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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Sorious Samura

Aired March 16, 2002 - 12:49   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In the award-winning "Cry Freetown," African Journalist Sorious Samura documented the horrific suffering that civil war inflicted upon his homeland of Sierra Leone and its children. The rebel group turned may children into small killing machines. Now Samura revisits his homeland in "Return to Freetown," to see how his country and the children are recovering.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SORIOUS SAMURA, DOCUMENTARIAN (voice-over): How on earth do you find the parents of fallen children in the mess of a war-torn country? This time we were very lucky. Sasko had told us that the last news he had heard about his father was that he was at a Sierra Leone army base in or near Port Loko, so we asked around in the Karetas camp, and someone knew him.

It's been a strange war for Sergeant Simbo, Sasko's father. He was a rebel, but now he's returned to join the new Sierra Leone Army backed by the British. It's a new, more professional army that is supposed to provide jobs for ex-RUF fighters. I hope they remain loyal.

(on camera) (translated on screen): Sahr, we are going to find your daddy, so I would like you to brace yourself to see your daddy -- hear me?

(voice-over): Sasko told me that he thought I was about to hand him over to the soldiers of the Sierra Leone army, his sworn enemies only a few short months ago.

(on camera) (translated on screen): You really want to see this now?

SASKO: Yes.

SAMURA (translated on screen): OK, let's go.

(voice-over): It's been two years since Sasko had seen his dad.

Sasko is a tough character. He's survived brutality, feared for his life many times, and had to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) by his comrades as a traitor. He's going to require even more strength to move forward to a new life outside the RUF. With families divided by wars, it's difficult for parents. They must try and raise their children who have been so damaged by their experiences.

SASKO (translated on screen): Where is my older sister now? Have you still not heard about her?

PA SIMBO (translated on screen): I've still not heard about her, except I have asked my white officers for us to go to Koidu, to go find out about them. But it's all up to God. I'm praying to God. My mama has been killed. I have no other family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That powerful documentary, "Return to Freetown," debuts tonight on CNN at 8:00 Eastern. And we're joined now by its award-winning maker, Journalist Sorious Samura, who is live from London - thanks so much for joining us this afternoon.

SAMURA: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: What an incredibly powerful documentary, that I know must have touched you so deeply just being able to get this intimate view and befriend some of these children, who really for so long - and understandably - would have a very difficult time opening up to a complete stranger.

SAMURA: Well, I was a bit worried, because since the war kind of toned down and then the West went in to help Sierra Leone, most people have been talking about trying people who perpetrated crimes in the country, including the children.

And for me these children, so far -- I mean, during the making of "Return to Freetown," there's not one person who denied the scenes of this so-called rebellion. Nobody has ever come forward to ask for forgiveness from these children, because these were the real victims, as far as I'm concerned.

And so having an opportunity to represent the adults who have ruined the lives of these children, to talk to these children, to understand what they're going through, what they've been through, the trauma. And the possible (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I was (ph) faced was really, really touching for me.

So for me, it was a mission to help get those children to live their normal lives again.

WHITFIELD: In your first documentary about this subject, "Cry Freetown," you revealed to the world the unthinkable. That children were being ripped from their families, victimized and in so many cases, as we'll see in your "Return to Freetown," some of them were turned into soldiers to kill loved ones, strangers, their own family members. In this documentary, "Return to Freetown," what are you hoping people will learn about the struggle and the recovery of these children who some -- only some children who have been fortunate to be reunited with the families they were torn from? SAMURA: Well, for me, "Cry Freetown" was just the wake-up call. This film, "Return to Freetown," for me, aimed to reveal that this war in Sierra Leone wasn't just a civil war. It was a war against the innocent, the abuse of children. And it is my hope that these children -- I mean, Sierra Leoneans would learn to understand that if you deny your children a stake, if you deny them proper education, if the youth don't have any hope or any choice whatsoever, they are bound to -- it's bound to -- you're bound to pay for your (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

So it's more or less the hope that we Sierra Leoneans will now stop and reflect -- not just Sierra Leoneans. Africans should stop our missions that are faced in wars that are turning their backs on their children. Should stop and reflect and look at the causes rather than just the effects and find a way forward and make sure that the kids are (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so that they don't go down like Sierra Leone and so many other countries -- Liberia, Congo, Afghanistan -- so that they avoid taking those paths.

WHITFIELD: Sorious Samura, how courageous of you to have put together this documentary and open the eyes of so many of us about the struggles of these children. Thanks very much for joining us from London. And for more about the children of civil war in Sierra Leone and their survival, watch CNN PRESENTS, "Return to Freetown." It airs tonight at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

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