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Fierce Fighting Sunday Despite Temporary Ceasefire; Bombarded Slovyansk Prays For Peace On Easter; Shooter Kills Four At Sweet 16 Birthday Party In Alabama. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 17, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:01:43]
LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak. And this is CNN Newsroom. Violence in Gulf Sudan, a temporary ceasefire doing little to end the deadly clashes between the country's army and a rival paramilitary group. Praying for peace, Ukrainians living near the frontlines mark orthodox Easter under the shadow of war. And America's gun crisis laid bare after a weekend of deadly violence, the country now averaging more than one mass shooting a day this year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN Newsroom with Laila Harrak.
HARRAK: We begin this hour in Sudan where a temporary ceasefire agreement failed to stop fierce fighting Sunday between the rapid support forces, paramilitary group and the country's army. The civilian death toll has now risen to at least 97, according to a Sudanese Doctors Union. The World Health Organization says more than 1,100 have been injured. And witnesses say they heard continuing exchanges of gunfire Sunday despite the U.N. brokered three hour ceasefire that was negotiated to address urgent humanitarian needs. And there are now reports of water and power cuts and shortages of fuel, food and medical care. Sudan's former prime minister called for both sides to step back from the conflict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDALLA HAMDOK, FORMER SUDANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Peace remains the only available option for the Sudanese people to avoid slipping into civil war. We must work to create a truce that allows for safe corridors, enabling citizens to fulfill their needs for medicine, treatment and vital supplies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: Both the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development met Sunday. They said they would send delegations to help broker a ceasefire. Well, the leader of the RSF accuses Sudan's army of breaking the temporary ceasefire. CNN cannot independently verify that claim. But our Larry Madowo spoke with him by phone, and here as part of their conversation and more on what's driving the conflict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The blame game continues in Sudan over who exactly is responsible for this fresh round of violence inside blaming the other. At the heart of this is a power struggle between the two most powerful generals in Sudan. General Burhan is the leader of the Sovereign Council and the leader of the country.
And his rival, his deputy that is Hemeti as his better known or General Mohamed Hamdan. I spoke to him and he still says he's committed to peace, he's committed to a return to civilian led rule in Sudan, and he's even apologetic to the people of Sudan and the people who live there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. MOHAMED HAMDAN DAGALO, LEADER, RAPID SUPPORTER FORCES (through translator): I say to the Sudanese people that were very, very sorry. This is a very bad and serious issue, which is terrorizing the whole Sudanese people and our guests in the country. We offer serious apology to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADOWO: In our conversation General Hemeti appears to speculate that his rival General Burhan has lost control of the Sudanese military. For instance he said that while he was committed to a U.N. brokered temporary ceasefire, they were getting attacked still by snipers from the Sudanese armed forces and they had to defend themselves.
[01:05:17]
The African Union now says it is sending a field mission to Sudan to engage the warring parties after it held an emergency meeting of its Peace and Security Council, the Arab League, the United Nations, the U.S. and all the regional parties that are all asking these two men to go back to the negotiating table to order a ceasefire and to return and to commit to that transition to civilian rule in Sudan. But so far, still very hardline positions.
Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
HARRAK: And I'm joined now by phone from Khartoum by Kholood Khair. She is a researcher and political analyst, and founding director of Confluence Advisory, a Sudan based think tank. Kholood, thank you so much for joining us. Can you describe to us what life is like right now in Khartoum? Are people hunkered down in their homes?
KHOLOOD KHAIR, RESEARCHER & ANALYST, KHARTOUM, SUDAN: Yes, they have, to the advice from both warring parties, and from the U.N. But of course, there's some people that are more difficult than for others, people who are already vulnerable. They live hand to mouth, you have medical needs, they're finding it very difficult to just remain at home. In addition, because of the electricity and water cut, the situation is getting quite desperate for a lot of people. And in the midst of all this, of course, we're living with a soundtrack of airstrikes and escalating firepower.
HARRAK: It must be really terrifying. And those who have to leave, can they leave? Is there a safe way to go to other cities for example? Kholood? I'm afraid we -- I'm afraid we lost Kholood. Obviously a very tense situation there in the Capitol. And we apologize for that. But it was good to have at least an impression of what life is like in Khartoum at the moment, of course, as that conflict rages on. Kholood Khair in Khartoum.
