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Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Appears to be Holding; Prince William Slams the BBC Over Diana Interview; E.U. Reaches Agreement on COVID Vaccine Passports; Bangladesh Mounts Diplomatic Effort to Secure Vaccines; Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Appears To Be Holding; Nigerian Army Investigating Reported Death Of Boko Haram Leader; Journalist Nikole- Hannah-Jones Denied Tenure At UNC Likely Due To Her Work On NYT Magazine's 1619 Project. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired May 21, 2021 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[02:00:00]

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello. You're watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm John Vause. Coming up this hour: A ceasefire in Gaza and Israel after nearly two weeks of violence, but will the calm last?

COVID concerns in Bangladesh as vaccine supplies plummet. I'll speak with the country's foreign minister in a moment.

Also --

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UNKNOWN: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the west end!

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VAUSE: Another step in the U.K.'s journey back to normal. We'll take you to the now bustling streets of London's west end.

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VAUSE (on camera): There has been calm in Gaza and Israel for the past seven hours after an unconditional ceasefire took effect at 2:00 a.m., local time. Both sides agreed to end 11 days of fighting in a deal borne of pressure from the U.S. and mediation by Egypt.

This is the scene right now in a morning day in Gaza. The Gaza health ministry run by Hamas reports 232 Palestinians were killed since the escalation in fighting last week, while the number of dead in Israel is 12, double in civilian death toll from the last big confrontation seven years ago.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East in the coming days. He will meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials. And on Thursday, President Joe Biden warned that there is still much to be done to avoid the next major confrontation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely, and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy.

My administration will continue our quiet, relentless diplomacy towards that end. I believe we have a genuine opportunity to make progress, and I have committed to working for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: (INAUDIBLE).

VAUSE: With Israeli airstrikes on hold, many took to the streets of Gaza to celebrate. Tens of thousands of people have been living in temporary shelters and schools for days now.

Despite the high death toll and more than $300 million in property and infrastructure damage, Palestinians are now claiming victory.

MOHAMMED AL-ATTAR, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): This is liberation. We won against the Jewish. We broke their pride. I hope god will protect the systems. This is a joyful moment for all of Gaza. This is the victory for Ramadan, the Eid in Jerusalem. We'll return all the occupied lands. All the cities that they call us, we will be the first to be with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Elliott Gotkine in Ashdod, Israel for us this hour. He is live. So, Elliott, that's the scene in Gaza. What is it like there in Ashdod in Israel now that there is relative calm? Is there concern that maybe this won't last or are people confident that it will?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: I think, for now, it's holding. Everyone expects it to last for a period of time. Not forever, but for a period of time. It could be months. It could be years. The last big conflict that we saw between Hamas-run Gaza Strip and Israel was 2014.

Here in Israel, things are calm. The last sirens sounded a few minutes before, the 2:00 a.m. ceasefire time, which was about seven hours ago. The Israeli government has now lifted some of the restrictions that were in place certainly in the community surrounding the Gaza Strip. There was restriction on people leaving their homes, for example, have been lifted.

Today is a weekend, so any way only meant to be a half day of school in many places, but schools which have been closed even in cities like Tel-Aviv, they will presumably be reopening on the first day of the week which is Sunday.

So, calm restored here and there will be a lot of relief certainly in those southern communities that have borne the brunt of the barrages from Hamas and other militant groups. Certainly, the hope that, at least for now, you know, there is calm, there will be peace, that will last as long as possible, but no one expects it to last forever.

VAUSE: And one reason why there is no expectation for a long peace here is because there is nothing really in place to address the bigger issues which caused the confrontation in the first place. So, what is happening on that front?

GOTKINE: It's not only that there is no kind of seeing -- there is no meeting of minds in terms of the major issues. It's also a question of having partners for peace.

So, in Israel, you don't even have a fully functioning government. It looks like we could be heading towards fifth elections which could well be even more to the right and therefore less predispose to the two-state solution that the U.S. and the U.N. and international community want to see than the previous government.

