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Connect the World

Some 337 Boys Still Missing After School Raid; CNN Speaks To "Bring Back Our Girls" Co-Founder; First U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Begin; ICRC Director Just Back From Tigray; Looking Back At A Devastating Year For Lebanon; A Soldier In The Morning, UAE's Minister For AI At Night. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired December 15, 2020 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Welcome back. This hour we are connecting you through Nigeria, Ethiopia, Michigan, Lebanon and right here

in the UAE.

Well, the country that once demanded bring back our girls is now desperately wondering where are our boys? More than 300 are unaccounted for

after armed kidnappers targeted their boarding school. An audio message claiming to be from the leader of the terror group Boko Haram says it was

responsible for the abductions in Northwest Nigeria.

CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the message. Officials also believe this may be a kidnapping for ransom plot one of the boys whose cape

described the ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

USAMA AMINU, RESCUED SCHOOLBOY: When I decided to run, they brought a knife to slaughter me, but I ran away quickly. I ran into the crowd. They

couldn't get me, and I put my clothes upside down so that they could not see me. From there they said they would kill whoever is trying to escape,

and I began to run, climbing one rock to another through a forest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: We're just working on a guest for you on this traumatic story. We are going to take a very short break back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:05:00]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. A reminder of our top story this hour more than 300 boys unaccounted for in Nigeria after armed kidnappers targeted their

boarding school. An audio message claiming to be from the leader of the terror group Boko Haram now says it was responsible for the abductions in

Northwest Nigeria.

CNN cannot at present verify the authenticity of that message. Officials also believe, as I said that, this may be a kidnapping for ransom plot.

Well, our next guest is a well-known activist who pioneered "The Bring Back our Girls Campaign" back in 2014.

She tweeted for those who see every tragedy that befalls others as an opportunity to throw useless political stones at your fellow citizens for

doing what all of us should have done when the girls were abducted, may God heal your conscience to care about victims. May God help you be human?

The words of "Bring Back Our Girls" Co-Founder and Former Nigerian Lawmaker Oby Ezekwesili who joins us now live from Abuja and it is good to have you.

I want to start with this news that we've been reporting today, Boko Haram claiming responsibility for the abduction of the some-300 boys. Are you

surprised by that claim of responsibility?

OBY EZEKWESILI, CO-FOUNDER, "BRING BACK OUR GIRLS" CAMPAIGN: Well, what I probably would say I'm surprised about is the fact that the government was

so incompetent and again repeating the failures that enabled terrorists to cart away the girls in 2014, to cart away the girls in 2018 and six year

after that the - girls we're hearing about 333 young men who went to school.

That's what surprises me, the depth of government's failure that would result to the world always having to read news of Nigeria in this manner.

ANDERSON: What do you understand at present to have happened to these boys? What happened on the ground, and why are - why is Nigeria living through

this nightmare once again?

EZEKWESILI: It's simple. If - if governance is not effective, if governance is made up of a ruling class that is indifferent to the suffering of the

people you would have repetitive actions of failure. We failed the Chibok schoolgirls. We still have 112 of them unaccounted from.

We did everything as a movement. The government couldn't be bothered. The only girl outstanding one - girls that we're talking some yes after Chibok

girls is accounted, not even to the parents of this ones and now we had another trench of children.

So children who are with terrors it is unforgivable, you know, and so for me I think that whatever it is that happened on the ground is a testimony

to the fact that the governance is ineffectual. How can this number of children have been taken away into depress of wherever they have been taken

now with no government system able to pick up intelligence that a pain of such monumental proportion was happening to children. It's terrible. It's

terrible. I find no words to describe how I feel.

ANDERSON: I want to ask you what you want or expect to see next from the President Buhari, but just before I do that, at the beginning of this show

we played a voice recording from one of my producers and they are rating the words of one young boy who did remarkably escape from these abductors.

Many though as we reported are still sadly missing. Let's just have our viewers have a listen to what one of the mothers of these boys had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZAINAB MUHAMMED, MOTHER OF ABDUCTED BOY: Education is what they don't want the children to have. By God's willing they will come back alive and

continue their studies at home. No more boarding school again and even the day schooling, if they want them to do, we will stop them completely.

