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CNN World Report
African Journalists Honored at Awards Ceremony
Aired April 08, 2001 - 14:03 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.
ASIEH NAMDAR, CNN ANCHOR: In our "Africa Focus," we'll begin with a tribute to African journalists who have made invaluable contributions in their field. Journalists from across the continent were recently honored at the Sixth Annual CNN African Journalist of the Year competition. The contest is a joint effort between CNN and the South African Broadcasting Corporation. It was created to nurture and promote journalistic talent in Africa.
SACB attended this year's awards ceremony and filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA SLIER, SABC REPORTER (voice-over): It is said that to do any stories on Africa, one has to look into the eyes of its people. These eyes are the soul of this continent, and in them you will see stories of courage and hope, of a celebration of life, of persistence against all of the odds; stories that are seldom told.
These eyes remind journalists why they do what they do and why they have to speak for those who don't have a voice. The recognition and reward of this led to the creation of the African Journalist of the Year competition six years ago. The awards pay tribute to journalists in Africa.
EDWARD BOATENG, GLOBAL MEDIA ALLIANCE: In most countries, they are always under duress. They are jailed. They don't have the finances to do their work. So, I think the African journalist, in a lot of ways, is an endangered species.
SLIER: A record number of entries were received this year, close to 2000 from over 18 countries, the highest number of entrants to date. For the first time, entries were received from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Twelve specific categories were available, including the introduction of two new ones, art and culture and e-commerce.
CHRIS CRAMER, CNN INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS: There was a risk that you would get the same kinds of stuff, but no, that's not the case. I think there are certainly issues of, you know, of abuse in the family; there are issues of the environment; there are clearly political issues, but many of the entries this year, and indeed some of the finalists this year are to do with what I call the light and shade of this continent. SLIER: One of the most inspiring stories came out of Mozambique. Video journalist Adolph Spangenberg capturing the dramatic rescue of a baby Juazita (ph) and her mother moments after the little girl was born in a tree. Spangenberg was in Mozambique exactly a year ago, during that country's worst flood disaster to date.
The work is judged on whether it communicates stories and issues from Africa that tell the story in a clear and balanced manner. Judges look for whether these stories are accessible and relevant to audiences, and whether they reflect organized research, depth and insight.
(on camera): They've been dubbed the Oscars of Africa. In any event, it rewards journalism on the continent. And, of course, they provide an incentive for the coming year to see journalism as courageous and fair.
(voice-over): Paula Slier, SABC Johannesburg for CNN WORLD REPORT.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHIHAB RATTANSI, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this year, two journalists were named as the top winners: the SABC's Jacques Pauw was honored for his compelling story about the Rwanda genocide and a bishop on the run for six years from the International Tribunal. Bishop Samuel Musabyimana (ph) is accused of creating lists of Tutsis to send to their death during the 1994 genocide. He was arrested six years later by South Africa's elite Scorpions unit, but MusabyimanaALLEN: was released by mistake, and today remains a fugitive.
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JACQUES PAUW, CABC REPORTER (voice-over): The trail that took Bishop Samuel Musabyimana from Rwanda to South Africa starts in Central Rwanda. The area lies in what was known as the Triangle of Death. In 1994, some of the fiercest killings took place here as Hutu extremists tried to exterminate the Tutsi population. Over a million people died in the genocide. Years after the killings, survivors are still reburying the remains of their loved ones.
This is also the place where the story of Bishop Samuel Musabyimana begins in the Anglican parish Shyogwe, near Gitarama, where he was bishop.
The bishop left Rwanda in May 1994, and hasn't returned since, but many survivors of the genocide at Shyogwe will neither forget nor forgive the man they once trusted.
(on camera): Will you tell us whether you know that man?
FULGENCE MUKUNZI, GENOCIDE SURVIVOR: Yes, I know, I know the man. I know the man. This man was a bishop. He was a killer. He killed our parents.
PAUW: Since 1994, the organization Africa Rights has been researching the genocide. They have interviewed victims extensively, and investigated the role of the Bishop Musabyimana in the killings at Shyogwe. They refer to him as a genocidier (sic), one of those who perpetrated genocide.
Then on the 6th of April 1994, the genocide started.
MUKUNZI: We started to go this Anglican church because we know that we must get help because this man was a good man.
PAUW: But the bishop allowed only a handful of Tutsis to enter the church grounds. The rest were turned away, often to be killed.