Now police have raided the home of the man accused of throwing an explosive object at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a campaign event. Investigators searched the home of the 24-year-old suspect on Sunday, removing more than 10 boxes of materials from the property. Local police say the items that were confiscated includes tools, a computer, a tablet, and a mobile phone and some type of powder. Police are still investigating the motive for the attack and say the suspect is staying silent.
While all of this of course comes as G7 foreign ministers are meeting in Japan. And now for more, I'd like to turn to Marc Stewart who is in the capital, Tokyo. Marc, what's the latest?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Laila, you mentioned the fact that police conducted that raid. In the last hour or so, we heard from local police. And at this point, still no clear motive, still no clear intent. As you mentioned, the suspect remains silent. I do want to show you some video that we obtained just hours ago. And it shows that silver cylinder on the ground very close to the Japanese Prime Minister, you then see a member of his security detail, basically kicking it out of the way and then deploying some kind of shield device and effort to keep the Prime Minister safe.
And as we have been reporting, luckily, he is just fine. But we have G7 meetings taking place here in Tokyo and then we have the bigger G7 conference soon happening next month at Hiroshima is security obviously a question regardless of what happened, but now it's in the spotlight. It's an issue that the Prime Minister recently addressed. Take a listen to his comments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FUMIO KISHIDA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): For event schedules like the G7 summit where dignitaries from around the world gather, I believe Japan nationwide will have to work together to make the utmost effort to provide security and safety.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: Now, depending on where you live in the world, political rallies, events like the one we saw last weekend here in Japan are very open. It's a chance for politicians and the public to really meet face to face. In fact, I was getting on the subway this morning and there was a politician there doing some campaigning. So it's something that Japan certainly wants to preserve. But it's also being questioned in many ways because of what happened unlike the United States, for example, where individuals go to a political rally, voters, you know, often have to go through some kind of screening metal detectors that is not the case here in Japan, Laila.
HARRAK: That is obviously a different way of doing things. Let's focus now on the G meeting itself, what's top of mind there?
[01:10:09]
STEWART: So this G7 meeting that is taking place in Tokyo is pretty much a precursor to the larger one that we will see in Hiroshima. It's a chance for foreign ministers to answer and question some of the issues directly. So on the agenda already, we have heard talks about China, Afghanistan, obviously, the broader Indo Pacific region where I am right now. And of course, Ukraine, that's taking place and of course, ceremonial things like a lunch, a working lunch, as well as a photo op. Again, this is kind of the stage setter for this most, the larger meeting with prime ministers and top heads of state to be held next month in Japan.
HARRAK: All right, Marc Stewart reporting live from Tokyo, thank you so much, greatly appreciate you. Thank you.
And we can go back to our top story. We lost connection with Kholood Khair in Khartoum. We have reestablished a connection with her. She's a researcher and political analyst and founding director of the think tank at Confluence. Kholood, so good to have you back with us. Can you hear me, OK?
KHAIR: Yes, I can.
HARRAK: Excellent. Thank you so much. Now, we understand obviously, sadly, that at least 97 people have died according to a Sudanese Doctors Union. Do you know what happens to for instance, those injured now during these hostilities, can first responders reach them? And what happens to those killed? Can families retrieve the bodies of their loved ones?
KHAIR: No, because the streets are effectively no go areas. So ambulances are finding it very hard to reach people, particularly in areas that are experiencing a lot of shelling, difficulty of, you know, all -- at all the areas that are sort of under threat and are losing a lot of shelling are densely populated areas. So number 97, I'm sure we'll see rise as more reports come in, of a fatality was also likely that we're going to see that number rise just because of how the warfare has become very much into neighborhoods.
And I don't think that there are frankly enough avenues open for humanitarians and for medical practitioners to either make it to medical clinics, or hospitals, or indeed treat people in their neighborhoods themselves.
HARRAK: And Kholood, in terms of the fighting, I mean, obviously intense in the capital, but it also seems to have spread to other parts of the country?
KHAIR: It has. It was the sort of a coordinated attack, because on the first day on the Saturday, we see just the Khartoum experiencing conflict with other parts of the country as well, particularly dark for where much of the fighting seems to be happening over the past 24 hours, Khartoum itself has seen an escalation just this morning, with Sudan armed forces announced that they will be airstrikes from today, and we've certainly been hearing them. I'm not sure if you can hear some of them as we speak. But they have been very, very loud, and very much in the center of town.
