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Forty Percent of Rape Victims in Congo Under Age 18; NATO Takes Command of all Coalition Troops in Afghanistan; Brazil Plane Crash
Aired October 05, 2006 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Tales from the Congo. Horrific stories of rape and mutilation and the women and children who carry the physical and emotional scars.
RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A change of guard. NATO takes over control of Afghanistan, but will it be able to bring the resurgent Taliban under control?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a calm day. It's 3:59 p.m. Bang!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: Against all odds. A brush with death at 37,000 feet. And he survived to talk about that experience.
VASSILEVA: And one moment in time. A photograph of an earthquake survivor in Pakistan brings hope and a new life to one little boy.
CLANCY: Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.
I'm Jim Clancy.
VASSILEVA: I'm Ralitsa Vassileva.
From Kinshasa to Kabul, Brasilia to Islamabad, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is a huge country, but a country literally hanging in the balance.
VASSILEVA: After decades of violence, it's in the grip of a humanitarian crisis with a nagging threat of renewed civil war. Many who live there face a brutal way of life.
CLANCY: Afghanistan also a country in crisis. On Tuesday the U.S.-led coalition transferred power in the east to NATO's international security assistance force.
VASSILEVA: And that formally extends NATO's presence across the entire country.
CLANCY: We're going to have more on the NATO handover in just a moment.
But we want to begin our report this day in the Congo, where violence pervading the lives, literally, of millions and millions of people.
VASSILEVA: Absolutely. One of the most ruthless weapons used in the conflict is rape. The group Medicins Sans Frontier says in just the first six months of this year they treated nearly 1,300 victims of sexual violence.
CLANCY: Now the group also notes an estimated 40 percent of rape victims are under the age of 18.
VASSILEVA: It is something that's hard to report on.
CLANCY: In fact, we warn you, this story reported by Anderson Cooper may be even hard to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a busy hospital in Goma, a silent little girl sits on a stoop. She is 5 years old now, but still cannot speak of the terrible thing happened to her. Two years ago, when she was just 3, she was gang-raped by soldiers.
(on camera): Children as young as 3 years are getting raped?
DR. LUC MALEMO, HEAL AFRICA: Yes, 3 years old, yes.
COOPER: That's -- it's -- it's crazy.
MALEMO: Very crazy. And we -- it's difficult to understand the -- the social causes of these events.
But we think that people are so disappointed, and they have been in a dictatorship for 40 years, that now the war came. So, they lost all the hope. And they start behaving like animals.
COOPER (voice-over): Dr. Luc Malemo has a hospital ward full of girls and women who have been raped and developed fistulas, holes in their vaginas or rectums that make it impossible to control bodily functions.
(on camera): Why do so many rape victims here develop fistulas?
MALEMO: We -- we think that -- that the -- the first reason, that the rape is too violent. Some of them, they will use, after -- after raping the lady, they will use maybe -- they may use a weapon, a knife, or even a piece of wood. And some of them have been shot on after being raped.
COOPER: So, women aren't just getting raped, and they're not just getting gang-raped; they're -- they're often being shot internally afterward, or -- or -- or people putting objects inside them, knives, clubs? MALEMO: Yes. Yes.
All -- they're being raped. But some of them, mainly those who develop fistula, tell that, after being raped, they will be shot on, or just be traumatized by a weapon.
COOPER (voice-over): Dr. Malemo is able to repair the physical damage done by rape in some 70 percent of cases. But some wounds, physical and psychological, are impossible to heal.
ANGELA, RAPE VICTIM (through translator): I was raped by three men, soldiers. They also shot me in my right arm. When it was happening, I thought I was dying. I was seeing death in front of me. I didn't think I would live.
COOPER: Angela was raped in front of her children.
(on camera): This is all the burn?
(voice-over): She says her attackers also burned her daughter, Godaliv (ph). We agreed to protect their identities, because of the stigma still associated with rape in the Congo.
ANGELA (through translator): People in the neighborhood just point fingers and say, you are a raped women, and you are infected with AIDS.
COOPER: Angela lives in a compound with her three children and other rape survivors, who say they can't go home. They're supported by a charity called Heal Africa.
