customers today as the country continues to lift pandemic restrictions. Outdoor bars and restaurants are reopening at half capacity. And this comes as new COVID cases and the daily death toll continues to decline.
CNN's Melissa Bell joins me now live from Paris from a cafe of course. Melissa, great to see you. And of course, this is encouraging news for the people of France, so what's the latest?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Encouraging, essentially a picture of happiness if you happen to be in France right now. These sorts of businesses have been closed now, Rosemary, since the month of October, the economy essentially, the standstill, people oblige to stay indoors. And things like terraces, cafes, exactly what you come to Paris more and what the French do regularly impossible.
Now it's back. You can come and sit in the cafe, you can have a coffee, you can go to a cinema, theaters are open as well, museums and restaurants as long as they are serving outdoors. So, this is such a welcome relief after so many months. Of course, the only reason it's been made possible, Rosemary, is that the figures have improved substantially as a result of these incredibly tight restrictions.
If you look now with what they say was the peak of the third wave at the end of April the figures have come down substantially. At that time, you were seeing 22,000 cases on average a day, they are down to about 14,000 now.
[03:24:57]
Twenty-one million French people out of 67 million have had at least a one dose of the vaccine, slower than in other countries but better and at faster pace than it had been. So, some hope that finally Europe will be able to get back on its feet and back to life.
And when you look at those figures that we've seen over the last few months, two consecutive coursers of contractions the technical recession that the Europe -- the European Union and the Euro zone are now in, all of that of course will now change. We expect from the European Central Bank figures, that things should improve substantially. Perhaps 4 percent growth over the coming months because once again life is going to be possible in places like Paris, Rosemary.
CHURCH: How delightful, I would like to come join you. Melissa Bell with us there live from Paris at a cafe. Just delightful.
Well, coronavirus has made working from home the new normal for millions worldwide of course, now there is evidence that the longer hours common with remote working could be a killer. A new study from the World Health Organization finds 745,000 people died in 2016 due to illnesses linked to long work hours.
It found that working 55 hours or more a week raises the risk of heart disease and stroke. The research took place before the pandemic but the WHO says that some evidence shows that national lockdowns can lead to a 10 percent increase in working hours.
And the coronavirus does not spare those living in conflict zones. A prominent aid group is warning of the double dangers in Gaza.
Plus, risking their lives to reach E.U. soil. Thousands of migrants make a dangerous swim from Morocco to a Spanish enclave. We will hear from Spain's foreign minister about that crisis.
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CHURCH (on camera): The aid organization Oxfam warns the Middle East fighting has left nearly half a million people out of reach in Gaza. Many of the newly homeless have been forced into temporary shelters in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Oxfam country director for the area calls the conflict on top of COVID a recipe for disaster. He says the scale of suffering is immense and yet we cannot respond properly. These aerial assaults have taken lives and any sense of safety but they are also taking away people's options to cope too, to buy food and supplies and to go about their lives. The people of Gaza are psychologically exhausted and fearful and exposed. They need peace now in order to pick up the broken pieces of their lives.
[03:30:00]
And now I want to bring in Laila Barhoum who is an Oxfam policy adviser living in Gaza. Thank you so much for talking with us. You have written about feeling a sense of dread, horror, and injustice as Gaza comes under constant bombardment from Israeli airstrikes. How dire is the situation on the ground there and what impact has this had on access to clean water and other basic needs?
LAILA BARHOUM, OXFAM POLICY ADVISER IN GAZA (on camera): Thank you. The situation is very dire. You can write volumes of what is happening and the impact, because you are not just writing about what is happening now, you are writing about all the memories from different kind of escalations that we have been living under. The situation is too dire that people who are in need for drink and water can't go out. They fear for their lives will be impacted. They fear to be killed if
they try to go and get water. It's so dire that for myself, I slept a couple hours when the electricity was off, I woke up the electricity was still off. You need electricity to have water. You need electricity to have your basic needs. And the situation is getting worse. We are not seeing an end to it.
CHURCH: Yes. Exactly. And of course as we just reported, humanitarian organizations including your own can't get into Gaza to help in amidst these constant aerial bombardment, and of course COVID hasn't gone away. And you have written about this never-ending cycle of violence that never gets resolved. What is your message to the world about what's happening in Gaza?