HARRAK: And the specter, obviously, of a broader regional conflict looms large. What role do outside influences play right now? I mean, do you see this potentially spilling over into neighboring countries?
KHAIR: I think right now, both generals are very much laser focused on eliminating the other. At some point, they may decide to engage their local, further regional allies in order to do so but from what we've seen, is that both their allies on the African continent and further afield in the Gulf have been quite reticent to get engaged. And pleas for mediation from, you know, allies, even sort of non-liberal allies in the Gulf and in Russia, have apparently fallen to death ease. So this is going to be very much a domestic dispute between these generals that has taken on a very devastating angle.
HARRAK: Very devastating angle indeed. I mean, it seems almost useless to ask this question. But could the holiday of Eid this week that marks the end of Ramadan, bring potential ceasefire?
KHAIR: I highly doubt that from the rhetoric of these two generals is very bellicose, very sort of aggravated. I don't see many avenues for getting them to disengage immediately, even by making the argument that at the end of Ramadan and the start of Eid. I think what certain is that people will find it very difficult to give both these generals and whomever the victim may be for the, you know, for doing this to them, frankly, at this time of year.
But Sudan has been no stranger to these kinds of devastating events, massacres, et cetera, at the time of Eid. So I think, you know, this is not something that they will take on board as much as you'd like them to.
HARRAK: Kholood, my final question to you, I mean, what happens now to the dream Sudan returning to civilian rule?
[01:15:03]
KHAIR: I think there's still hope that there is potential for the new rule because regardless of what the military outcome of this will be, whoever the victory is, if there is no negotiated outcome, we'll have to abide by some security sector reform elements and accountability, the very thing that the generals have been avoiding.
But, you know, the dream of a civilian Sudan still exist and exist for a large number of people and if anything, conflict has sort of made even more of an argument and SSR, Security Reform is essential and that the accountability will be front and center of any sort of post conflict events.
HARRAK: Kholood Khair speaking to us from Khartoum, Sudan, thank you.
KHAIR: Thank you very much.
HARRAK: Russia marked orthodox Easter in Ukraine with a barrage of missiles with a church among the targets on Easter Sunday. villagers searched the rubble near the city of Zaporizhzhia where their church suffered massive damage. No services were underway when the missile hits and no one was hurt. But the head of the local military was incensed, saying nothing is sacred and there was no lull in the ferocious fighting in and around Bakhmut.
Ukraine says almost 100 Russian shellings were recorded around the city in just 24 hours. And about 30 firefights raged between Ukrainian and Russian forces for control of the devastated city. But there was also a little joy on this holiday, 130 Ukrainians are now free after a prisoner exchange with Russia. The eastern city of Slovyansk also felt Russia's aggression over the Easter weekend shelling on orthodox Good Friday hit an apartment building and a children's playground leaving at least 15 people dead and two dozen others injured.
But the faithful still came to services on Easter as the Ukrainian soldiers, a military chaplain explained that much has changed since last Easter, including Ukrainians resolve to carry on no matter what.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MYKOLAY, UKRAINE MILITARY CHAPLAIN (through translator): What changed? To be honest, we became more united and there's less chaos. Yesterday during the prayer, there was a shelling not far from here. I dropped a candle for my hands. I picked it up and continue to pray. If it had happened last year we would be hiding in basements.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: And despite their despair and their losses, the people of Slovyansk also displayed hope on Easter Sunday. As Ben Wedeman shows us for many, the holiday was a time to pray that someday peace will come again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Air raid sirens and discernment, it's orthodox Easter in Slovyansk, a town battered Friday, Good Friday by deadly Russian missile strikes. That didn't stop residents from packing the church with worshippers spilling outside. I always pray for Ukraine for our children, says 73- year-old Ania (ph). I asked for peace as soon as possible to live a little bit longer without war. We don't want to die. Ania (ph) and others have brought bags and baskets of food to be blessed. In these troubled times more people than ever attend church, even if some are reluctant.
(on camera): Not everybody can make it to Sunday services. These emergency workers have been here all night, because they believe there's still more bodies under the rubble.
(voice-over): This was the deadliest strike on Slovyansk since the start of the full scale Russian invasion, and as 300 missile gouged out the top floors of this apartment block, killing among others, a little boy. The child who died was only two years old, says Tatiana (ph). His father is still there. If only they could lift those slabs, they could rescue him. That family like many others fled Slovyansk early in the war but came back after the Russians retreated last autumn.
