Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Two Candidates Left Standing in the Race for New Orleans Mayor; Five Minors Dead After an Explosion at a Coal Mine; Boys from Sudan's Darfur Region are Now Being Forced to Fight; Barbaro Enters the Preakness Unbeaten, Could Become the Triple Crown Winner

Aired May 20, 2006 - 16:30   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Here are the latest developments in New Orleans. Voters head to the polls to choose a new mayor. The contest pits incumbent Ray Nagin against Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu, and the winner will face one of the biggest reconstruction projects in U.S. history.
In Iraq now, the parliament there has given its stamp of approval to a new cabinet. Two key minister positions, defense and interior, will be temporarily filled until coalition groups agree on permanent appointments.

And an Israeli air strike in Gaza City today killed an Islamic Jihad leader. Palestinian sources say three other people also died, a woman, her four year old son and the boy's grandmother.

It could be a bumpy ride for summer air travelers. Experts are predicting rising prices, less frills and planes packed to capacity.

And then there were two. Nine months after Hurricane Katrina, these are the two candidates left standing in the race for New Orleans mayor. What can we expect?

Joining me now is CNN political analyst and New Orleans resident, Donna Brazile.

Donna thanks for being with us.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.

KEILAR: And you're part of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, or, yes, Authority. Can you sort of tell us why should people outside of New Orleans be paying attention to this election?

BRAZILE: Well, as you know, the American people have invested billions of dollars in the recovery of Louisiana and Mississippi, and the Gulf Coast. This elections important today because the voters in the city of New Orleans will choose a new leader or perhaps return Mayor Ray Nagin back to office.

This election is about the rebuilding and the rebirth of the Crescent City. And voters are very excited, despite some of the problems that many people are experiencing in getting to the polls. Turnout is brisk.

In some of the areas, there was a 10 percent jump in the early voting and the absentee voting, so this is going to be a close election. It's like doing math without a calculator, you can't tell what is going to happen, because we don't know how many displaced voters will return to the city today to cast their ballots.

KEILAR: So Donna, both of these men are familiar faces. Can you break down the different candidates for us?

BRAZILE: They are alike on the issues. Nagin came to office four years ago with a coalition of the white business establishment, very little support from the African American community, which was the predominant community prior to Hurricane Katrina.

Mitch Landrieu comes from a long history. His family has been part of New Orleans' political landscape for almost five decades. He's the Lieutenant Governor. He's a former state legislator. He's the brother of the United States Senator. He's a brother of a local judge. And he is the son of the former Mayor of New Orleans, the last white mayor in the city of New Orleans.

So this is going to be really a race between two experienced lawmakers. The difference, as I see it, is that Mitch Landrieu is bringing together a coalition to talk about, you know, rebuilding all of the neighborhoods in the City. And Mayor Nagin has promised to use his experience that he's gained in office as a result of Katrina to try to, you know, get the recovery process under way.

KEILAR: So, Donna, whoever is elected what do you think the first thing they need to do is -- what is the first thing they need to do when they take office?

BRAZILE: There's no question that the city finances has to be stabilized. The mayor this week announced that he had $150 million line of credit to insure the operations of the city for the next year.

There's no question that with hurricane season just, you know, weeks away that the city must be prepared to evacuate if, in fact, there's another storm on the horizon.

Housing, there's a tremendous need. The governor has allocated over $6 billion that we received from the federal government to begin to give homeowners a grant of up to $150,000. And that's going to be important as well. Bring back the housing, bring back the jobs, bring back the small businesses, reopen the schools, reopen the libraries, and reopen the hospitals.

I mean, we're starting from scratch. And we are grateful that the American people are investing in the future of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

KEILAR: And, Donna, your family is in New Orleans. How are they feeling about this election? What are they saying?

BRAZILE: My family, by and large, they're still scattered. I have a sister who is back, living in a trailer about 20 miles out. I just talked to a niece who drove in from Baton Rouge. And my dad is in Baton Rouge. And two other sisters are in Baton Rouge, a brother in Columbia, South Carolina, uncles in Georgia, an aunt in Mississippi, aunts, cousins in Texas. They are scattered.

But they want to go home. They want to rebuild. And they would like to see the Crescent City come back alive this time next year.

KEILAR: Donna Brazile, thank you so much for joining us.

BRAZILE: Thank you.