BARHOUM: I think it's really one of the strongest messages, as a humanitarian organization, as a humanitarian worker, you are frustrated when you have to stay at home to protect your life. And you can't go to several other people who are in need and need to protect their lives as well. It's really frustrating knowing that if you want to go and provide this help to make sure people are receiving for the water supplies, you will be in danger.
The message is that we need to stop what is happening right now to make sure that we have answered for the needs of people. But most importantly, we have to adhere to the international laws and we have to make sure accountability is standing to (inaudible) the cycle. We are here now suffering with what is happening because we haven't seen enough pressure on Israel as an occupying power to protect the civilians in Gaza and occupied Palestine, and to make sure that they are providing all the needed passage form assistance.
CHURCH: And let's talk about that. Because many countries around the world are calling for an immediate ceasefire. But while U.S. President Biden supports a cease-fire, he has not explicitly called for one, saying quiet and intensive diplomatic efforts are currently underway. What is your reaction to those efforts? And what more would you like to see the international community do right now?
BARHOUM: So, as a Palestinian who is now in Gaza, I am living under what is happening for the second week. As long we are still living under this, no enough pressure has been brought on. No enough -- that has been taken. And no inaction has been adopted. The fact that you have to wait until a decision is made, the fact that you have to wait until there is another meeting to really assess what you need is a really disappointment.
We are losing life by the minute and we really need to see a stop immediately not for ceasefire. Equality and the messages and condemnation, we need to see justice now. Unless there is no end to this, we are not seeing any change. And we needed at last week, not yesterday, not today.
CHURCH: And Laila, in your opinion piece for the Washington Post, you talked about the fear and the dread you feel and others there in Gaza when night falls, because you can't see the smoke and you can't see where some of these attacks are taking place. Talk to us about that. BARHOUM: Yes. By the time of sunset, if you go to social media, on
Twitter, on Facebook, and all of my friends and Palestinians in Gaza feedback, here we are again, come to the night, it's on the most difficult time of the day. Because its most of the airstrikes that happening then, and the sounds are really louder than before.
You can almost hear the sounds of people gasping and screaming in the streets. You can't see what is happening and at the same time, you know this is time were you don't know if you are going to wake up next morning or not. Most people don't sleep at night.
That's why we are really exhausted. And we wait for the sunrise because it brings a sense of hope that maybe today will be the last day of what is happening. People are anxious and fear, and dreadful of what's happening. And this is not just now. This is a built up from hundreds of memories we had lived through the 14 years. We are still, until now suffering. And remember from the 51 days we have live in 2014, and in almost two weeks, we have lived the 51 days altogether.
[03:35:11]
CHURCH: It is horrifying to hear what you and others are going through there in Gaza. Laila Barhoum, joining us there from Gaza. Thank you so much for your time and do take good care.
BARHOUM: Thank you.
CHURCH: To help those affected by the conflict in Israel and in Gaza, you can visit our website at CNN.com/impact.
Well, the E.U. says it stands in solidarity with Spain after more than 6,000 migrants swam from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa. One person died, making the dangerous journey, the latest in a growing trend of illegal migration to Spain. CNN's Al Goodman has more now from Madrid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Exhausted and cold, thousands of Moroccan migrants swam their way to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in Northern Africa. Some wading to shore, others breaching a border fence. Many of them minors and in need of medical attention. Some entered southern Ceuta at El Tarajal Beach, but most came through in the northern Ceuta at Benzu Beach, it was just a short swim around brake waters which marked the border up one side and then down the other to reach Ceuta, a Spanish government spokesman said.
Risking their lives, many came under the cover of darkness, some aided by flotation devices. But the light at the end, turned out to be Spanish authorities. Not the warmest welcome, police enforced as migrants arrived many out of breath. One Moroccan man drowned, the government said. Some were jubilant as they ran into Ceuta town, but it would be a short visit for many them. The Spanish interior minister saying, thousands had already been sent back.
FERNANDO GRANDE-MARLASKA, SPANISH INTERIOR MINISTER: We will be strong in defending our borders.
GOODMAN: Spain's Prime Minister announced a visit to Ceuta and spins other enclave Milia on Morocco's north coast and thanked the European Union for its support.
PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We will restore order with the greatest speed, we will be firm to guarantee the security of our citizens against any challenge at under any circumstance.
GOODMAN: Troops were deployed to back up police and keep the situation contained, while increasing border security, officials said. The president of Ceuta, home to 84,000 Spaniards called the situation unprecedented, demanding help.
The crisis in Ceuta is a sign of deep tension between Spain and Morocco, political analysts say. It's also increasing pressure on Spain socialist government for its immigration policy, from conservatives and from Spain's emboldened far right party. Al Goodman, CNN, Madrid.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: We are following coronavirus outbreaks in Asia, both Taiwan and Thailand fighting a sharp rise in cases, but in very different situations. We will take a look with a live report from Taipei, that's next.
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[03:40:00]
CHURCH: As we reported earlier, nonessential businesses in France are welcoming back customers. Today, the country is continuing to lift restrictions as COVID cases decline. Outdoor bars and restaurants are reopening at half capacity. And these are live pictures of cafe's open for business and earlier French President Macron posted a video on Twitter of himself and the French Prime Minister enjoying cups of coffee on a terrace.
A little encouraging news, good progress there. Well, less than 1 percent of global vaccinations have been carried out in Africa during the pandemic. And the continents COVID-19 vaccination rollout is proceeding at a pace much slower than expected to help address the crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron is calling for patents on vaccines to be lifted so that African countries can manufacture them during the pandemic.
And we are following another type of vaccine crisis in Kenya. The east African nation is just days away from running out of COVID-19 vaccines. One report says less than two percent of Kenyans have received their first jab. Let's bring in CNN's Larry Madowo, he joins us live from Nairobi. Good to see you. So, what's the latest on this, Larry?
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Rosemary, I just spoke with the Kenyan health minister Mutahi Kagwe who say the country is just days away from running out of vaccines entirely. There is about 100,000 shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine left, and at the rate they are vaccinating people, within the next two or three days, they will be completely out.
The country is bringing in vaccines from neighboring countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, which doesn't have the capacity to vaccinate as many people as quickly. Because these vaccines are set to expire in June but then, after that is over, he says, I don't manufacture vaccines, so I can't tell you when we can get more vaccines.
And one of the other things he said is that there is a possibility that some Kenyans that received the first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine might end up getting another vaccine, most likely Johnson & Johnson. But the big concern for the Kenyans here is the fact that wealthy countries have more vaccine than they need and poorer countries like Kenya have almost nothing. It's all in vaccine nationalism, this is what the Kenyan health minister says.
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MUTAHI KAGWE, KENYAN HEALTH MINISTER: I think that vaccine nationalism is something that has cropped up across the world, and I have two views on this. The first one is that there is, as a continent. We must stop believing that there is anybody out there who is a Good Samaritan, a biblical Samaritan, who is just about to come in and help us. There is nothing like that. You know, this situation where we have seen very clearly, it's everyone for himself or for herself, and good for us all. Clearly. And therefore going into the future, the local production, local manufacturing of pharmaceutical commodities and products is an absolute must.
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MADOWO: The Serum Institute in India, which is supplying the COVAX, this World Health Organization (inaudible), middle income countries, serum institute in India say the FDA, it might not be shipping vaccines out of the country until later in the year. And what the Kenyans are now saying is that it looks like this is not going to happen. The situation is so much more complicated that countries in Africa should be looking to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine that is manufactured in Africa, and COVAX should be funding that instead.
Yesterday, the Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group told (inaudible) that it would be morally wrong for wealthy countries to begin vaccinating children when people were in need in many parts of the world like here in Kenya. Adults are yet to be vaccinated, Rosemary?
CHURCH: Alright. Larry Madowo, thank you so much for keeping a very close eye on this, joining us live from Nairobi. I appreciate it.
And Taiwan has accused Beijing of blocking access to coronavirus vaccines. The island is fighting its most severe outbreak of the pandemic and fewer than 1 percent of its population is vaccinated. Our Will Ripley joins me live from Taipei. Good to see you, Will. So, what more are you learning about Taiwan's claim that China is blocking its access to vaccine as it deals with its worst outbreak?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This pandemic is really turning political in some ways here on the island of 23 million people. A self-governing renegade province, in the eyes of Beijing, a country in the eyes of Taiwan and its leaders. And this is playing out very publicly because on Monday, the Taiwan affairs office in the mainland offered to help Taiwan deal with its latest COVID outbreak, and they have had almost 1,000 new cases confirmed in just the last, week including 275 new infections just confirmed today.
