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Victims of War

Aired April 03, 2006 - 13:34   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In court, amid tight security, a former Liberian warlord faces an international tribunal. Charles Taylor, accused of exporting his civil war to Sierra Leone, had a few choice words for the court.
CNN Africa correspondent Jeff Koinange was there, and he joins us by phone from Freetown.

And, Jeff, Charles Taylor has a bit of a reputation for being a showman. So what was the Charles Taylor show like in court today?

JEFF KOINAINGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a Charles Taylor show, tony. Coming in with the usual fanfare, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, red tie, flanked on either side by United Nations security personnel. As soon as he sat down, the prosecution read the list of charges, everything from crimes against humanity, serious violations of humanitarian law, terrorizing civilian populations, unlawful killing, murder, mutilation, and on and on it went for 40 minutes.

Once the prosecution ended its list of charges, the judge asked Mr. Taylor to stand up and asked him whether he understood. For 30 seconds, there was silence. Mr. Taylor didn't say a thing. The judge repeated his question. That's when Mr. Taylor turned to the judge and said, in his own words, "I could not and did not commit these crimes against a system nation," referring to Sierra Leone. And then he went on to say in his words, "I am most definitely not guilty."

Tony?

HARRIS: Jeff, Charles Taylor raised some concerns before the court today. What were they?

KOINANGE: That's right. In typical Taylor-esque fashion, he wanted to raised them himself, but the judge refused, so he raided them through his lawyer. The concerns were the fact that, one, he fears for his life here in this jail cell, because he referred to the leader of Revolutionary United Front, or RUF, Foday Sankoh, who died while in prison awaiting trial. Number two, that he needed his family close by, if anything, for moral support. And here is the most surprising one, Tony, that he wants the trial held here in Sierra Leone. He says, all the witnesses are here and the logistics would be minimal. That, of course, is not up to him. The United Nations Security decides in the coming days whether the trial stays here or moves to The Hague.

Then one more sidebar, Tony, In typical Taylor-esque fashion, as soon as the judge adjourned the first hearing, Mr. Taylor turned to the packed audience -- and you must remember, some of the victims of the war were in this audience, some hand-less and legless victim, he turned to them, and blew kisses and started waving to them before he was bundled into his bullet-proof SUV and driven the 50 years to his jail -- Tony.

HARRIS: Oh, boy.

Jeff, this is going to be an outrageous trial, isn't it?

KOINANGE: No doubt about it. You can just a imagine. This is just the beginning. A trial date has not been set yet. That's up to the registrar. We're looking maybe several weeks down the line. But you know it's going to be typical Taylor-esque fashion. He is going to want to control every bit of it -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Our Africa correspondent, Jeff Koinange. Jeff, good to talk to you, my friend.

Charles Taylor once ruled Liberia, but he cast a shadow beyond his country's borders. He's accused of accepting a share of Sierra Leone's diamond wealth for backing a murderous gang of rebels that had a brutal penchant for chopping off people's limbs.

Jeff Koinange filed this report while covering Charles Taylor's legal proceedings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Abu Sesay says he just has two wishes in life. The first is to do the things normal kids his age do. But that wish will never be granted.

Several years ago, rebels of the Revolutionary United Front or RUF, supported and armed by Charles Taylor, were on the offensive in Sierra Leone.

Abu's father was fleeing, carrying his two-month-old son on his back. A bullet from one of the rebel's guns went through Abu's leg, killing his father. Abu was tossed into the bushes. He wasn't found for two days. His leg later had to be amputated. His mother, Kadiatu, is now struggling to raise Abu and his five siblings.

Two years ago a local NGO donated this prosthesis, but Abu's already outgrown it.

"Right now I can't even send him to school because the other children make fun of him," she says. "I can't even afford to pay for food for my children, let alone buy him a new leg."

It's the same for 21-year-old Aminata Tureg (ph). She says that at 15, she refused to be a sex slave for a rebel leader and the penalty was having her leg chopped off with an axe. She says it took more than 20 swings before her leg was severed at the hip. Now she's raising her son by selling ground nut cakes at 10 U.S. cents each. She says she can't even use a prosthesis because there's no place to fit it. Sometimes she wishes the rebels had killed her. "I feel like I'm being punished by God," she says. "This is the worst form of punishment one can ever get. I will never be able to feel like a real woman again in my life."

The rebel onslaught didn't seem to discriminate, 50-year-old Mariyama Bariyea (ph) says she had her leg chopped off for apparently not carrying enough firewood for the rebels. She crawled her way in the bush for three days before help arrived. She now spends her days weaving curtain strands to feed her eight children.

I asked her if she blames Charles Taylor for what happened to her. "Charles Taylor is the one responsible for this," she says. "He started the war and he deserves to go to hell."

She wears a prosthesis when working around her garden patch, helped by some of her children. Nineteen-year-old Suleiman Sesay also blames Charles Taylor for the loss of his arm. He and a group of other teens refused to do some chores demanded by the rebels of the RUF. He eeks out a living raising pigeons and wishes he had enough money to go to school. I asked him what punishment he thinks Mr. Taylor should get.

SULEIMAN SESAY, WAR VICTIM: I want the government to cut off Charles Taylor's both hands, let him feel the pain that we feel. Somebody that's bringing war in your own country is a very wicked man, kill our brothers, kill our sisters and cut off our hands. I think he's a very wicked and witch person.