[02:05:06]

GOTKINE: In the Palestinian authority, the Palestinian leadership is split between Hamas firmly in control in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, whose term ended about 10 years ago.

Elections, legislative elections due in the Palestinian authority this month but were postponed substantially because Palestinians in East Jerusalem would've been able to vote.

So, there isn't really kind of, you know, (INAUDIBLE) Palestinian authority, but it doesn't really have much authority over all of the Palestinians. And at the same time, you got a dysfunctional Israeli government.

Will there be more efforts on the part of the Biden administration and the international community to try to reach some kind of more permanent solution? That is what they are talking about. Certainly, that's the hope.

But I think, you know, as President Biden has seen himself when he was vice president and when the Obama administration tried to get both sides to talk, to make progress, it is a much taller order than other conflicts around the world.

It has been intractable now for what, you know, since 1948 or 1967, depending on your perspective. I don't think anyone expects it to be resolved in the coming years either no matter how much goodwill and good intentions and efforts there are on the part of the international community.

Of course, you need the enthusiasm and the embracing of talks and of two-state solution from both sides, something which just isn't there right now.

VAUSE (on camera): Yeah, absolutely. Elliott, thank you. Elliott Gotkine in Ashdod in Southern Israel.

The U.N. secretary general welcoming the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas but he says more needs to be done. Antonio Guterres says now is the time for Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace negotiation. He is calling for robust monetary aid to rebuild Gaza.

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ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: The fighting has left thousands of Palestinians homeless and forced over 50,000 people to leave their homes and seek shelters in schools, mosques, and other places with little access to water, food, hygiene, or health services.

I was horrified by reports that nine members of one family were killed in Al Shati refugee camp. If there is hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (on camera): A short time ago, I spoke with Yohanan Plesner, foreign member of the Knesset, now president of the Israel Democracy Institute. I said Hamas is declaring victory despite the heavy losses of life and property in Gaza. Here's his response.

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YOHANAN PLESNER, PRESIDENT, ISRAEL DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE: This is not a competition for who killed as many people as possible. Hamas initiated this round of violence by shooting rockets and missiles at Israeli targets, Israel's capital, Israel's metropolitan center, Tel-Aviv, and Israel had to respond and it responded in order to reduce Hamas's motivation and Hamas's capacity to initiate such attacks.

We did so, again, by undermining the capacity, the stockpiles of weapons, the R&D facilities, the metro, the system of tunnels that was designed to enable Hamas to attack Israel and to infiltrate into Israel proper and kill Israeli civilians. So this capacity was reduced and this was the main goal of the operation.

VAUSE: Even if both sides observe the ceasefire, it still does nothing to address the reason for, you know, the overall conflict, the bigger picture here. So what is the bare minimum that must be done by Israel and by the Palestinians to get out of this cycle of major conflict every few years?

PLESNER: Well, create a distinction between the immediate term of restoring calm and what is required for that is simply for Hamas not to continue shooting. In the longer term, John, it's a lot more complicated because, as I mentioned, Hamas's (INAUDIBLE), if you will, the entire logic of its existence is to annihilate the state of Israel. It's not something that we can ignore.

There is no issue of occupation because Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip to the last centimeter. Israel doesn't control Gaza. It does affect its ports of entry because we know that Hamas, rather than building again the Singapore of the Middle East, is trying to build a terrorist state that will have capacity and ability to kill as many Israeli citizens.

So if Hamas decides that they want to focus on rebuilding their own region, economic opportunity, and health institutions, Israel will be there and help them and to do so, but I'm quite skeptical that this will be the outcome.

[02:09:56]

PLESNER: So a more courageous and difficult strategic path would be to reinstate or re-help the Palestinian authority, much like President Biden is trying -- insinuating that he wants to do, helping the Palestinian, strengthening the Palestinian authority, helping them build capacity in Gaza, and then hopefully, moving forward, with the Palestinian authority to a negotiated settlement.