(on camera): This is the one meal that Angela's kids will probably have today. She and her children have been living here in Goma for the last five months. Angela would like to be able to return to her home village, but that's simply impossible.
The men who raped her are likely still living in the area. They, of course, have never been brought to justice. And she really has no home to go back to. Her husband has now kicked her out of the house, because she was gang-raped.
ANGELA (through translator): He heard I was raped. And he just said, "Go on your own. I don't need you anymore. If we live together, you now might have HIV, so, you might infect me."
COOPER (voice-over): Like many rape survivors here, Angela's future is, at best, uncertain.
ANGELA (through translator): The only thing I need is some land, so I can build a house. I might die, and I want my kids to have that castle. I'm hoping for a miracle.
COOPER: There are few miracles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The men who rape are rarely brought to justice. And the women who survive must simply try to heal.
Anderson Cooper, Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Well, if you go northwards from the Congo, across the Central African Republic, you come to another country in trouble, Chad.
VASSILEVA: It is estimated some 200,000 Darfur refugees are living in U.N.-run camps there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: How many of you feel safe here? Nobody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VASSILEVA: A little bit later in the program, Dr. Sanjay Gupta brings us the personal stories of these refugees. Stories of their pain and their survival.
CLANCY: But right now, Ralitsa, let's move on to Afghanistan, where NATO officials say it is a historic day marking another chapter in the country's progress. The western military alliance now responsible for security all across the country.
The event was marked by a handover ceremony. That was held in the capital of Kabul.
NATO has already been in charge in the north, the west, and the south. It's struggling there to stem increasing insurgent violence by the former Taliban. It's now taken control of eastern Afghanistan. That's from U.S. troops that were in control there. That move comes five years after the U.S.-led coalition invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban-led government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. KARL W. EIKENBERRY, COALITION FORCES COMMANDER: I want to emphasize to the people of Afghanistan and our common enemies that the United States of America remains absolutely committed to NATO. Our missions and forces on the ground remain unchanged. In short, the United States has been here since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom, and we will not leave Afghanistan until our job is done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VASSILEVA: Actually, the ground operation in Afghanistan is now the biggest in NATO's history.
CLANCY: And if you look at it by the numbers, NATO now commanding around 31,000 troops. And they are from 37 different countries.
VASSILEVA: With about 12,000 troops from the United States, the U.S. has been the biggest contributor to the NATO mission. Britain has some 5,200 troops.
CLANCY: Now, an additional 8,000 U.S. troops will remain under separate U.S. command. Now, they're focussing on helping to train the Afghan security forces, and as well as doing reconstruction work.
VASSILEVA: They will also control all counterterrorism missions, including the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
CLANCY: The Afghan government, supported by western civilian agencies, is going to try to tackle the problem of production and trade in opium. The NATO mission has no major role in that.
VASSILEVA: And American four-star general Army General Dan K. McNeil (ph) will take charge of both U.S. and NATO forces in February, pending confirmation, of course, by the Senate. NATO takes over at a time of increased violence sparked by a resurgence of the Taliban.
Barbara Starr reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With violence growing, commanders warn a pure military victory in Afghanistan is not in the cards. This as NATO takes over day-to-day fighting during one of the toughest periods since the U.S. overthrew the Taliban five years ago. In the southern and eastern sectors, where fighting is heaviest, British, Canadian and 12,000 U.S. forces now will operate under a NATO flag. Attacks are on the rise in part because fighters are more freely crossing into Afghanistan.
LAWRENCE KORB, SR. FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: There's no doubt about the fact that this agreement between Pakistan and basically the people on its border has allowed the Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuary.
STARR: And now NATO's top commander warns that 20,000 NATO forces and another 20,000 U.S. troops won't defeat the Taliban.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Afghanistan will not be resolved by military means.
STARR: Military commanders have long said reconstruction is vital. But questions are emerging about whether even that part of the strategy can change the dynamics on the ground.
SEN. BILL FRIST (R), MAJORITY LEADER: The Taliban is on the rise, and we do need to capture the hearts and the minds of the Afghan people. A lot of them are just farmers by day, but when the Taliban sticks arms in their hands, they say, well, I guess I'm Taliban.