KEILAR: Moving on now. In southeast Kentucky, five miners are dead after an explosion at a coal mine.

Federal mine officials say one worker survived the blast at the Darby Mine Number One just after midnight.

And joining us now, on the phone, Ernie Fletcher, the governor of Kentucky.

KEILAR: Governor, can you tell us any new information about this? Do we know the cause at this point?

ERNIE FLETCHER, GOVERNOR OF KENTUCKY: Well, we do know. It was very similar to the previous mine, as you know in West Virginia, where there was a sealed-off area that was apparently leaking a methane collection there, with the seal being broken, allowed some oxygen to get in. We don't know what ignited the methane to cause the explosion, but that appears the cause.

KEILAR: So if the...

FLETCHER: We had to -- excuse me, go ahead.

KEILAR: Just a question. I'm wondering if the cause is Similar to the Sago Mine incident, do you think that mine officials aren't learning from these mistakes?

FLETCHER: No, I don't think that's necessarily it. I think you've got clearly increased production. We've, even before the Sago Mine, had increased inspectors. We've got ten new ones coming on, new regulations.

It's just we're going to have to learn from this, to find out if there is anything we can do about these sealed off areas and make sure that that, in fact, is the cause, which an early investigation appears to be accurate.

But we do have to learn from these. I've talked with, you know, four of the spouses of these five that have died in this accident. And they clearly want to make sure that we investigate it clearly. We will.

We've shut down the mine to see if there's anything we can learn to make sure we save any lives in the future. KEILAR: Governor Fletcher, thank you so much for being with us and filling us in there.

And this just in from the sports world. CNN reporting now that San Francisco slugger, Barry Bonds, has tied Babe Ruth's homerun mark at 714. He hit it just a few moments ago off the Oakland A's. And he's now tied for second behind Hank Aaron's mark of 755 homeruns.

To Africa now; what some call the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, could escalate. That's because boys from Sudan's Darfur region are now being forced to fight. Refugee camps in Chad have become recruiting grounds for Sudanese rebels.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson blows the lid off this story. It's a report you'll only see right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): We've been traveling across Chad, covering the plight of refugees from over the border in the Darfur region of Sudan.

We've been told about deteriorating security and of a new, and troubling, development inside the refugee camps here, in Chad.

(on camera): We're on our way towards the border with Sudan. We're chasing a story about young boys being recruited, forcibly recruited, in refugee camps, taken back to Sudan, forced to fight in the war there.

(voice-over): We get to our first camp. Almost 20,000 people live here, all refugees from Darfur. It's about 40 miles, 60 kilometers from the border.

It's here we meet Abdul. He's 16. And as we begin talking, I can see Abdul is scared. We agreed to hide his face, because what he says could cost him his life.

He and his friends reveal how about 100 Sudanese rebels came into this refugee camp about two months ago. They say they have no choice, had to go along.

"When I saw them beating some of the people, I was afraid. That's why I couldn't refuse to go," he says. "I'm not a volunteer. I was forced."

Forced in military training at a camp close to the border with Sudan, a camp with little food or water.

Before they escape the harsh conditions, they were given political indoctrination and training with automatic weapons. They were told they would have to go fight for their homeland, against the Janjaweed Militia, backed by the Sudanese government, the same militia that had forced them to flee Darfur.

(on camera): This is the marketplace where the Sudanese rebels began their three-day recruitment. It was the weekend. It was busy. And there were very few aid officials around to see what was going on.

(voice-over): But it's not until I meet the refugee camp leader that I learn the full scale of the Sudanese rebels' activities.

"They took about 4,000, some as young as 13," he says.

He shows me where he was beaten for refusing to help the rebels. He told me he feared that militarizing the camp would lead the refugees here open to the Janjaweed attack.

CLAIRE BOURGEOIS, HEAD, UNHCR EASTERN CHAD: There is something really, really serious for us. As I mentioned earlier, we are really afraid that today the camp might become a target.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): As I pieced together the details, it is clear that the Sudanese rebels are operating well inside Chad. It also becomes clear the rebels aren't working alone.

(on camera): One of the darkest details I've learned here is so sensitive, no one will speak about it publicly. They say, behind closed doors, that not only do the Chadian authorities know that the recruitment was going on, that they supported it.

And even now, people here say it is common knowledge, the recruitment continues.