Officials say around 30,000 residents have returned in recent months. I knew all of those who are killed, says Lilia (ph), a neighbor. It's horrible. Elsewhere in town another missile landed in a playground. As fate would have it Friday was cold and rainy. The playground was empty. The Easter services here go on for hours, allowing those shaken by recent attacks to renew their faith that this war will eventually come to an end.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Slovyansk, Eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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HARRAK: A mass shooting at a birthday party in Alabama leaves four dead, dozens more wounded. We'll have a report right after the break.
Plus, the U.S. border patrol says it encountered more than 2 million migrants at the southern border last year. And soon, many more could be coming. The reasons why and how the U.S. is preparing still ahead on CNN Newsroom.
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HARRAK: In the U.S. mass shootings turned spaces that seemed safe into scenes of carnage over the weekend. In Dadeville, Alabama, four people were killed at a sweet 16 birthday party Saturday night, including the brother of the birthday girl and at least 28 others were wounded, some of them critically.
Also on Saturday, someone fired shots and to a crowd at a park in Louisville, Kentucky, killing two people and wounding four others. This is Louisville's second mass shooting in less than a week. Last Monday not far from the park, a gunman killed five people at a bank and injured several others. Well, according to the Gun Violence Archive, there have now been 162 mass shootings in the first 15 weeks of this year. That's an average of more than 1.5 mass shootings every day. And the Alabama shooting police have not released any details of a suspect or a motive for the killings. CNN's Isabel Rosales is in Dadeville, Alabama where she met with people who knew some of the victims.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I spoke with Michael Taylor, who's the assistant football coach over at Dadeville high school. And he says that this is personal because one of the known for victims so far of the shooting is Phil Dowdell. And he, Taylor says that Dowdell has been like a son to him. He's known him since he was nine years old. He is an utter disbelief at the news.
He calls though Dowdell, a freak, a freak athlete, somebody who was so blessed by God across the spectrum basketball, track, football, and that he was about to turn the page on a new and exciting chapter in his life. He was about to graduate next month and actually got a scholarship to play football at Jacksonville State University here in Jacksonville, Alabama. Taylor spoke with Dowdell's grandmother this morning. Here's what she said.
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MICHAEL TAYLOR, DADEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACH: The biggest thing, you know, she didn't understand why, why did it happen, you know. We don't they don't have any enemies. It feel, you know what I mean, about a month ago, it's the culture. It never happened to me. Even when I go to college, take care my two sons. I've never dreamed that he was talking about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSALES: And as you can understand this is a terribly traumatizing situation for this tight knit community of 3,000 people. The superintendent says that tomorrow they will have counselors at the county schools to help the students grieve through what has happened.
[01:25:09]
Isabel Rosales, CNN, Dadeville, Alabama.
HARRAK: And President Joe Biden calls the Alabama shooting outrageous and unacceptable. And he says he's ready to work with Republicans in good faith on federal gun safety legislation that will save lives. In a statement released Sunday, he asked, what has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry every time their kids walk out the door to school, to the movie theater or to the park. And he added, guns are the leading killer of children in America and the numbers are rising, not declining. This is outrageous and unacceptable.
Americans agree and want lawmakers to act on common sense gun safety reforms. Well, we asked a CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem about how afraid American young people are to go out to the movies and other places because of fears about gun violence. Here's a response.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's hard to imagine the sense that teenagers have of the possibility that they would be killed by gun violence wherever they're from urban areas, rural, blue states, red states, they call this generation lockdown. It's the kids that are going through junior high in high school having, you know, now being too well versed on what it means to be to have these lockdown drills. And sometimes as we know they are not drills, this is a I should say this is a voting bloc that is that these are kids that focus on guns and it's not like, you know, no guns and all guns. These are sophisticated kids who know what it's like to live in a society in which their vulnerabilities are not taken into account.
So it's not too early to at least discuss, you know, here we are in a very permissive gun state. It actually just signed, the governor just signed an open carry law permitless open carry law. So you cannot argue that, you know, that, you know, we just need to put more guns out there. If these are happening in places where there's lots of guns, when there's places in blue states where there's fewer guns there, you know, we're certainly should be done gaming the system and just sort of recognize what we're seeing.