This should be the strategic way forward, but given the situation right now, I'm quite skeptical that we are going there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (on camera): Prince William slamming the BBC over Princess Diana's infamous interview. It's where to hear these kinds of comments and you will hear some of them when we come back.

Also, inoculation efforts lose momentum in Bangladesh because there has been a shortage of vaccine. The nation's foreign minister will join me live. We will talk about that, and what can be done, in a moment.

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PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: The interview was a major contribution to making my parents' relationship worse, and it has since hurt countless others.

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VAUSE (on camera): Prince William there, lashing out at the BBC over the network's landmark interview with his late mother back in 1995. It is where Diana revealed her relationship with Prince Charles had broken down. An independent inquiry found journalist Martin Bashir used deceitful methods to secure that interview and the BCC covered it up.

CNN's Scott McLean is live from right outside the BBC headquarter in London. This is having quite the impact on the BBC, its credibility, its managerial structure, and how to handle these kind of incidents in the future.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): That is absolutely right, John. The fallout from this is huge. The investigation or the report into the investigation of this interview and how it came to be came more than a quarter century after this interview aired, undoubtedly one of the most famous TV interviews in British history.

In it, Princess Diana revealed serious cracks in her relationship with Prince Charles and also did not reflect well on the royal family at all.

Now, the independent investigation found that the journalist who had done the interview, Martin Bashir, had used fake bank statements purporting to show that members of the British Security Service and the press were paying members of Diana's inner circle in essence to spy on her.

The only trouble is that none of this was actually true. But, of course, it had the impact of earning the trust of Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, who then facilitated the introduction between Bashir and Princess Diana, which ultimately led to that interview.

The BBC, the report, excuse me, also concluded that the BBC covered up key facts about what it knew about how that interview was actually gotten in the first place after the fact.

The BBC has accepted the findings and apologized. It also promised to more personal apology to keep people who were involved. But still, as you heard there, Prince William is releasing a blunt, scathing statement. Here's part of it.

[02:15:00]

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PRINCE WILLIAM: It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC's failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia, and isolation that I remember from those final years with her.

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MCLEAN (on camera): And Prince Harry, William's brother, also released a separate statement in which he blamed what he calls a culture of exploitation in the British press for his mother' death, writing, our mother lost her life because of this and nothing has changed. By protecting her legacy, we protect everyone, and uphold the dignity with which she lived her life. Let's remember who she was and what she stood for.

Now, last night, the very same BBC program that aired that first interview, Panorama, also ran an expose on how that interview came to be. In it, they interviewed Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, and he made this pretty striking statement. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EARL SPENCER, BROTHER OF PRINCESS DIANA: The irony is that I met Martin Bashir on the 31st of August 1995, because exactly two years later, she died. And I do draw a line between the two events.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN (on camera): Spencer went on to explain that that interview and the information that was presented to Princess Diana succeeded in eroding her trust in the people around her and pushing her further away from that royal family bubble that might have otherwise protected her.

For his part, Martin Bashir has apologized for ever ordering those fake bank statements to be drawn up, but continues to insist in a statement that -- quote -- "They had no bearing whatsoever on the personal choice by Princess Diana to take part in the interview. It is saddening that the single issue has been allowed to overshadow the princess's brave decision to tell her story."

Bashir's statement, John, also goes on to point to the very first paragraph of the 127-page report in which the author, a former judge, says that Princess Diana at that time in her life was keen to do some kind of TV interview anyways and probably would've done it with any reputable reporter who would've earned her trust even without the intervention of Martin Bashir.

Martin Bashir, by the way, resigned from his position at the BBC on Monday citing ongoing health issues. John?

VAUSE: And one thing which, I guess, is interesting in timing is that it seems that Prince Harry is about to sit down for another revealing interview about life with the royals.

MCLEAN: Yeah, Prince Harry has certainly been out there in the press recently. Obviously, he and Meghan doing that bombshell interview with Oprah and a lot of people in the British press have been drawing some parallels between that interview and the one with Princess Diana.