I will never talk to government because it has been three days now that they have been promising that our children will return home and sleep at

home, but we don't see it happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: You yourself a Former Education Minister. Just how concerned are you at this point for the future of Nigeria's kids, for Nigeria's education

system when we witness incidents like this?

[11:10:00]

EZEKWESILI: You know Becky, once six years ago I put myself on the line together with a number of people making demands for Chibok girls and did it

for six years. It was because I was scared that these fellows were going to overwhelm our own civilization for knowledge with their own very - approach

to life.

I don't want that to be our story. It is unfortunate that six years after I'm listening to a mother say exactly the same - some of the mothers of

Chibok girls said to us in those years that would say if I had known, I would not have allowed my girl to go to school.

And as one - championed girl's education in this country it just broke my heart. And here we are - I have said it to the Nigerian citizens that for

as long as we commit this kind of irresponsible ruling class to continue this pattern well, we have given them a license to do that behavior that is

not punished, is bad behavior that is in good supply.

What then supplied this kind of repetitive pattern of failure of our children in particular because it was not to care as a society that this

abomination happens all the time amongst us?

ANDERSON: You tweeted directly to citizens of Nigeria earlier on saying and I quote you here, citizens do yourself a favor for once and you said stop

calling terrorists bandit if there are any bandits at all they're the to yourself. Do not call yourself bandits. If there are any bandits it's the

irresponsible ruling class that has failed to govern this country effectively.

You can call those ones bandits. It seems like President Buhari is no longer in any kind of control in large parts of the country, and, of

course, he's been under pressure since the end of the - or since the end SARS protest which we have reported on here on this show extensively. So,

this is a very simple question at this point. What do you want to see President Buhari do now?

EZEKWESILI: Actually I have asked that we as citizens should demand for an independent medical evaluation of our president. I don't think that

President Buhari is in effect right now to govern the country. It is very obvious that he cannot govern the country.

So this country is right now ungoverned. A second demand that I have is that we were here in October when the United States came into our territory

to rescue one citizen of the United States that was abducted by terror. United States can do well to please 353 schoolchildren definitely was safe.

They should do everything possible to help to protect these school children just like the - citizen.

ANDERSON: Let me be quite clear. You turn down Mr. Buhari's offer to be his running mate as Vice President. Why did you do that? Do you regret that

given that you might have had more opportunity to get things done on the ground should you have been his vice president?

EZEKWESILI: Well, that's a bid that I should have accepted. I don't do jobs. I do assignments in life. I develop things that I was assigned to

that responsibility, and not at the end of each individual question. So no way do I would regret it for a second.

ANDERSON: Let me just ask you this. Do you believe Nigerians are tired of the insecurity, tired of the kidnappings tired of protesting to end SARS,

for example tired of what they are seeing happening across their country whoever is responsible for these shocking acts.

EZEKWESILI: I think that Nigerians are tired but I think that Nigerians are not tired. I think what has happened is that we have internalized what is

known as land outlets that state of being where people begin to think that they really can't do anything about the situation that overwhelms them and

yet this is the time when we should realize the immense power of the office of the citizen.

[11:15:00]

Without citizens voting for President Buhari and his kind in legislative office and executive offices across the country, there would not give the

legitimacy of governance. Now that we see a complete failure of that governance, it is time for citizens to demand for a new social contract.

And that includes asking for this independent evaluation of the president who right now I do not consider to be mentally or physically fit to make

the right call, the right kinds of decisions, especially where lifestyle is called.

In this country we have watched the president give more priority to overseeing his personal - than because so matters abduction of citizens. Do

you know that some of the parents are most - by the fact that the President of Nigeria is in dissent state as where their children were abducted?

It is also the state that this form and the president hasn't even then be treat to even go and see those parents. So even speak to any of those

parents. That's not normal. That's an abnormal; you know what you can character of leadership. This is not even leadership. This is a total

absence of humanity. And you can't have this - where this is eluded.

ANDERSON: Let me ask you this very briefly what hope do you have that these boys will be returned, will be found?