I have to say about the gun, 28 injuries and four dead victims at this stage. That's, I don't know what kind of weapon and we don't know yet what kind of weapon but if, that's a lot of bullets. And in terms of that night, and I -- and your weapon, and we're only hearing about one person. So we'll figure out what the gun is. But regardless, that's someone who wanted to meaningfully kill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: Global and regional powers are calling for an end to the conflict in Sudan. We'll have the latest and discuss the situation with an expert when we return. And we'll look at the challenges faced at the U.S. southern border as migrants and border officials alike prepare for the end of Title 42.
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[01:30:47]
HARRAK: Sunday saw fierce fighting between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group despite a U.N. brokered temporary ceasefire agreement, while the death toll among civilians has risen to at least 97, according to a Sudanese doctors union.
The World Health Organization, meanwhile, says more than 1,100 have been injured. And there are reports of water and power cuts and shortages of fuel, food and medical care. Global and regional leaders are calling on both sides to step back from the conflict to avert a humanitarian crisis and a potential return to civil war.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the conflict in Sudan a short time ago at the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Japan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: -- on Sudan, the threat that that poses to civilians, that it closes to the Sudanese nation and potentially closes even to the region. There's also a very strongly shared view about the need for Generals al-Burhan and Hemeti to ensure the protection of civilians and noncombatants, as well as people from third countries, including our personnel who are located in Sudan.
And also, a strongly held view again across all of our partners on the need for an immediate ceasefire and a return to talks, talks that were very --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: Joining me now, Dr. Suliman Baldo is the Director of the think tank Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker. Dr. Baldo, a very warm welcome. This is a very terrifying time for the people of Sudan. Deadly fighting is now spreading. What does this signal?
SULIMAN BALDO, DIRECTOR, SUDAN TRANSPARENCY AND POLICY TRACKER: It signals that our military leaders are willing to fight to the death, you know, to the finish between, you know, them on the -- basically destroying the country in the process. This is a fight for power. This is a fight for wealth. This is a fight that does not respect, you know, the integrity of Sudan or of its population. And therefore, they show a level of recklessness that is really, you know, condemnable.
HARRAK: Recklessness. I mean, who can help deescalate and get these two warring factions to listen and seize hostilities? There has been a lot of diplomatic efforts to preempt the fighting from igniting in the fairest place. Sadly, this has not yielded the desired result.
And the -- our military leaders, General al-Burhan of the Sudan Armed Forces, General Hemeti of the Rapid Support Forces, have proven that they were indifferent to international appeals, to mediation from -- within the Sudanese society by different political actors, movements that have signed agreements with the government, dignitaries in the Sudanese society.
All of these given, you know, appeals from -- on deaf ears (ph), and now we are seeing, you know, basically the country destroyed before our eyes and its population being held hostage.
HARRAK: Well, if I understand you correctly, if you see no incentive for these armed forces to lay down their weapons and give up power and answer to a civilian-led government, do you think we're looking at a protracted war?
BALDO: I don't think that there is readiness, you know, for a protracted war. And this is a war that in two days has proven how destructive it is, at least at the level of the capital. However, I'm, you know, I'm concerned about a prolonged conflict in peripheral regional parts of Sudan.
Therefore, five federal states in South Kordofan, West Kordofan states, other parts of the country where the two leaders have cultivated local loyalties by weaponizing ethnicity, drawing on loyalty of shifting of particular ethnic groups.
And now they have led them to their own devices, and these groups will now, I'm concerned, will be going into fighting over local resources and other issues, such as cattle rustling and whatnot, and the country will be descending and sliding into state failure.
[01:35:17]
So I would expect that there will be continuous pressures and the, you know, the legal and leverage will be increased. However, there should be a sense of direct consequences for the two military leaders if they do not, you know, respond and stop the fighting immediately and return to the table to find a negotiated solution for their problems and to return Sudan for, you know, a negotiated path to the restoration of democratic rule.
This is the only positive outcome that could happen, but it requires a lot of leverage directly, you know, targeting the immediate interest of the leaders of the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.
HARRAK: So do you think -- Dr. Suliman, do you think that the U.S. can play a role or the African Union to help end the fight? I mean, Egypt -- neighboring Egypt is arguably involved. Can they pressure them to seize hostilities? Is there a viable mediation option?