KOINANGE: Young Abu Sesay shares Suleiman's feelings, which is where his second wish comes in. "It would be to fire a bullet at the former warlord,"he says, "just as a bullet was used to shatter his life."

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Freetown, Sierra Leone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Does he deserve to live or die? Jurors deciding the fate of confessed al Qaeda member Zacarias Moussaoui are back at work in Alexandria, Virginia. They've been deliberating since Wednesday on whether he's eligible for the death penalty. Moussaoui is the only person in this country charged in connection with the September 11th attacks. The jury must find him responsible for at least one death on 9/11 in order to find him eligible for execution.

Not getting involved, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a U.S. citizen challenging President Bush's war time detention powers. Jose Padilla spent more than three years in military detention as an enemy combatant. The government accused him of but never charged him with plotting to set off a dirty bomb in the U.S. in January. The government changed its strategy and transferred Padilla to civilian federal custody and moved him to Miami. He is charged with conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens and provide material support to terrorists. Padilla has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled to begin in September.

The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And thanks to our affiliate in Boston, WCBB, for these pictures into CNN just a short time ago of crane collapse in downtown Boston. The building, we understand, was under construction, and the building may be a part of the Emerson College complex. No report so far of any injuries. You can see some vehicles in the area probably suffered some damage. But at least right now, no word of any injuries to folks involved in that construction process. The building, once again, may be part of the Emerson College complex. Live pictures or pictures from just a short time ago, live pictures now of the scene downtown Boston. We'll keep our eye on this situation and bring you an update.

Rush hour got a little tougher in Chicago this morning, and it wasn't because of the rain. Today was the first workday for a two- year, $600 million reconstruction project on the Dan Ryan Expressway. It's expected to affect 300,000 drivers a day, but no major problems reported this day. Officials had warned drivers to avoid the Dan Ryan, and many apparently took that advice. Most of the early work involved closing exit ramps, express lanes and emergency shoulders.

Getting around in the Denver area is no picnic today. The first transit strike there in 24 years is forcing commuters to find new ways to get where they're going. Fewer than half of the area's buses are running and all rail service, regional service and transit centers shut down. Baseball fans heading to opening day for the Colorado Rockies could have problems this afternoon.

In Connecticut, a deadly assault on an interstate. A group of Hell's Angels were traveling on I-95 near West Haven yesterday when gunfire came from a passing vehicle. The reason still unclear. The bikers learned later that one of their group, 61-year-old Roger Moriani (ph) had died at a hospital from a gunshot wound. A wounded biker was treated and released. Authorities are looking for a green SUV with Florida plates, believed to have been carrying four men.

Our coverage of the Midwest tornadoes continues. New pictures coming in. This is an aerial view of the damage in Tennessee. The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Take you back to Boston now in a developing story we're following in Boston. Downtown a building under construction there and a crane connected to that construction project has collapsed. CNN's Dan Lothian is on the line. Dan, good to talk to you. What can you tell us?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The construction project was taking place at Emerson College, a college located in the Boston Commons area, which is quite familiar to tourists who come to the Boston area, when It collapsed about a half hour or so ago. The latest reports are that two people are confirmed dead. I did talk with fire officials, also police investigators who told me they are currently at the scene. They're investigating to see exactly what happened. They don't have many details as to what happened other than the fact that this very large crane seemed to collapse or snap, and then land on the sidewalk area, landing not only on the sidewalk but also on a couple of cars. That's the latest. We continue to see if we can get more information on this crane collapse.

HARRIS: Dan, weather conditions. Any wind in the area?

LOTHIAN: That's an interesting question because there was -- in fact, I was just down there a few minutes ago covering the Jill Carroll case at The Christian Science Monitor which is not that far away from there. There was quite a bit of wind. In fact, there was one of these large umbrellas on an outside patio that came blowing by us earlier this morning. Whether or not wind played a factor in this accident I don't know. There certainly was a lot of wind in that area earlier today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Let's stay with this picture for just a moment. As you can see fire and rescue emergency workers on the scene there of this crane collapse in Boston. As you can see, they are frantically working to get inside that car. Clearly trying to effect a rescue there. We will keep an eye on this situation. This story developing in Boston. Two confirmed dead. A crane collapse there. Part of a construction project that was going on one of the buildings connected to the Emerson College campus there in Boston. We'll keep an eye on that.

Coming up in the next hour of LIVE FROM, it is opening day. And you know that presidents enjoy America's favorite pastime. We'll go live to Cincinnati, Ohio, where the commander in chief is about to show off his skills on the mound. The news keeps coming, we'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Moving fast and hitting hard. Tornado storms plowed through parts of the Midwest and South yesterday, killing at least 27 people. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Dyersburg, Tennessee, the hardest hit area of all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just before sunset Sunday night a massive tornado cut through Dyer County, Tennessee, here in the western part of the state, killing more than a dozen people in this county alone. Homes were ripped from their foundations, debris flying everywhere.

Much of the neighborhood today is still cordoned off, off limits to only emergency workers and people who need to be in the area to continue working. Emergency crews and rescue crews continue scouring the debris looking for any other possible victims.

Also in nearby Gibson County, at least eight people were killed in that county when another tornado cut through that county as well. So here emergency crews and first responders continue working the scene more than 15 hours after the tornado touched down here.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dyer County, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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