Again, neither interview reflecting very well on the royal family and it seems like Prince Harry has gotten more and more bold in his statements, in the undertones in his statements and the interviews that he has been given in the recent days and may give in the future, John. Certainly, part of a pattern here that we're seeing from him becoming more and more outspoken.

VAUSE (on camera): Scott, thank you. Scott McLean in London, live for us, early morning live shot. Thanks. We appreciate it.

Just in time for the northern summer, travel within Europe may soon be a lot easier. The E.U. says it will start using COVID vaccine passports in July, allowing unrestricted travel within the block. The certificates display either vaccination, a recent negative test or immunity based on recovery.

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JUAN FERNANDO LOPEZ AGUILAR, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT NEGOTIATOR: You are vaccinated in a member state of the European Union, so the health system of your member state will provide you with a certificate. That is the new rule of the game. And that certificate will do. That certificate means that you don't have to PCR every week. Hey, listen, I'm vaccinated. This certificate says all. I was vaccinated, so please let me in.

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VAUSE (on camera): Member states are not allowed to impose additional restrictions like quarantines unless it is considered necessary for public health. They're asking a 48-hour notice before the rules take effect.

But even as some restrictions are being lifted, the World Health Organization in Europe is urging people to avoid international travel. The agency's regional director says there are still concerns that more transmissible variants like the one first detected in India might still pose a risk.

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HANS KLUGE, WHO REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR EUROPE: Right now, in the face of a continued stretch and new uncertainty, we need to continue to exercise caution, and rethink or avoid international travel. Vaccines may be a light at the end of the tunnel, but you cannot be blinded by that light. So the pandemic is not over yet.

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VAUSE (on camera): The good news here is that the authorized vaccines appear to be effective against the known strains of the virus, which are of concern.

[02:20:00]

VAUSE: India has just top 26 million total COVID cases after reporting a daily increase of nearly 260,000. In the meantime, you got a black fungus to the list of challenges facing the country. Health authorities say cases are rare, potentially fatal infections are mounting among coronavirus patients. A number of states are now facing shortages of the drug to use to treat it.

India's COVID crisis is creating a scramble for vaccines next door in Bangladesh. The nation had a deal to receive tens of millions of vaccines from India's serum institute, but India has put the break on much of its vaccine exports because of its own crisis at home. Bangladesh's vaccine is quickly running short. As a result, the vaccination campaign has dramatically slowed. Bangladesh is now reaching to other countries to try and fill that vaccine void.

We're joined now from Dhaka by the foreign minister of Bangladesh, A.K. Abdul Momen. So thank you for being with us. Just tell us what is happening with regard to the search for new and fresh vaccine supplies. Where are you looking? What sort of success have you had? Where does it stand right now?

A.K. ABDUL MOMEN, FOREIGN MINISTER OF BANGLADESH: Thank you. Hello.

VAUSE: Yes? Tell us where you are right now with the search for vaccines. MOMEN: We are thankful to President Joe Biden for announcing that the USA will be distributing some of the AstraZeneca vaccine to developing countries. Pretty large numbers, 60 million plus 20, around 80 million vaccines the USA will be distributing to the developing countries.

This is good news for us because Bangladesh, you see, we've made a contract with India, the serum company, to supply us 30 million AstraZeneca vaccines. And India did supply us around, as far our contract, seven million, and they also gave us a donation of 3.2, a total of 10.2 million.

We started our vaccination program as early as 7th of February. The big problem is -- big problem is that you see a large number of our people, around one and a half, more than one and a half million, who took the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine now can't get the second vaccine because we don't have any more. We can't give them the second dose.

That is creating a lot of problems for us. We are trying to get vaccines from other places. We were delighted when we heard that the U.S. will be distributing some of the AstraZeneca vaccines that they have.

But the -- and U.S. government is willing to donate it. We have requested. We've sent letters to my counterpart, Blinken, Secretary Blinken, and they agreed to give us by and large.