BALDO: There is already. As I said, a lot of diplomatic efforts to, you know, to pressure the parties to end this conflict. But I said it's, you know, not sufficiently -- you know, let's call it what it is. You know, what I'm calling for is threats of direct consequences for the economic interest of the army and of the Rapid Support Forces.
Both Sudan Armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces own security companies that are involved in vital sectors of the economy and have regional presence and interest investments and partnerships in, you know, Arab Gulf countries and international financial systems. They have networks of banks. They have networks of, you know, basically corporations and conglomerates.
And all of this is one of the main reasons driving the economic competition between their corporate empires is one of the reasons driving the conflict between the two. So if there are direct threats that their interest will be affected, I think they will lend more attention and be more responsive to such diplomatic efforts.
HARRAK: Dr. Suliman Baldo, thank you so much for joining us and for your analysis.
BALDO: Thank you for having me.
HARRAK: The effects of climate change are evident as wildfires rage in parts of Europe. Emergency officials in southern France are racing to fight a fire the size of one usually seen in the summer months. Hundreds of firefighters were deployed on Sunday to control a blaze that has consumed more than 660 hectares of land.
Meantime, in northern Spain, huge clouds of smoke darkened the skies on Sunday. The fires in both Spain and France have been made worse by drought conditions throughout the year.
At least 16 people were killed and nine others were injured after a fire broke out in an apartment building in Dubai. Local media report, the blaze on Saturday started on the fourth floor of the five-storey building, which is located in one of the most densely populated areas of the city.
According to Dubai Civil Defense, preliminary investigations showed the fire was caused by a lack of compliance with building security and safety requirements. They say a more detailed investigation is underway.
The U.S. Border Patrol says it encountered more than 2 million migrants at the southern border last year. And tens of thousands are still waiting in northern Mexico for the opportunity to enter the U.S. Hoping that will be easier once the Trump era policy known as Title 42 ends next month.
CNN's Rosa Flores explains what could happen when it does.
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ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Where are we?
JAVIER CALVILLO, DIRECTOR, CASA DEL MIGRANTE: (Foreign Language) La Casa del Migrante.
FLORES (voice-over): Father Javier Calvillo runs the Casa del Migrante shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, across the border from El Paso, Texas, and says this is one of about 40 shelters in the city.
CALVILLO: (Speaking Foreign Language).
FLORES (voice-over): And that most of the migrants here are from Venezuela.
(on-camera): The top nationality is Venezuela?
CALVILLO: (Speaking Foreign Language).
FLORES (voice-over): And the majority, if not all, are part of the skyrocketing number of migrants trekking through the dangerous jungle passage between Colombia and Panama known as the Darien Gap. Migrant crossings there have jumped from under 600 in 2010 to nearly a quarter million last year.
This year, nearly 90,000 migrants have made the trek so far, all of them on their way to the U.S. southern border.
[01:40:01]
The Biden administration took notice. And alongside Colombia and Panama, it launched a two-month campaign to curb the flow of migration.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We must do more to discourage the dangerous journey.
FLORES (voice-over): At the U.S. southern border, the humanitarian crisis that left hundreds of migrants sleeping on the streets of El Paso in December and January has effectively jumped the border to Mexico, immigration advocates say.
Emotions there? Boiled over last month when a large group of migrants rushed the international bridge to El Paso over frustrations with the cumbersome U.S. asylum process, forcing them to wait in Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Please, we want answers.
FLORES (voice-over): That dissatisfaction stemmed from the Trump era pandemic public health rule known as Title 42, which allows immigration agents to swiftly expel migrants back to Mexico. The Biden administration's expansion of that rule to Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Cubans, and the recent launch of an app that allows migrants to set up appointments to enter the U.S. legally pending immigration proceedings under an exception to Title 42.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The App doesn't work.
FLORES (voice-over): More than 23,000 migrants are in northern Mexican cities waiting as Title 42 is set to expire next month, according to officials and community leaders. In Tijuana, about 10,000 are waiting. In Reynosa and Matamoros, about 9,800, and in Ciudad, Juarez, up to 3,500.
The top 21 countries where they're coming from include places outside the Western Hemisphere. As for who is responsible for the migrant crisis, which appears to ping pong across borders, Father Calvillo says --
CALVILLO: (Speaking Foreign Language).
FLORES (on-camera): (Speaking Foreign Language). The game. The game of politics.