EZEKWESILI: Oh, I'm such a congenital optimist. It doesn't matter what level of pains we've had to endure in this country. I've never stopped

believing that there is a better tomorrow. I believe that these young boys will be rescued. I just don't want to stay at the level of hope.

I'm making a very fervent call to the United States. This is something that just happened in October. Surely they can activate the same machinery on

behalf of these young children. These are citizens of the world. If their own country has failed them the rest of the world must not fail them. And I

believe that the responsibility of the world kicks in when national sovereignty is n question as what that's - and the security of citizen.

ANDERSON: With that we'll leave it there. We thank you though very much indeed for your time. Apologize for the technical glitches at top of this,

but it's very, very valuable to have your thoughts and your analysis on what is going on at present. Thank you.

EZEKWESILI: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Well, as the week brings the long-await the Coronavirus vaccine to the United States that country crossing yet another somber threshold. It

seems like every few days we're telling you about these horrible milestones and this one I'm afraid is huge one.

The number of people who have now lost their lives to the virus in the United States tops 300,000 just a staggering amount of loss. These figures

are from Johns Hopkins University which counts more than 16 million infections in the U.S. in total is the spread accelerates in the past week

in average of 2,400 people have tied of COVID in America every day. That would come to about 100 an hour.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have repeatedly said cases are probably undercounted so that real numbers could be much higher. And

while President Trump has been focusing on the election results, not the virus, the incoming Joe Biden acknowledged the new death toll and the

solemn timing of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today our nation passed grim milestone 300,000 deaths due to this COVID virus. My - is out each of

you in this dark winter of the pandemic. About to spend the holidays and the New Year with a black hole in your hearts we'll have the ones you loved

at your side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: As the U.S. faces more unfathomably dark days there is hope. This is day two of vaccinations for America's doctors, nurses and other

frontline health care workers. The vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has now been distributed to all 50 states with hundreds more sites set to

receive vaccine shipments in the hours ahead.

But mind you this is just the beginning this is of course and you will get this a massive undertaking that I think it is safe to say will go well into

next year.

[11:20:00]

ANDERSON: I want to take you to some of the states where vaccinations are happening starting in New Jersey which has just administered its first

doses. CNN's Miguel Marquez joins us from the Rutgers Medical School there. How has this process being going Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, this is bittersweet day here in New Jersey. This is Newark, New Jersey, it is heavily African-

American area and Latino, those communities have hit very, very hard by this disease.

It was March 4th that New Jersey saw its first case of Coronavirus. The state now has 400,000 cases of Coronavirus and nearly 18,000 New Jerseyian

have lost their lives but today is that first ray of hope. 76,000 vile of those vaccines, those doses for those front line workers.

It will be done in three difference phases. In that first phase those healthcare workers that deal directly with those who have COVID or those in

long term care, those who care for them. There are 650,000 people in that first phase alone.

So it is going to take a long time before you can even get the people in New Jersey completely vaccinated. We spoke to one frontline worker who's

been in the ER here since the very beginning about what it was like to be the first person in New Jersey to get the shot today?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARITZA BENIQUEZ, NURSE, FIRST IN NJ TO RECEIVE VACCINE: It's almost hard to put in words, right, to tell you what my - what my deepest soul feels

having received this shot. This to me - this is a lifeline. This to me - I don't have to be afraid. I know that another-month and a half I will not

have to be afraid to touch people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Now, keep in mind she still has to get a second shot in 21 days and then two weeks after that she believes she will be inoculated, so it is

a long process even if you get the shot, Becky.

ANDERSON: Well, one by one thank you the vaccines are being rolled out across the country. Let's connect you to Chicago which is giving its first

vaccines today. The city selected a hospital in one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic. Omar Jimenez is live from Loretto Hospital in

Chicago: Omar?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Becky. We're about an hour away from the first vaccination for COVID-19 happening in the City of

Chicago, and it's situated in a neighborhood on the city's west side that is predominantly black and has among city's highest death rates when it

comes to COVID-19.

That's part of why this hospital was selected, symbolic of one of the greatest impacted communities here in this city. Now it was yesterday that

we first saw these doses arrived to the State of Illinois and of course the City of Chicago as well around 43,000 doses to the state's stockpile and

even - and around 20,000 or so was expected here to the Chicago area.