STARR: Frist and others are calling for more effort to bring Taliban elements into the fold of the Afghan government, in hopes of stemming the fighting.
But commanders say there is one overwhelming problem -- the money from the opium crop. GEN. JAMES JONES, NATO SUPREME ALLIED CMDR.: It allows the opposition to build the IEDs that kill and wound innocent civilians and wound and kill soldiers of the alliance.
STARR (on camera): Military commanders know they must come to some accommodation with the Taliban, but they are still convinced that building roads and schools will be the ultimate weapon for success inside Afghanistan.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: The U.S. secretary of state says Iraq's leaders must move urgently to settle their political differences, to stop revenge killings between Sunnis and Shia. Condoleezza Rice making an unannounced visit to Baghdad after stops in Israel and the Palestinian territories. She plans to hold talks with Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki and other Iraqi officials as mounting violence is threatening to undermine this government.
VASSILEVA: The U.S. military is denying reports that al Qaeda's top man in Iraq is dead. Several reports had said that Abu Ayyub al- Masri had been killed by U.S. forces in a raid. But a U.S. military spokesman says that's not true. Al-Masri is an Egyptian who took over the leadership of Al Qaeda in Iraq in June after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Over the weekend, Iraq's national security adviser issued a warning to al-Masri, saying that Iraqi troops were close to getting him "either as a corpse or tied up to face justice soon."
CLANCY: U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says no one could have anticipated the level -- level of violence that's raging in Iraq right now.
VASSILEVA: In fact, he made that comment to our Frank Sesno in a new CNN documentary, "Rumsfeld: Man of War."
Here's a portion of that program.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This is mine.
FRANK SESNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When I meet with him on a late summer morning in his spacious Pentagon office, this man of war, constantly under fire, is notably relaxed and gracious.
RUMSFELD: I found that in a flea market in Michigan.
SESNO: He points to history, which he invokes again and again.
RUMSFELD: "Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords."
SESNO (on camera): And that's Teddy Roosevelt?
RUMSFELD: Yes.
SESNO (voice over): He knows that America doesn't like long wars. And he knows that this one is increasingly unpopular.
(on camera): A lot of people say, "When you get in there with Donald Rumsfeld, give him hell. Why didn't we have more troops? If he is so tough, why wasn't he do that?"
What do you say to those people?
RUMSFELD: Well, you know, it is awfully easy to be on the outside and to opine on this and opine on that and critique this. If you go back and check the people who have been offering opinions, they have been wrong as many times as they have been right.
SESNO (voice over): But he betrays no doubts about its wisdom with a need to prevail.
RUMSFELD: I do enjoy competition.
SESNO: He was a collegiate wrestler. And at 74, he still needs to win. He believes he's right and that Iraq and the American people will come around.
RUMSFELD: When people are writing the history books, you're going to be in it.
SESNO: History again.
RUMSFELD: On big things over time the American people have been right. If they're not, they would have tossed in the towel on the Revolutionary War. And we wouldn't have had a country. Think of the people who were telling Abraham Lincoln not to even have a civil war. We wouldn't have had the United States of America today if he had believed that.
SESNO: But Donald Rumsfeld, who has acknowledged few mistakes and is not one to second guess, now says something that seems obvious but from him is surprising.
RUMSFELD: Well, I think that anyone who looks at it with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight has to say that there was not anticipation that the level of the insurgency would be anything approximating what it is.
SESNO: It is a remarkable admission. A statement that begs the question, why?
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Go.
SESNO: Why didn't Rumsfeld and his generals anticipate this? Was it inevitable? What was Rumsfeld's role?
(END VIDEOTAPE) VASSILEVA: And you can see the documentary in its entirety when "Rumsfeld: Man of War" debuts Saturday and 06:00 GMT.
CLANCY: A brush with death.
VASSILEVA: Investigators try to determine what caused a deadly plane crash in the Amazon jungle. Just ahead, we will hear from a passenger who survived the collision that may have triggered this accident.
CLANCY: And a top U.S. official warns Washington will not tolerate a nuclear North Korea. We're going to be talking with the assistant secretary of state, Christopher Hill, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VASSILEVA: Welcome back.
Seen live in more than 200 countries across the globe, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.