[03:45:10]
But when China made that offer to help, Taiwan's mainland affairs office quickly fired back calling the offer disingenuous saying that the mainland has been intimidating Taiwan with military flyovers in Taiwan's Strait in South China Sea. And they say if China would stop doing that then Taiwan could focus on the outbreak.
I want to read you a tweet from the presidential spokesperson who took it even further saying quote, Taiwan access to vaccine continues to be slowed down by Chinese interference while they insist we by Chinese made one, if we really want to help please don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall. The Taiwanese say they want more reliable foreign made vaccines, they've been negotiating with Pfizer but so far have not been able to secure a deal. More AstraZeneca vaccines are expected to arrive here in the country this afternoon.
We confirmed around 400,000 additional doses, but that will only start to help the real problem of the vaccine shortage in this island which has less than 1 percent of its population vaccinated, one of the lowest vaccination rates in the entire world.
Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing-wen is pointing towards late July as a time of hope because she says that locally produced vaccines will become available, there are trials right now and she's hoping that Taiwan made vaccines could be the solution here as they try to get a grip on this. They had to even deploy their soldiers, Rosemary, a 100 soldiers have been out here in Taipei, and in new Taipei cities as well, basically going around and disinfecting public areas, trying to keep people safe.
And the level three restrictions, just short of a lockdown, the most severe restrictions that Taiwan has seen this whole pandemic has just been expanded beyond Taipei, and new Taipei city to the entire island, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And Will, Thailand has just logged its highest death toll, the outbreak there is being trace to prisons. What more are you learning about that?
RIPLEY: So there's a real push right now in Thailand to get 300,000 vaccines into the arms of prisoners as soon as possible. Because they had a remarkable day in terms of numbers, the highest daily death toll and the highest daily infection rate. And it is stunning that more than 70 percent of those infections in the entire country were found in eight different prisons in Thailand. These are overcrowded facilities, there is one prison in Chiang Mai
where authorities say that more than 60 percent of the inmates have tested positive for COVID. This is a very troubling situation from a public health and humanitarian standpoint when you have hundreds of thousands of inmates essentially locked up in a petri dish of infections and so they are just rushing right now to get those vaccines into the prison so that they could try to protect and immunize as many as possible before more people get sick in Thailand prisons.
CHURCH: All right, our Will Ripley bringing us the very latest on the situation across Taiwan and Thailand, from his vantage point there in Taipei, many thanks.
Well, still ahead, France and Rwanda look to reset ties after one of the most painful chapters in modern history. Signs of a breakthrough between the two nations. We're back with that in a moment.
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CHURCH: Thousands of people in China fled after a skyscraper mysteriously began shaking. It began to sway Tuesday afternoon, even though meteorologist say the weather was fine and there were no earthquakes reported in the region.
[03:50:07]
Some 15,000 people inside, at the time, they fled at the streets running to safety, no one was hurt and authorities are investigating what caused the building to shake.
Well, Ethiopians soldiers have reportedly been raiding a hospital in the country's war torn Tigray region. Doctors at the Axum University hospital say this was retribution that revealed Ethiopian and Eritrean troops for blocking humanitarian aid to patients. CNN Nima Elbagir has the story.
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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was what's so many of those who spoke to us in Ethiopia's Tigray region, expected to happen but hope wouldn't. CNN has learned that in the aftermath of our reporting at Axum referral hospital Ethiopian soldiers have raided the hospital, and threatened staff and patients inside the hospital.
This was confirmed to us both by medical staff at Axum referral hospital, but also by doctors from the medical charity, Doctors Without Borders, Medecins Sans Frontieres, who were able to rebuff much of the demands of the soldiers and confirmed to CNN the incidents that occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning when the armed men entered the hospital.
Doctors say that they will continue to remain at Axum hospital and that they don't regret speaking out, they don't regret telling the world what is happening inside Ethiopia's Tigray region. This comes after U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken over the weekend, in the aftermath of CNN's reporting on Eritrean troops remaining in Tigray and obstructing aid in spite of course internationally for their withdrawal.