But now, the problem is, the FDA is taking a long time to approve the export of the AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca had been approved by WHO already. And -- but --

VAUSE: Can I just jump in and ask you a question on that? Would you be willing to accept the AstraZeneca vaccine right now without FDA approval given that it has been approved by the WHO?

MOMEN: I didn't get it.

VAUSE: Would you be willing to accept any shipment from the U.S. of the AstraZeneca vaccine even if it has not been approved by the FDA?

MOMEN: We need it desperately. So therefore, if any shipment comes, we will take it right away.

VAUSE: OK. I want to ask about the situation in the Rohingya refugee camps where there has been alarming increase in the number of COVID-19 cases there. It is spreading. A number of lockdowns have been imposed in those camps. MOMEN: We have around 1.1 million of them. You see, we could not provide them with the vaccine yet. But we have taken very strict preventive actions, health care actions. As a result, the fatalities and infections in the camps are relatively very low, basically no one died in the camps due to the coronavirus because of the actions that we have taken very strongly. We want to get them vaccinated, too. We would welcome it.

VAUSE: You're saying there are no fatalities within the camps, 1.4 million refugees all surviving the coronavirus so far?

MOMEN: (INAUDIBLE) infection yet. We are afraid that our next door neighbor, India, the COVID cases are increasing alarmingly in India. You know Bangladesh and India have a very good relationship. We have tried to stop the border so that people from India don't come, but yet a lot of people come. Many Bangladesh who went there as a visitor, now they're coming back.

[02:25:00]

MOMEN: And we are afraid that there could be increasing number of Indian variant of this COVID. But we are taking precautions and we maintain strong quarantine when they return to Bangladesh. We think that we need to have more vaccines. That is important.

VAUSE: Absolutely, more vaccine is crucial for so many places, especially Bangladesh, which neighbor is India where the outbreak is out of control.

MOMEN: John, you know Bangladesh is a very densely populated country. We have half of the U.S. population although our land mass is very little, 165 million people. So you have to be very careful so this coronavirus don't spread out. Therefore, we need all protective measures.

VAUSE: Yeah. You have been doing an incredible job with the Rohingya refugees. You've taken them in when nobody else has and that should be commended.

But I would like to finish the situation with the investigative journalist, in Bangladesh, who has been jailed for violations of the Official Secrets Act. Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, whole bunch of international humanitarians say it's difficult for her release.

MOMEN: It is a legal issue. It is in the process of court. We don't interfere with the legal system. But that person will get all fair judgment. There is no doubt in it, you know. And since it's in the code, we don't talk about it much.

But I can assure you, because Bangladesh, the judiciary is very independent, and she will get the fair treatment and judgment. Everybody -- we don't want anyone to suffer. But, you know, the law is law, and we do honor the law.

VAUSE: Mr. Foreign Minister, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate your time, and we wish you the very best of luck in the coming weeks with this outbreak ahead your way. So thank you, sir.

MOMEN: Thank you. Thank you very much. Let's hope that we get the vaccine very quickly. Thank you.

VAUSE: We hope. Thank you, sir.

Still ahead, the man behind the kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian school girls, reportedly, dead. Some news outlets say the leader of Boko Haram is still very much alive. We will be live in Lagos for the very latest.

Also, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire after 11 days of deadly conflict. For now, it appears to be holding, but what is next?

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VAUSE: Thank you for staying with us. Welcome back. I'm John Vause. You're watching "CNN Newsroom."

Seven and a half hours on and there has been no report of violation of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which means Friday might just be the first day in more than a week without both sides exchanging airstrikes and rocket fire.

[02:30:03]

The Israeli Prime Minister agreed to the ceasefire late Thursday after the military hit targets in Gaza for 11 long days. But the real challenge now is to get beyond the ceasefire move towards something resembling defcon (ph). Here's the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

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LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Now we must turn our focus toward making more tangible progress toward durable peace. And we must work together to address the urgent humanitarian needs on the ground, which are especially, in fact significantly immense in Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: For now, the ceasefire as long as it holds means people in Gaza can start assessing the damage, count the dead and wounded, but the bigger issues, addressing the deeper issues will take much longer. CNN's Bed Wedeman reports from the West Bank.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Since the 10th of May, the God of war has smiled down upon this blighted land. Airstrikes and rocket barrage as artillery and mortar fire. Hundreds of people dead and more than 2000 wounded, 10s of 1000s made homeless.