(voice-over): I go to meet the local top Chadian official, who, by international law, is responsible for the security of the refugees. His office is on the edge of the camp. Outside, military police sit, passing the time.

The official refuses an on-camera interview, but agrees to talk with me, off camera.

UNIDENTIFIED TOP CHADIAN OFFICIAL: In the camp people say far more than 4,000 people were recruited. This is a big thing. And they didn't see anything here?

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The official explains his men saw nothing out of the ordinary.

UNHCR says reality is very different.

BOURGEOIS: We have interviewed some refugees that came back from there too. It is a fact. It has happened. And no one has tried to stop it. It means that also the authority knows that it was happened, and for any reason, they let them go.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The next day, in Chad's capital, I tracked down the elusive Sudanese rebel commander, who recently signed a peace deal with Sudan's government.

I asked him, pointblank, if his SLA, Sudanese Libration Army rebels, were involved in the forced recruitment of young men.

He denies it, but confirms other rebel groups are recruiting inside refugee camps.

MINNI MINNAWI, COMMANDER, SUDANESE LIBERATION ARMY: Yesterday we see they are there.

ROBERTSON (on camera): Yesterday, still?

MINNAWI: Yesterday they are there, yes. Of course, I have all the information. And they are one of the ex-SLA commanders. He fled from the SLA and he came here.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): When we come back, fears the rebel recruiting will bring reprisal raids against the refugee camps, as the Sudanese government-sponsored Janjaweed militias' raid deeper and deeper into Chad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The war in Sudan's Darfur region has spilled into parts of neighboring Chad where both residents and refugees or the razor's edge between life and death.

More from CNN's Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): For the next journey, we hitch a ride on a U.N. plane. We fly south, still near the border, just 50 miles, 80 kilometers, from Sudan.

(on camera): We've come to the hospital in Goz-beida. The doctor here has told us that there are a lot of people here, sick, who have been injured by the Janjaweed.

(voice-over): He leads me into a ward that is conspicuously devoid of medical equipment.

(on camera): Who shoots him? The Janjaweed did this?

(voice-over): On a rusting bed, he shows me a Chadian man he says was shot twice in the thigh, a week ago, by men of the Sudanese government-sponsored Janjaweed militia.

The wounded man explains the Janjaweed surrounded him and his three friends, as they herded their cattle. Then, opened fire. His three friends were killed.

Janjaweed?

UNIDENTIFIED CHADIAN SECURITY OFFICIAL: Janjaweed.

(voice-over): This is the field where the attack happened, well inside Chad.

The local Chadian security official shows me where the men died. (on camera): This is where they are buried?

(voice-over): He tells me, he's asked his government for help with security. But so far, has received nothing.

(on camera): This is where the herders were living. And right after the attack, villagers say, the Janjaweed made off with the cattle to the border with Sudan.

It struck a fresh wave of fear in the people living around here. It's the 12th such attack in the last two months.

(voice-over): On the dirt streets of his village, the official explains they've had to organize their own defense, from what little resources they have. They have no cars or pickup trucks. Just six motorcycles.

He tells me, they have no guns. As we talk, his point is emphasized when we meet villagers carrying bows and arrows.

(on camera): This are what they have to defend themselves with, bows and arrows, quite literally, bows and arrows, and a really beaten up old knife here.

Can you show me how this works?

(voice-over): The local policeman introduces himself, and explains the problem isn't only with Sudanese rebels. All his government-issue guns were stolen, by Chadian rebels during a coup attempt a month ago.

I'm quickly learning that Chadians can't even secure themselves, never mind protect the thousands of refugees they are sheltering.

Inside the nearby Goz Amer refugee camp, rebel recruitment is sparking fear.

The tribal leader, Yaku Babo (ph), explains in the past three weeks Sudanese SLA rebels have started brazenly entering the camp in uniform.

YAKU BABO (ph), TRIBAL LEADER, CHAD: If everyone discovers we have a SLA -- the refugee camp, we must be attacked. And nobody can protect us. For this reason, we explain them, no, don't try this operation again.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): But under a tree, on the other side of the camp, Katuma Osman (ph) tells me her son was recruited by the Sudanese rebels with her blessing. And she's encouraging other young men to go.

"We lost everything in Darfur," she explains, "my parents, brothers and sisters. We have to defend Sudan."