(voice-over): Both the U.S. and Mexico for what he calls the game of politics and policies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES: The Department of Homeland Security has said that the Biden administration has launched a comprehensive immigration strategy that is fair and efficient and that allows for legal pathways to enter into the United States like the CBP One app. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says that the app is working as intended and that tens of thousands of migrants have used it to setup appointments to enter into the United States.
And CBP says that their data shows that the number of migrant encounters at the U.S. southern border has dropped since that app was launched back in January. Now, from reporting from both sides of the border, I can tell you that what the net effect of these current policies look like is a valve. A valve that allows the U.S. government to manage the flow of migration into the United States and has thousands of migrants waiting in Mexico.
Rosa Flores, CNN, El Paso, Texas.
HARRAK: Just ahead, three experienced sailors go missing on a trip from Mexico to California. Authorities are on the search. We'll have a report.
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HARRAK: The U.S. Coast Guard is helping Mexican Navy crews in the search for three American sailors who have not been heard from for nearly two weeks. CNN's Camila Bernal has the story.
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These three Americans were last heard from on April 6. They were near Mazatlan, Mexico, and they were headed to San Diego, California. They were supposed to stop on April 6 in Cabo San Lucas, but they never made it there. Now it is the Mexican Navy who is leading the search here with the help of the U.S. Coast Guard.
The three Americans that are currently missing are Kerry and Frank O'Brien, they are a married couple and William Gross. I spoke to Kerry's mother, and she says that Kerry and her husband have about 20 years of experience and said that Bill has about 50 years of experience when it comes to sailing.
She says, you know, a mother always worries, but she wasn't particularly concerned about this trip. She speaks to her daughter every single day. But on day two, when she didn't hear from her, she began to feel scared, to feel concerned. She says she is now heartbroken, but is not losing hope.
Here's part of the conversation I had with that mother.
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ELLEN ARGALL, MOTHER OF MISSING AMERICAN KERRY O'BRIEN: We're so close. We either talk on the phone or we text each other. So when I didn't hear from her when she was supposed to Cabo, I started getting very worried. I'm very worried, sad, concerned, but I'm still hopeful. I'm hanging on to the hope. We've all been praying. Seems so odd that in all these days, not one person has seen them or heard from them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERNAL: And the U.S. Coast Guard saying that the weather was not optimal when they began sailing. They say it is a long trip, even when the weather is good. They say it takes about two days to get from Mazatlan to Cabo San Lucas, and they've now been missing for more than 10 days.
The search continues. This mother says that she gets an update from the Coast Guard every single day. She is waiting to hear back from her daughter. She wants this search to expand. She says the Coast Guard has told her that they're using technology to try to figure out where this boat could be.
They're looking at the patterns in the wind and in the currents to figure out if there is any spot where they can search and where they can eventually and hopefully find them again. Again, this mother says she has hope and she is waiting for the next time that she speaks to her daughter.
Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles. HARRAK: In the coming hours, former U.S. President Bill Clinton will join other political leaders at a major conference marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. While former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will be among those participating in a three-day conference commemorating the peace deal at Belfast Queen's University, while former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is hosting the conference as part of her role as chancellor at the school.
And coming up later Monday, Christiane Amanpour sits down with Ahern, Blair and Bill Clinton for an exclusive reunion interview in Belfast, marking the anniversary of that historic agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland.
We'll be right back.
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HARRAK: Leaders at the G7 Climate Energy and Environment Summit in Japan made new promises to combat the imminent threat of climate change over the weekend. Well, this included a push for all member countries to end plastic pollution by the year 2040.
The United Nations says the volume of plastics entering the world's oceans will triple by that time. A statement from Germany's Minister of the Environment says countries will promote sustainable consumption and production of plastics in an effort to hit the goal. But they must also change how plastic waste is managed.
Joining me now, Carroll Muffett, the President and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law. Sir, thank you so much for coming on. It's good to have you with us. Ending new plastic pollution by the year 2040? How do you go about doing that?
CARROLL MUFFETT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: Well, the first way you go about doing that is realizing that ending new plastic pollution means ending new production of plastics. And so what the world needs to focus on, first and foremost, is stopping the ever-growing production of plastics, reversing that, and beginning to phase out the most problematic plastics and ramp down plastic production over time.
HARRAK: All right. Let's delve a little bit deeper in that. How big of a problem is plastic pollution?