After this first vaccine we'll then see it spread to other hospitals every single one actually in this Chicago area and the Mayor actually tweeting

out, realizing the moment that we are in. She tweeted last night saying tomorrow again tweeted last night the first Chicagoans will be vaccinated.

This is a moment for history and a moment for hope.

As we understand once those vaccines go to all of these hospitals, they are going to try to get as many people vaccinated as possible at least two

saying they are hoping to get through their first 1,000 doses by Christmas time. Becky?

ANDERSON: Thank you, Omar. Well, the vaccines now being distributed across the country were shipped out from here. Pfizer's facility in the Midwestern

State of Michigan some people even drove to the airport to watch this historical event unfold.

Joining me now one the first American doctors set to get this potentially life-saving vaccine, Dr. Nick Gilpin is the Director of Infection Prevent

Epidemiology at Beaumont Health. Your hospital, as I understand it has just received its first doses of the vaccine. You'll be the first person in the

hospital's health system to take it. How are you feeling about that?

DR. NICK GILPIN, DIRECTOR, INFECTION PREVENTION & EPIDEMIOLOGY, BEAUMONT HEALTH: Yes, I feel really good about it. I think that this is an

opportunity for me as a leader in health care to put my money where my mouth is and really show all of our health care workers and hopefully the

public that we feel confident that this vaccine is safe and it is effective.

And I think that that's our job as leaders and as health care providers as to be ambassadors for a vaccine that we all frankly believe is going to be

our ticket out of this pandemic.

ANDERSON: Yes, your hospital says that you've led the charge in the vaccine roll out. Just walk us through that process if you will?

[11:25:00]

DR. GILPIN: Sure. Well, you know, beginning back in March of this year when our hospital and health care system got hit the hardest, that's when the

conversation around a vaccine really started to begin. It was a very theoretical discussion, but we took the opportunity in the slower summer

months through June, July and August to really bolster our supply of personnel protective gear.

But also to start ramping up our logistics and supply chain to make sure that we were ready for when a vaccine would arrive because we believed in

our hearts that a vaccine could arrive as early as the end of the year and sure enough, here it is.

Those conversations have gotten less theoretical and certainly more tangible over the last few weeks as we've actually now got a clear time

line. And as you pointed out we just got our vaccine today so the next plan is going to be to distribute it to our 38,000 employees our 5,000

physicians and then eventually to the public.

ANDERSON: You have said and I've got a quote up here from you that taking care of COVID patients has been humbling to say the least. How stressed

have you and your colleagues been and what sort of toll has the last what nine, ten, months taken on you and your fellow clinicians?

DR. GILPIN: You know it's so difficult to really put it into words. I guess the one thing that has been our most precious resource throughout this

entire pandemic has always been our staff and our providers, our physicians, our nurses, our respiratory therapists, and they've had to come

to work day in and day out.

Don the professional protective gear, care for the patients with really no - with no break, with no respite and emotionally psychologically that deals

such an incredible blow. We can get more PPE, we can get more tests, we can even make more beds if we have to but we can't get more staff not quickly

not easily.

So making sure that our staff has been taking care of themselves and making sure that we're doing everything we can to keep our staff safe has been

absolutely mission critical. I think this vaccine comes at a great time because now I think, I hope this is going to give our staff some relief as

we start to pivot into the more difficult winter months.

ANDERSON: And you talk about these difficult winter months. Dr. Anthony Fauci has said of course, that the public shouldn't or won't be able to

throw the masks away as he describes it until the late fall or early winter of 2021. Do you share his concerns about there being light at the end of

the tunnel but trying to ensure that people understand that this thing ain't over until it is over?

DR. GILPIN: Right. Dr. Fauci said well, he usually does and he is right that even though we're going to be delivering a vaccine to health care

workers and eventually to the public it's still important for us all to continue to practice those mitigation strategies that I and others have

been preaching, masking, social distancing, hand hygiene because the important question here is we know that this vaccine can prevent disease,

but will it really stop transmission in its tracks?