Two American pilots of an executive jet that collided with a Boeing in the skies over Brazil are waiting for word on their future. They could be charged with manslaughter. The Boeing airliner plunged into the Amazon rainforest last week killing all 155 on board. But amazingly, the smaller jet landed safely.
Allison McKenzie (ph) has one survivor's story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): It was in an astonishing brush with death at 37,000 feet as the Boeing 737 crashed into the dense jungle, killing all 155 people on board. The executive jet it had clipped in midair flew on. Seven passengers safe in their seats.
JOE SHARKEY, CRASH SURVIVOR: It was a calm day. It's 3:59 p.m. Bang! And I'm sitting right on the left wing. And it's right on the wing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The smaller jet had suffered wing damage at the tip. But the plane was losing height fast. A mayday was sent out. Those on board began to pray.
SHARKEY: A very odd serenity set in. I took out my notebook, wrote a note to my wife, said I loved her. Then I put it in my wallet. When we go down, maybe they'll find the wallet and she'll at least have that.
And then suddenly I heard one of the pilots say, "There's an airport." Our lives intersected so fast as these people went to their deaths that I sort of owe it to someone to find out more about who these people were. They were 15 feet from me as they -- as they began their -- the crash that killed them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A miraculous escape from death high in the sky.
Allison McKenzie (ph), ITV News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Well, moving now to international stocks.
In the U.S., at least, the headline this week was the Dow industrials hitting a record high closing. That was just Wednesday.
For a look at how the stocks are faring today, one day later, let's go to Valerie Morris.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
VASSILEVA: Well, still ahead, a new twist and election time scandal in the United States.
CLANCY: Now there is speculation of the future of the House speaker after new allegations that he ignored reports of inappropriate conduct by a former congressman.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in a few minutes. But first a check on stories making headlines right here in the United States.
New developments in the Mark Foley scandal. CNN has learned the FBI plans to interview a top aide who once worked for the former Florida congressman. Kirk Fordham says he tried to warn House leaders about Foley's contacts with teenage pages. He says before 2005 he notified "senior staff" at the highest levels.
The House speaker's office denies receiving the warning.
The House Ethics Committee met this morning. Their objective, to decide how to investigate the sexually-charged e-mails Foley allegedly sent to teens. They're still meeting behind closed doors.
The speaker of the House is also under the microscope. Critics from both parties say Dennis Hastert failed to take concerns seriously enough. Hastert denies that. And we will get a live update from Dana Bash momentarily.
Spotlight on education. President Bush is pushing his No Child Left Behind Act today. It's up for renewal next year. Critics give the plan a failing grade, but the president says give it time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's an achievement gap in America that's not good for the future of this country. Some kids can read at grade level and some can't. And that's unsatisfactory.
I know it is unsatisfactory for the educators who are here. It's unsatisfactory if you're a parent. And it's unsatisfactory for the president. You can't have a hopeful America if certain kids can read at grade level and others can't and we don't address the problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: In Virginia, school is canceled in Culpepper County. Officials say a late-night telephone caller threatened to blow up schools. Police are now making a sweep of all public and private school buildings for any devices. FBI agents are lending a hand as well.
In Pennsylvania, the little girls killed in Monday's schoolhouse massacre are being remembered today. Lancaster County's Amish community gathers to bury four young victims. The funeral for a fifth girl will be tomorrow. The burials are like much else in the Amish culture, very private.
Five other girls are still hospitalized. Three are said to be improving.
Some people thought marbles were being thrown against their house, but, no, it turned out to be marble-sized hail. Folks in southern and central Ohio are cleaning up from a violent storm there last night. Heavy rains caused power outages and flooding. Police say one person was hurt when hail damaged a trailer home.
Let's check in right now in the weather center with Reynolds Wolf.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: More now on the Foley e-mail scandal.
Our congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, joins us now -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, we have some new developments at this hour.
CNN is told by tw Republican congressional sources that the speaker of the House is going to make what they described as a major announcement back home in his district outside of Chicago. That we expect to happen some time this afternoon.
Now, what we are told -- we don't know exactly what this major announcement is. However, what we are told is that he is eager to try to be more clear, that in the words actually that he used on a radio show this morning, the buck stops with him, and that he takes responsibility for all that has happened with the Mark Foley scandal.