MUFFETT: It is an extraordinary problem, not only because of the plastics that are polluting our seas, polluting our waterways, polluting our coastlines, but we are increasingly recognizing that plastics are contaminating our water supplies, our food supplies, our agricultural soils and the crops growing in those soils.
And this is bringing plastics into the air we breathe, the water we drink, and into our very bodies. And these problems are particularly acute for those communities where plastics are made. So when we talk about plastic pollution, we're talking about all of that. Not only the plastic in the oceans, but the plastic, fibers and particles that are in our bodies, in our bloodstreams and the toxins that are invading the communities where plastics are being made and where they're being incinerated at the end of their lives.
HARRAK: Now, this is a global problem. It impacts our environment and health as you just so eloquently pointed out. No country is untouched by this problem, but is life without plastic possible?
MUFFETT: Well, life without plastic was possible for many, many centuries. And it's -- the fact is that 40 percent of plastics rapidly growing towards 50 is for single use plastic packaging. Products that come into our lives unrequested, unsolicited, often unnoticed and, you know, have a useful life that is measured in moments, in minutes at most in a few months, and then remains in the environment for thousands of years.
These are plastics that it is easily possible to find a way forward without. Other plastics will take more time. But experience has shown that when we recognize that a problem demands a transition and we regulate accordingly, innovation follows, and it follows often very rapidly.
HARRAK: Now, as you know, in the medical field, plastics play a crucial role. They're also often single use. I mean, do you foresee a future where it could be phased out there because it's quite crucial in that field?
MUFFETT: You know, I look forward to a world in which plastics are so scarce that we have to worry about medical plastic uses. Medical plastic uses are a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the plastics in our economy and in our environment. And so we have a wide range of plastics that we can phase out first and quickly before we reach those plastics that may be harder to phase out and for which we need to find other solutions.
HARRAK: Now, the U.S., as you know, is part of this multilateral pledge that the G7 has issued. What role does the U.S. play in the global plastic pollution problem? And do you feel that the U.S. could lead on this issue? And what kind of effect would it have if it decided to play a leadership role?
MUFFETT: It would be wonderful to see the U.S. leading on this issue. I think it's the first step. It would be nice to see the U.S. catching up.
[01:55:03]
I think the announcement from the G7 is certainly a solid start because the U.S. has to date been, you know, one of the barriers to real plastic action, both in dealing with plastic waste trade and in, you know, the movement towards a binding, ambitious global plastic treaty.
The U.S. is pushing for a Paris type agreement based on voluntary commitments from countries that, you know, have a very poor track record of success. And this is extremely important because the U.S. is a massive producer of plastics. It is a massive -- it is growing its global plastic industry and plastic exports, and it has long been a massive exporter of plastic waste.
And so the U.S. is a critical part of the problem, and that means the U.S. needs to be part of the solution. I think one way that the U.S. could show that leadership is actually by committing to the environmental justice principles that the Biden administration announced and applying those principles to the array of plastic and petrochemical facilities that are slated to be built and opened in the next few years, because those chemicals -- those facilities are disproportionately affecting communities of color in the U.S. Gulf Coast and beyond.
HARRAK: So still a lot of work to do, but a good beginning.
Carroll Muffett, thank you so much.
MUFFETT: Thank you for having me.
HARRAK: April showers bring May flowers, right? Well, thanks to an epic amount of rain this winter in California, those flowers have arrived. Behold the poppy super bloom, the rare instance when these vibrant orange flowers cover the fields and hillsides in California like a blanket.
In fact, the super bloom is so big and bright, you can even see it from space. Professor Sarah Kimball, a plant ecologist at the University of California, Irvine, spoke with CNN about how the phenomenon happens.
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SARAH KIMBALL, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE: California wildflowers spend much of their time as seeds, just dormant in the soil, waiting for the perfect conditions for them to germinate and grow and bloom. And they can remain dormant in the seed bank for several years.
This year, we've had so much rain that many, many species of wildflowers have germinated, and they were able to survive because we kept getting more rains and they started blooming and they just keep blooming.
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HARRAK: While the super bloomer usually draws big crowds, but Professor Kimball says it's important to remember not to step on the flowers.
Gorgeous way to end. That wraps up this hour of CNN's Newsroom. I'm Laila Harrak.
Rosemary Church picks up our coverage after this break, and I'll see you next time.
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