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CNN Live Saturday
Investigation Into Kenya Hotel Bombing Continues
Aired November 30, 2002 - 17:02 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the latest on the terror investigation. Authorities do not believe an American woman or her Spanish husband had any part in blowing up a resort hotel in Kenya. They are still questioning 10 other people, though. Sixteen people, including the three bombers, were killed at the Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa. CNN's senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports the United States may actually have been warned.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is slow going. The investigators are sifting, still searching for clues. Kenyans are in mourning, mourning the loss of family and friends and jobs and livelihood. As people here are still asking why this happened to them, it has emerged that some western governments had recent intelligence warnings of terrorist attacks in Mombasa, warnings at least two governments made public to their people.
(on camera): Australia began issuing warnings in early November, urging Australians to avoid Mombasa unless they had essential business here, and on November 12th they issued a new warning saying there was evidence of threats against "western interests here in Mombasa."
(voice over): When you look around Mombasa, the most obvious western interests are the beach hotels full of western tourists just like the Paradise. A day after the Australian warning on November 13, the German government issued a very similar warning.
JULIUS SINKULI, MIN. OF INTERNAL SECURITY: I do not have that information.
MACVICAR: Kenya's minister for internal security, the government minister now responsible for the investigation, said he had never been told of the warnings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you the person who most likely should be in a position to have that information?
SINKULI: Well, I'm saying I'm not the only person who ought to have that information but I'm saying I don't have that information.
MACVICAR: It's not clear if others in the Kenyan government were told and what, if any, action they took. It is also not clear if the intelligence was shared with Israel. An Australian newspaper says the Israeli government was told and Israel often receives western intelligence on threats. As Israeli intelligence source tells CNN that if the government had that information, the level of security for Israelis in Kenya was not raised until after the attacks.
And, at the Paradise Hotel, most often completely occupied by vacationing Israelis, employees said the security procedures had been unchanged for months and now, along with the mourning and the grief comes the questions, were the warnings ignored and, if so, why?
Sheila MacVicar CNN, Mombasa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 30, 2002 - 17:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the latest on the terror investigation. Authorities do not believe an American woman or her Spanish husband had any part in blowing up a resort hotel in Kenya. They are still questioning 10 other people, though. Sixteen people, including the three bombers, were killed at the Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa. CNN's senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports the United States may actually have been warned.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is slow going. The investigators are sifting, still searching for clues. Kenyans are in mourning, mourning the loss of family and friends and jobs and livelihood. As people here are still asking why this happened to them, it has emerged that some western governments had recent intelligence warnings of terrorist attacks in Mombasa, warnings at least two governments made public to their people.
(on camera): Australia began issuing warnings in early November, urging Australians to avoid Mombasa unless they had essential business here, and on November 12th they issued a new warning saying there was evidence of threats against "western interests here in Mombasa."
(voice over): When you look around Mombasa, the most obvious western interests are the beach hotels full of western tourists just like the Paradise. A day after the Australian warning on November 13, the German government issued a very similar warning.
JULIUS SINKULI, MIN. OF INTERNAL SECURITY: I do not have that information.
MACVICAR: Kenya's minister for internal security, the government minister now responsible for the investigation, said he had never been told of the warnings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you the person who most likely should be in a position to have that information?
SINKULI: Well, I'm saying I'm not the only person who ought to have that information but I'm saying I don't have that information.
MACVICAR: It's not clear if others in the Kenyan government were told and what, if any, action they took. It is also not clear if the intelligence was shared with Israel. An Australian newspaper says the Israeli government was told and Israel often receives western intelligence on threats. As Israeli intelligence source tells CNN that if the government had that information, the level of security for Israelis in Kenya was not raised until after the attacks.
And, at the Paradise Hotel, most often completely occupied by vacationing Israelis, employees said the security procedures had been unchanged for months and now, along with the mourning and the grief comes the questions, were the warnings ignored and, if so, why?
Sheila MacVicar CNN, Mombasa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