The United Nations is fighting recruitment on two fronts, telling the refugees not to take part and telling the Chadian government they must keep the rebels away from the refugees.

UNIDENTIFIED U.N. WORKER: We have been reminding the Chadian government of the civilian character of the camps, of the refugee camps. The camps, the refugee camps, shouldn't be reservoirs for recruits.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): But even those calls may now be too late for some.

At the first camp we visited, Abdul and his two friends seemed to have accepted the rebels' calling. If the rebels have food and guns, they say, they will go back to fight.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Eastern Chad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And Carol Lin's here with us now to tell us what's coming up at 5:00 p.m. eastern.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We have a couple of interesting medical stories, one that we were just talking about, the story about being addicted to tanning, tanning beds or laying out on the beach. Doctors actually say that it could give you skin cancer and it produces this kind of euphoria, so people just can't stop.

KEILAR: Oh, that's so interesting.

LIN: A great package at 5:00. And in the 6:00, talking more about the vaccine, is it a cancer vaccine that prevents cervical cancer?

Controversial, because it may be recommended to be given to girls as young as 9 years old. Are parents going to be willing to, you know, accept the fact that their daughter may be having sex in a few years and this may save her life. So talking to a cancer researcher about that.

KEILAR: We'll definitely stay tuned for those stories. Thanks, Carol.

LIN: Good deal.

KEILAR: And coming up here in this hour, we have some other crazy -- well, one crazy story in particular, why Customs officials think Saddam Hussein's Benz was cruising the roads of Connecticut.

And he won the Kentucky Derby by the largest margin in 50 years. Can he capture the second leg of the Triple Crown? We'll look at the competition in three minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: In Connecticut, the feds have seized a car that may have once belonged to Saddam Hussein. It's a 1988 armor-plated Mercedes Benz and Customs agents think it was illegally brought to the U.S. by an Army Reservist as a war trophy.

He seemed invincible in the Kentucky Derby, but how will Barbaro handle the second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown? The Preakness stakes starts in less than 90 minutes at Pimlico Racetrack.

And our Larry Smith looks at the competition.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the smallest field in six years, but the stakes remain high. A win by Barbaro, the first Kentucky Derby winner since 1977 to enter the Preakness unbeaten, and the thoroughbred would remain in the chase to become the first Triple Crown winner in 28 years.

MICHAEL MATZ, TRAINER OF BARBARO: If you get past the Preakness, the Belmont, I think this horse -- I think this horse can win the Triple Crown. He's just has so many good qualities that I think the public is looking for somebody to do that. And I hope he's the one.

PETE BRETTE, ASSISTANT TRAINER OF BARBARO: Obviously, he's going to have to prove that he can win the next two legs, but, you know, he's as good as any horse I've ever sat on. And he's proved at the Derby that he could be one of the best horses we've seen for some time.

SMITH: Barbaro won the Derby by the largest margin in 60 years.

Brother Derek figures to be Barbaro's best and, many believe, only competition.

The Derby favorites had to run the entire race wide, and finish in a dead heat for fourth place. But his trainers believe the smaller field of only nine horses, and the shorter mile and three-16th track of the Preakness, means a victory for them.

DAN HENDRICKS, TRAINER OF BROTHER DEREK: He just feels good and he's fit. You know, he's like a fighter or a football player that's ready to go out and play. He's fit and ready.

We're just going to try to out there and beat him. And, you know, I think we're as good a horse, and hopefully we're a better horse.

SMITH: They'll start side by side, Brother Derek in the number five post, Barboro in the sixth, a position that has produced a record 15 Preakness winners since 1909.

And on Saturday, could give Barbaro, the opportunity to become the seventh horse in the last ten years to lead with a chance to win the Triple Crown.

Larry Smith, CNN, Atlanta.

KEILAR: From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Brianna Keilar.

Stick around; Carol Lin is up next with a look at your top stories, including the latest on the run-off election in New Orleans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A race against time. Will the city of New Orleans be ready for hurricane season? Straight ahead, how today's election could make the difference.

Plus, a fascinating medical mystery about a disorder you probably never heard of. It makes you tall. It makes thin. And it can also kill you without warning.

And we've heard of all the people being addicted to smoking or gambling, but tanning. The surprising euphoria that could lead to cancer.

Hello, and welcome to "CNN LIVE SATURDAY." I'm Carol Lin.

That and more after this check at the headlines.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com