The current round of hostilities between Gaza and Israel, this too shall pass. What shall not pass are the reasons for this conflict played out in places like here Al-Bireh and other villages, towns and cities in the West Bank, in places like Shaikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, and indeed in Gaza itself.

Going back more than a decade Shaikh Jarrah here Palestinian families face forced eviction has been a constant Flashpoint in Jerusalem, even more so today. In Jerusalem, Palestinian residents, nearly 40 percent of the population pay taxes, carry Israeli identification cards, but among other things can't vote in the national elections. A new wave of protests is broken out in the West Bank, where millions

of Palestinians live in limbo, crammed into an archipelago of pseudo autonomous enclaves, all ultimately under Israeli military rule.

Since hostilities began, Israel has pummeled Gaza with hundreds of airstrikes while Hamas and other factions have fired more than 4000 rockets into Israel. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, but has maintained along with Egypt, an effective blockade since 2007, when Hamas took over. Israel controls the birth registry, the airspace and maritime access and much more. This war will change none of that.

TAWLEEQ HADDAD, JERSUSALEM RESIDENT: Just like in South Africa, this has to end. Palestinians will not be second class citizens in their homeland or kicked out of their place.

WEDEMAN: When relative calm returns and the world's attention moves on, the petty pace of this conflict will resume from day to day until once more on to the breach. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Al-Bireh on the West Bank.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Matthias Schmale is the Gaza Director of Operations for the UN's Relief and Works Agency. A short time ago, we spoke about the extent of damage in Gaza from the Israeli military offensive.

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MATTHIAS SCHMALE, GAZA DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, UNRWA: Do not have a clear sense yet of the damage. I've been out two - three times here in Gaza City when it was safe enough to do so and the damage looks extensive. You know, there are several high rise building that have been pummeled to the ground. And that's one reason why 1000s are now homeless.

But now that there is a ceasefire, the next - one of the next important steps is indeed to do a proper damage assessment and see where we take it from there. I was not here in 2014. But I have heard from many of my Palestinian colleagues, most of our staff here are Palestinians themselves, who lived through that nightmare, that they felt this time it was worse, not necessarily in terms of lives lost but the psychological damage that has been done to them.

The severity of the strikes, the noise accompanying that has been traumatic and as one Palestinian colleague put it, to me, this is an attack on our soul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Especially since the children in Gaza, we know how many died but not a lot beyond that. What will be the sort of the mid to long term impact on children who have now lived through a fourth major conflict in just over - just over 12 years - 13 years now?

SCHMALE: I'm not an expert in child psychology. I have children myself and I can only imagine that it must be very difficult and traumatic to cope with this and to move on from this and I think there needs to be two things. One is of course competent and professional psychological support.

[02:35:00]

That will be one of the areas we will also seek to invest in as we are building on what we already have. But then secondly, I think, equally important, there needs to be a perspective for these children of a more dignified, peaceful life, you know, and that's critical. There's a lot of depression here, and a sense of hopelessness and despair.

So, as our Secretary General has said, there needs to be now a serious process of peacebuilding so that these children won't have to live through this a fifth time. We have to think of the people, there are 1000s of people homeless. And we cannot say let's leave them homeless because we fear that any houses we rebuild may be destroyed again.

We have to think of the people first, those without a home or severely damaged homes. That's the main argument, I think, and I hope that donors will appreciate this and be generous yet again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And if you would like to help the victims on both sides of this conflict, please visit our website cnn.com for a list of organizations, which you can support. Well, the Nigerian Army investigating reports that the leader of Boko Haram has committed suicide. Abubakar Shekau has led the extremist group for more than a decade. He was the heir in charge with Boko Haram, gained international notoriety after kidnapping almost 300 schoolgirls back in 2014.