Secretary of State Blinken called for an immediate withdrawal of Eritrean troops and he called for those responsible for violation in the Tigray region to be held accountable in spite of that call, Ethiopian soldiers were told continue to threaten doctors at Axum hospital. The Ethiopian government, the Ethiopian Prime Minister's office has not responded to our request for comment. Nima Elbagir, CNN, London.
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CHURCH: In what could be a breakthrough in relations, the French president says he will visit Rwanda for the first time, the move comes after France accepted its role in the 1994 genocide.
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PRES. EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): I can confirm that I would be traveling to Rwanda at the end of May and that the focus will be on politics and remembrance, as well as economics, health and the future. And so we are also keen with President Kagame to write a new page in the relationship.
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CHURCH: A commission set up by Emmanuel Macron concluded Paris was blinded by its colonial attitude. Jim Bittermann has the details, a warning though, his report contains graphic images.
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JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was one of history's worse episodes of ethnic cleansing, in a frenzy of violence in the spring in early summer of 1994 mostly (inaudible) Rwandan were massacred by Hutu militias and the Rwandan military. According to some government estimates more than a million were killed in just 100 days.
And countless left permanently disabled from horrifying and brutal machete attacks. Western countries like France which supported the Rwandan government hesitated to intervene refusing to even label the massacre as what reporters at the time knew they were.
UNKNOWN: While the world has wondered whether or not to call it genocide for fear that under the international law it might have to do something to stop it.
BITTERMANN: That hesitancy to intervene the end of bloodshed back in 1994 has cast a long shadow over French and Rwandan relations ever since, but more recently, France, has taken steps to come to terms with its deeds of commission and omission. Perhaps the most important step was a publication in March of a nearly 1000-page report by a historical investigation commission created by President Emmanuel Macron, which was given access to diplomatic and military dispatches from the era.
A member of that commission says that it concluded that while France bears a heavy responsibility for the genocide, it was not complicit in it. Nonetheless, the report makes it clear that French officials on the ground had graphically warn their superiors in Paris what's support for the Hutu government could lead to.
CATHERINE BERTHO LAVENIR: It will lead to mass slaughters, some wrote even, it would lead to genocide. And the question in fact they were neglected.
BITTERMANN: France, which sent an intervention force to Rwanda at the time turned a blind eye to the slaughter of the local population. And according to the commission report by supporting the Hutu government, it assisted the perpetrators in getting away.
[03:55:05]
Some of those who are part of that operation like former army officer Guillaume Ancel, said the French military could and should have done much more, but the French president's office at the Elise Palace had ordered the military to remain strictly neutral.
GUILLAUME ANCEL, FORMER LIEUTENANT COLONEL: We provide support before, during and after the genocide to the man who committed the genocide, in terms of law, it is kind of a collaboration. Maybe in its story it is not complicity but in terms of law it is a very, very dangerous what we did. And on my sense, unacceptable.
BITTERMANN: According to the commission, not only did Paris ignore the predictions and recommendations of its diplomats and troops in the fields, but those who objected sometime found their careers cut short or impaired. Last month in an interview with French 24, the Rwandan foreign minister said that the commission report has gone some distance towards reconciling differences between France and Rwandan.
VINCENT BIRUTA, RWANDAN FOREIGN MINISTER: There is a foundation in which you can build a better relationship in the future, a relationship between both countries.
BITTERMANN: Even so while governments may reconcile with the past, some survivors and relatives of the victims are not so quick to do so, like Jessica Mwiza who lost her grandfather and grandmother during the genocide.
JESSICA MWIZA, WHO LOST HER GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER DURING THE GENOCIDE: We need to talk about justice. Who did what? Who said what? What's were the other politically and military in 94. This is really important for us.
BITTERMANN: 27 years after the tragic event, some of the Rwandans accused of participating in the genocide have been tried and convicted but others are still alive and living freely in France and elsewhere. No matter what the French and Rwandan government may decide about their future relations, for some of those who suffered personal losses in the massacre, there can never be a full reconciliation until the guilty are prosecuted and locked away. Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
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CHURCH: And thanks for being with us, I'm Rosemary Church, I'll be back in just a moment with more local news.
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