Will there still be a possibility of people even once vaccinated to be able to spread the virus to others? That's an important unanswered question. I

know that scientists and the vaccine manufacturers are going to be working very hard to answer that questions and once we feel like we're on good

footing, then we can start to have a more meaningful conversation about ditching the masks.

ANDERSON: With that we'll leave it there. Listen, good luck. You know, I hope you and your colleagues, you know, benefit hugely from - from this

vaccine, both physically and mentally because we realize that it has been such a tough time, and all we can do is applaud you and please carry on the

good work. Thank you, Dr. Gilpin.

Well, tens of thousands of refugees are desperate to escape bloodshed in Ethiopia. Our next guest is just back from the country's besieged Tigray

region. This is a story that we've been reporting on now for some weeks. We'll talk about the arrival now of much-needed aid. That important story

is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's exciting as the ICIC and Ethiopian Red Cross trucks arrive so here we are in Mekelle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: What you are seeing is the first international aid to arrive in Ethiopia's Tigray region since fighting erupted there more than a month

ago. Health care facilities have become paralyzed after supplies of medicine and basics like surgical gloves simply ran out.

Well, the death toll in the conflict between federal forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front may well be in the thousands. Now two foreign aid

agencies have confirmed that some of their staff members have been killed.

The Ethiopian government denies that its forces have prevented humanitarian aid from reaching civilians instead claiming they are trying to stabilize

the region. We have been connecting you to every development of this story which is not a short order given that the government mandated

communications blackout was in effect and that took effect in November.

Up until now we've only been able to contact humanitarian agencies operating in Sudan. Our next guest has been on the ground in Ethiopia and

is just returning from Addis Ababa where he mitt with Ethiopian officials. Take a listen to what a Patrick Youssef had to say while there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK YOUSSEF, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, ICRC AFRICA: The worst for medical personnel, for health staff and hospitals and primary health care centers

is to be unable to help, to be unable to provide support due to lack of material, due to lack of assistance and to lack of stocks, and that's

indeed what we're trying and hoping to achieve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well Patrick Youssef himself, Director of the International Committee of the Red Cross for Africa, joining me now live from Geneva.

Thank you, sir. I know you are just back. Can you please just explain what you saw and heard when you were in Addis Ababa, and who did you speak to?

YOUSSEF: Thank you, Becky. So the visit indeed was to support the teams on the ground to make sure we meet as many high officials as possible and make

sure that we showcase the importance, the pertinence, the humanitarian imperative behind our repeated calls for our teams in the Tigray region to

Mekelle where we have a team.

Where we had a team since the beginning of the crisis and still remained in Mekelle City to be able to get a proper assessment of the humanitarian

needs, the plight of those people living inside the city but also around the City of Mekelle and the Tigray Province.

[11:35:00]

YOUSSEF: And bring them to the attention of the authorities and push as much as possible for humanitarian access which we managed to achieve last

Saturday by bringing these much-needed assistance seven truckloads of medical assistance and other forms of aid into the Mekelle City, the first

international convoy to reach the city.

The purpose really was to get as close as possible to the health facilities that were fully paralyzed since the beginning of the crisis with no

assistance, no medical assistance, to help them cope with growing needs.

ANDERSON: So the convoy has now arrived. We're showing images of that with what you described as much-noted medical supplies. What are the teams or

what is your team on the ground in Mekelle telling you about what is needed most now? How do they assess the needs at this point?

YOUSSEF: You know, first of all, the situation overall is very fluid and very concerning. Over a month since the start of the crisis where we have

been in a full lockdown basically, we witnessed a shortage of food, access to basic services, but also Mekelle for example has been struggling with

water supplies so basic, basic services.

We're also in the harvest period where levels of displacement with level of crisis conflict, the harvest will be severely limited. We're extremely

worried because simply people have already been severely impacted by COVID- related restrictions, and now displacement, uprooting loss of property and income and indeed the trauma related to the fighting and insecurity.

These are a bouquet of things that people who have chosen not to carry weapons have to endure on day-to-day basis and that are why we're trying as

much as possible to repeat that convoy to make sure other organizations also get access to Mekelle in order to boost the humanitarian response as

quickly as responsible.