More than 100 of them remain missing. But exactly what happened and whether those reports are true remains unclear. CNN's Stephanie Busari following all this from Lagos. So Stephanie, where is this actually coming from the word that he's committed suicide? How credible is it? And is there any real evidence out there at this point?

STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN.COM SUPERVISING EDITOR, AFRICA: Good morning, John. So lots of conflicting reports about whether Shekau has really died. Local media reporting that he died by suicide to avoid being taken by rival faction. International media outlets reporting that he's not dead but badly wounded.

We spoke to the Nigerian Army and they are hesitant about really declaring that Shekau has died because in the past, they have done so only for Shekau to appear in videos, mocking them and his detractors. So there is some caution in actually declaring officially whether Shekau has died.

But what Boko Haram sources are telling CNN is that Shekau has indeed died. He died on Wednesday evening. This is a very credible Boko Haram source that told CNN that on Wednesday evening, after clashes between his men and his extreme extremist rival faction known as Islamic State, West Africa Province, ISWAP, they tracked him to his Sambisa Forest hideaway and asked him to surrender and plead allegiance to their group which is aligned with ISIS.

Now this group is what broke away from Boko Haram in 2016 and aligned with ISIS. So the source tells us that Shekau decided not to plead allegiance and surrender and decided to blow himself up rather than be captured by this group. So that's what we're hearing. No official confirmation, but you know, we'll be monitoring that for developments and bringing that to you, John.

VAUSE: Frequently - if he is in fact dead, this is - as this report pans out, what is the impact on Boko Haram? Will this leave them in sort of limbo, if you like? Does that lead to their decline even further, because they had been declining in relation to the other militant groups in the region?

BUSARI: Yes, some intelligence sources and experts are telling CNN that if he is declared dead, then it would effectively mean the end of Boko Haram as we know it. This is one of the longest, longest leaders of a terrorist group, Shekau for more than 12 years, led Boko Haram and very, very much the face of Boko Haram.

And so if he is confirmed dead then many of his commanders also have been as defected to ISWAP so he's lost a lot of top commanders and many of them have pledged allegiance to ISWAP, John.

VAUSE: Stephanie, thank you. Stephanie Busari there live in Lagos. We appreciate the reporting. Thank you, Stephanie. We'll take a short break, but when we come back, it's showtime. London's West End finally reopening its doors. What the UK's post lockdown productions look like after this.

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[02:40:00]

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome back to the West End.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: How incredibly appropriate it was for the musical Les Miserables allowed to be the among the first to reopen in London's West End post lockdown. About a third of London theaters have reopened this week but with strict social distancing measures, they have to operate at 50 percent capacity. Veteran theater producer Cameron Mackintosh says he is confident the industry will get back on its feet.

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CAMERON MACKINTOSH, BRITISH THEATRICAL PRODUCER: Several amount of shows are already have got back the advance that they had before the pandemic hit. So I am very, very encouraged in the public interest which I think will only get stronger and stronger once everyone knows whether they can go on a summer holiday or not.

And that, you know this is the first week London's reopened with the restaurants, you can see, can feel it in the street. London is coming alive again and it's pleasantly busy and buzzy now.

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VAUSE: Buzzy indeed on Thursday night in London. Fans just thrilled to be out and about and in the mix.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, the mask is weird.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Socially distancing is going to be strange.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Quite nice. Pretty good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First opening night, I think the atmosphere will be brilliant, better than usual.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So please, can't wait.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's off the scale. And obviously, last year, it's been so hard because they've not been able to perform. And now it's back and thank God it is. Thank you.

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VAUSE: On the positive side, you don't have to worry about who's sitting next to you in the theater. I'm John Vause, thank you for being with us. Michael Holmes will take over in about 15 minutes from now with another hour of CNN Newsroom. But for the moment, World Sport is up next.

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