RAYKIA OMAAR, DIRECTOR, AFRICA RIGHTS: In particular, he told people to go to Kabgay, the Catholic diocese of Kabgay and the road between Kabgay and Shyogwe had numerous roadblocks, the purpose of which was to trap and kill Tutsis.
At the time of the genocide, Pastor Celestin Hategekimana was a clergyman at Shyogwe. His bishop was Samuel Musabyimana.
CELESTIN HATEGEKIMANA, PASTOR AT SHYOGWE (through translator): He knew they could be killed on the road to Kabgay. He said, "People are dying on that road."
OMAAR: I think it would be fair to say he sent these people away, either with the knowledge they would be killed or indifferent as to what their fate would be.
HATEGEKIMANA: He said about the Tutsis, "This is the end for them. They have to be killed and finished."
PAUW: According to the court evidence, the bishop ordered (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to make lists, names of Tutsis he'd allow to enter the church grounds. The lists were nothing less than a prelude to mass murder, and further implicated Bishop Musabyimana in the genocide.
OMAAR: These were men who used their position, their authority, their resources at the height of a genocide to ensure that their parishioners were killed.
ATHANASE NGIRINSHUTI, FRM. PASTOR CHARGED WITH MASS MURDER: Musabyimana said, as a bishop he had attempted to protect them.
OMAAR: This clergy used to say quite openly, sometime officially at mass during the genocide, God himself has handed over the Tutsis. You don't need to trouble your conscience by what is happening.
PAUW (on camera): Do you think Musabyimana is guilty of genocide?
NGIRINSHUTI: Until now, I say no.
PAUW (voice-over): By July 1994, the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front, or RPF, had won the war. A million Rwandan refugees fled into the Congo. Among them, soldiers, politicians, and Bishop Samuel Musabyimana, with his wife, Bernadette, and three children. He arrived in Congo by army helicopter.
Soon afterwards, Musabyimana then moved to Nairobi in Kenya, where he set up a Rwandan refugee agency called Hope. Two years ago, the International Tribunal for Rwanda started investigating Musabyimana.
Undeterred by the international investigation, Musabyimana decided to travel south. On the 4th of July, he arrived at Johannesburg International Airport. In his possession, several false passports, a South African visa, two Rwandan bodyguards and thousands of U.S. dollars.
At the beginning of August, Bishop Musabyimana was trying to go to the United States. He wanted to relocate Rwandans in America. Lt. Gracian Gataria (ph) couldn't get him American visas, and Special Assignments reporter was introduced to the bishop as a businessman who might be able to help.
BISHOP SAMUEL MUSABYIMANA, CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE: And now it is only for the visa.
QUESTION: For how many people?
MUSABYIMANA: We are six.
PAUW: Two days later, the bishop handed over six passports, among them his own illegal Rwandan passport. Special Assignment decided to inform the elite Scorpions unit that he was in South Africa, and that he was wanted by the United Nations for genocide.
Four days later, the Scorpions planned his arrest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He plans to leave for America tonight, so we have to arrest him today. We don't have a warrant from the tribunal yet. Mr. Muna is working on that. We believe there must be a warrant today.
PAUW: Minutes after he left the hotel, the Scorpions moved in.
As the bishop was arrested, the director of public prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, phoned the U.N. Tribunal for Rwanda to verify the bishop's status.
BULELANI NGCUKA, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION: They informed me that they would come to South Africa, that they have a warrant. They did verify the fact that yes, he was on the wanted list, and they very excited about it.
BERNARD MUNA, PROSECUTOR, U.N. TRIBUNAL FOR RWANDA: We had a very strong case against Musabyimana. He definitely used his leadership position in the church to facilitate the accomplishment of genocide. Yes.
PAUW: The bishop was handed to Home Affairs in Pretoria, where he was detained as a illegal immigrant. The department was supposed to hold him until the U.N. Tribunal came to fetch him, but the Scorpions forgot to tell them. Bishop Samuel Musabyimana was released two days before the United Nations arrived in South Africa. The director of public prosecution calls it a miscommunication between Home Affairs and the Scorpions unit.
PAUW (on camera): Who is responsible for the miscommunication?
NGCUKA: Look, I think I take the responsibility for it, I would say, to the extent that my office has blundered. I accept that responsibility.
PAUW (voice-over): On the morning of August the 23rd, Bishop Musabyimana was taken to Johannesburg International Airport. His false passports were returned to him. He then boarded an international flight for Nairobi.
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