ANDERSON: Ethiopia's government is denied that the war it is more than Tigray region was preventing aid from reaching civilians, I recently spoke

to Jan Egeland who is of course Head of the Norwegian Refugee Council he was in Sudan this time last week, have a listen to what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN EGELAND, HEAD OF NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: As I understand there have not been convoys into Tigray. We've gone, however, to - which is next door

where we also have received people fleeing from Tigray, which is then from one Ethiopian organizations to the next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Many aid organizations are urging the government to let more staff members inside the territory. Having just come back from there

yourself, just how dangerous is it currently for humanitarian workers on the ground, because the International Rescue Committee and the Danish

Refugee Council both putting out statements Friday, saying that members of their staff have a been killed but that because communications in the area

was so difficult.

They were not able to confirm or gather further details. If you're plan is keep going into Ethiopia how concerned are you now for your staff's safety?

YOUSSEF: Well, for sure. It's very sad to hear and to learn of the death of our colleagues from both organizations. It's also heartbreaking to see that

a large number of people have also lost their lives, have been uprooted and not been able to communicate with their loved ones.

We've been on the board with Sudan and hearing these, you know outrageous stories of people waiting at the border to make sure that all their family

members have crossed to the other side so very heartbreaking stories indeed.

And we're certainly, you know, we need to feel safe, secured but we also need to be cognizant of the fact that when we operate in hazardous areas

these are the risks we are supposed to take. Now the priority is going forward in terms of information gathering and proper assessment is really

to boost our response in the center of Tigray.

And indeed it was very volatile to start with during the first phase of the emergency situation to get access into the city. There was a full lockdown

and indeed it was extremely difficult it. That's why we cannot public and spoke about the dire needs in either hospital or other health care

facilities.

But today I think there's an opening to boost our response to bring in much-need assistance with a principled approach with getting, you know,

full transparency in speaking to the local authorities but also to the federal authorities.

[11:40:00]

YOUSSEF: Again, in full transparency and in coordination with other ministries and local actors on the ground such as the Ethiopian Red Cross

which was really a brilliant and impressive local actor to work with since the beginning of the crisis.

ANDERSON: Do you believe that the international community is doing enough when it comes to this humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia? Are there enough

pressure being brought to bear, and what is your message to the world at this point?

YOUSSEF: You know, at first I don't think pressure should only be the only lever to bring much-needed assistance. We really need to be aware of the

complexities, the difficulties, the three-day trip to get to Mekelle to bring the war wounded kids from Nairobi and ship them up to Mekelle so

there are a lot of difficult issues we have to grapple with and deal with.

Now that doesn't mean we won't need more access. We do need more access and the government knows it the Ministry of Peace and the Defense Forces as

well with whom we really discussed. I think the international community will certainly do more to contribute and make sure to create a conducive

environment, the climatic conducive environment for more access but also for more protection to the civilian population.

You know in just over one month fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray region which is not the only region boiling by the way in Ethiopia, there we discovered

a massive humanitarian crisis. We all know that the response must be scaled to meet people's needs, but I think the message here is that we can't wait

for the guns to fall silent to start caring for those voiceless in the Tigray region and beyond.

They were uprooted and they were imprisoned. Some are on hospital beds and we must not disappoint them. We need to do everything in our capacity to

treat them with dignity and bring them the much-needed support that they require.

ANDERSON: Patrick Youssef, just recently back from Ethiopia talking to us today from Geneva, the ICRC. You heard it here on CNN. Thank you, sir. As

the city rebuilds from the ground up, some question if it's worth it. We're going to show you the tough situation in Beirut right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: What a year 2020 was, particularly right here in the Middle East. We've had some seismic changes take place in the Israeli normalization

deals with some Arab countries. The killing of two important figures in Iranian politics, but one place that has been feeling shock waves for

decades is Lebanon.

This year you will recall a devastating explosion ripped through the heart of Beirut. More than 200 lost their lives in the beloved city left changed

forever.

[11:45:00]

ANDERSON: Well, let's get more on how the city is recovering. CNN International Correspondent Ben Wedeman joining me now live from Beirut.

Ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNSTIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Becky. Well, the city is recovering you could say, but it's been a difficult process and

keep in mind that even though some people are looking at the arrival of this new vaccine against Coronavirus.

Lebanon has many troubles still ahead, economic and political apart from the Coronavirus pandemic as you will see in this upcoming report, but we

must warn some viewers the images in this report may be disturbing to some.

Beirut is rebuilding again. Earthquakes and wars have bashed and battered this city over the centuries, and then last summer this. People have always

somehow managed to rise from the ashes. The more than 200 lives lost in Beirut's Port blast, however, are gone forever. 15-year-old Elias died from

his wounds two weeks after the explosion.

We have no future after this young man was killed, his uncle George tells me. We're trying to convince his sister to move to Canada to stay with her

aunt. Not to stay here because this country has no future.

2020 started with more anti-government protests and clashes continuing from the uprising that broke out in October 2019. Since then the economy has

collapsed and the currency has lost 70 percent of its value, the United Nations says 55 percent of the population now lives below the poverty line

made all the worse by the Coronavirus pandemic.

After all this Lebanon, always a fragile construct, appears to be falling apart. Karl Sarkis is trying to repair his family's building, but with his

wife pregnant and Lebanon's politicians mired in old squabbles unable to form a government, they are looking at the exit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL SARKIS, BEIRUT RESIDENT: We are planning on moving, on leaving the country for my child, yes.

WEDEMAN: That's it?

SARKIS: No future. Yes, no future there's no future because we still have the same people that are governing.

WEDEMAN (voice over): Mariana Weheb Co-Founded of the Group "Bebw' Shebbek" Arabic for door and window to help people repair their homes after the

blast.

MARIANA WEHEB: We need to think about what do we need to do to save whatever is left of our city? Our heartbeats you know, the boom-boom, the

boom. This is the heartbeat of what the country. It has been destroyed.

WEDEMAN (voice over): The thousands who protested in the heart of Beirut have disappeared. Real change will come, says University Professor and

Activist Mona Fawaz but first they must heal.

MONA FAWAZ, PROFESSOR, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT: There is no doubt that the blast has destroyed the hope, the ambition and the energy of many,

many people. That was an incredibly violent moment, so we can't deny that this will happen and that people will take time to recover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WEDEMAN (on camera): The scars, however, will not go away. And, of course, tomorrow Fawadi Sawan who is the judge investigating the explosion is

supposed to start questioning some Former Ministers who have been accused of negligence when it comes to the 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate

that led to this explosion.

Also to be questioned is Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab but what we've already seen is that many of the politicians who normally are divided

are coming together to try to make his investigation and his questioning more difficult, indicating that there's worries among Lebanon's politicians

that if an investigation begins into the port blast, they could start asking more questions about why this country is quickly becoming

economically and politically a failed state. Becky?

ANDERSON: Ben Wedeman is in Beirut for you, Ben, appreciate it. Thanks. I want to move to Israel right next door to Lebanon to look at how the threat

of a new COVID lockdown there looms over holiday celebrations. Elliott Gotkine has that story.

[11:50:00]

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: For more than 2,000 years Jewish families like the Silverberg's have been celebrating Hanukkah lighting candles to recall

how oil meant to last one day miraculously burned for eight, but there's never been a Hanukkah quite like this with indoor gatherings limited to ten

people and threats of a third lockdown if Coronavirus cases continue to rise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM SILVERBERG, LIVES IN TEL AVIV: It's definitely not a normal situation. It's actually kind of nice because it's more intimate. You're at home with

your family. There's not too much going on. There's no like I need to be somewhere else.

GOTKINE (on camera): To the south of the city, a multi-cultural and largely masked backdrop. But something was missing. Despite the pandemic, the Tel

Aviv municipality is doing its best to make everyone feel a little festive, but there are noticeably fewer people out and about than would normally be

at this time of year. There are hardly any tourists and all the bars and restaurants in what's usually the most buzzing part of the city are closed,

but, still, families were trying to put on a jolly face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, Hanukkah is a holiday for kids and Christmas, you know. They should be walking about eating, enjoying, you know, a lot of

festivities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very weird. It's a very sad Hanukkah. I told that kids - it supposed to be Tel Aviv there light city, and it's very dark.

GOTKINE (voice over): But things could soon brighten up. Vaccinations, which have already begun in the UK and other countries, are due to start in

Israel later this month. With any luck, says the country's Coronavirus Czar, Israelis will be able to return to more or less normal life in time

for pass over in March. Elliott Gotkine, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, a tech wizard is serving his country and serving in the cabinet. Up next, meet UAE's first ever Minister for Artificial

Intelligence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Secret government intelligence, the stock market, even our ability to work from home during the pandemic, they all have one thing in

common, artificial intelligence. It's not only here to stay.

Some worry, well, quite frankly, it's taking over so the United Arab Emirates is trying to lead the way, having its own Ministry of AI, and Omar

Al Olama is the tech wizard putting his cyber smarts to work for his country. At 30 years old he not only carries a lot of professional

responsibility and he also leads a double life. Our John Defterios suited up and went along for the ride.

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: It's 4:30 am and Omar Al Olama is embarking on his daily routine. It's a usual double life as he drives

one hour to a presidential guard military training camp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR AL OLAMA, UAE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AI: I didn't expect I'm going to have a duel life, a life that I'm a military service or national service

recruit in the morning and a minister in the evening.

DEFTERIOS (voice over): As the sun rises through a thick desert fog, the tall 30-year-old UAE Minister of Artificial Intelligence is in the lineup

with the rest of the platoon.

[11:55:00]

DEFTERIOS (voice over): They are taken through their paces, a three- kilometer march in full gear kicks off a rigorous day of training. That is followed by a workout and obstacles course, a ten-minute breakfast to fuel

up, and it's off to the firing range.

Our visit coincides with a milestone of sorts for the minister, and that is one year of national service complicated, of course, by the COVID-19

pandemic. In his first round Olama hits his target but was aiming low, so he was instructed to make adjustments. So this is the first round, right?

OLAMA: Yes.

DEFTERIOS: This is the second round, quite a change.

OLAMA: Look there the calibration goes the wrong way.

DEFTERIOS: So just some adjustments.

OLAMA: The third thing that you have to do when you come through the gates is park your ego at the door. It's like being reborn. It doesn't matter how

much you have in the bank account outside the camp it doesn't matter who your father is or it doesn't matter what rank you are? What matters is how

good of a cadet you are and how you're able to understand what is given to you and apply it.

DEFTERIOS (voice over): The UAE, a nation turning 50 next year, started its mandatory national service in 2014 for men ages 18 to 30 it was launched to

help the country fend off regional threats. Each cadet is evaluated daily across a dozen categories, from how they clean their rifle to teamwork.

OALAM: They could learn many things such as time management, discipline, leadership skills, financial management on small scales, and these things

could help them when they go back to their civilian life.

DEFTERIOS (voice over): Olama makes that civilian transition five days a week. Back at his office at the Dubai Future Foundation, he arrives

sporting his military guard and re-emerges wearing the traditional Arab Kandura.

He leads off with a staff meeting finalizing plans for a tech forum the following day and the world government summit later in the year. I join him

in a session with computer coders recruited from the ranks of the national service.

They have a mandate to develop a commercial software platform for shipping. Shortly thereafter Olama welcomes an Israeli Delegation in Dubai to explore

high-tech collaboration. The Head of the Delegation served in Israel's Mandatory Service Defense Program.

OLAMA: We have a lot of experience between the knowledge, between the armed service and the economic after that because it's a small lab.

DEFTERIOS: It is a nascent program here in the UAE but Olama says one year into his military duties he is much closer to his constituents.

OLAMA: It makes you feel like, yes, I need to serve them better, I could do a better job and I also need to realign my priorities based on their needs

as generation and others as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEFTERIOS: An all-consuming grounding for this cabinet member that he hopes sets an example for others to follow. John Defterios, CNN, Dubai.

ANDERSON: Well, you know, some people just make you feel unproductive, don't they? Omar is a good friend of the show. For now though it's a very

warm good evening from me. Stay well and look after yourself a very good evening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END