Now, there certainly has been a lost criticism on Speaker Hastert. And the one thing we are told he's been encouraged to do from aides and from others who are giving him advice is to be more clear, to be -- to communicate that he does take full responsibility for what has happened.
Now, whether that means firing anyone or his staff who may have known about it and didn't act on it, that at this time that is unclear. We do know that he has been encouraged publicly by some, even some -- some Republican lawmakers to do just that, to fire some people, one or two people on his staff. But it's unclear if that is what the speaker is going to do.
But again, we are told that the speaker is going to make an announcement sometime this afternoon out in his district, which is outside of Chicago. Some making it pretty clear, we understand, that he is going to take full responsibility.
Now, just to give you a little context here, what the speaker's office is trying to do today in the wake of all of these new questions about what his office knew and when they knew it is to try to be more -- be more aggressive and to try to go more on the offense. And we understand that there was actually a meeting here in the -- on Capitol Hill just a short while ago with Republican press secretaries, where the speaker's staff told the Republican press secretaries that they're going to try very hard to change the mood, change the atmosphere, go on the offense. And that, we understand, will include at least the speaker making it clear that he does take full responsibility for this.
We don't believe -- we don't believe that he is going to announce, though, that he's going to step down now or in the near future. But we'll certainly listen -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: But interesting, nonetheless, Dana, that Mr. Hastert's press conference would take place at 1:00, when still meeting behind closed doors members of the House Ethics Committee, which are planning to have a press conference of their own 30 minutes after Hastert's press conference.
BASH: Well, I believe that the ethics committee might have broken up at this time. But you're right, they are going to have a press conference at 1:30 Eastern. The time for the Hastert press conference -- my understanding, is a little bit fluid right now, I should. Sometime this afternoon is what we are told. So it will be interesting to see if they do happen simultaneously.
But I guess the point should continue to be made that this is part of an aggressive campaign by the speaker, by his staff, essentially, to keep his job in the wake of intense criticism -- not from Democrats, but from Republicans, fellow Republicans, conservatives who A, think that they should have done more to stop Mark Foley and political strategists who are looking at all this a month before the election, saying the way that they have handled this, in terms of pure political damage control, in the words of several Republicans that we've talked to today, has simply been terrible. That they think they have gotten their stories mixed up, that they have contradicted themselves and that they just haven't handled it well from the beginning.
So once again, you're going to see the speaker and his team try to take better control of the story this afternoon. We'll listen to what he says.
WHITFIELD: All right, congressional correspondent Dana Bash, thanks so much. And, of course, CNN will be covering that live, this 1:00 scheduled press conference involving the House Speaker Dennis Hastert. And then about 30 minutes following that, members of the House Ethics Committee, who have been meeting behind closed doors. We'll be having their press conference, and CNN will be covering that live.
More of YOUR WORLD TODAY right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VASSILEVA: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY, I'm Ralitsa Vassileva.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. These are some of the stories that are making headlines around the world.
NATO forces assuming command of all of Afghanistan, taking over the last portion of the country from the U.S. About 12,000 American troops. though, will now serve under NATO command.
VASSILEVA: The U.S. military and Iraqi government are denying reports that al Qaeda's top man in Iraq is dead. Earlier, an unnamed Iraqi government source said U.S. forces had killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri in a raid in Haditha.
CLANCY: The U.S. secretary of state making an unannounced visit to Baghdad. Condoleezza Rice saying the security situation there cannot be tolerated. She's expected to urge Iraqi leaders to put their differences aside.
VASSILEVA: Is North Korea bluffing, or will it really make good on that threat to carry out an underground nuclear test? Well, the international community is taking that threat very seriously, issuing new warnings to North Korea to abandon any plans to test a nuclear weapon. Even Pyongyang's ally China is speaking out.
Richard Roth is following this story for us at the United Nations, and he joins us now.
So, Richard, quite a hardening of position. Not good for North Korea as it's watching all the developments of the United Nations.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: I'm not sure Pyongyang would be surprised when it made this startling announcement. Here at the Security Council, work goes on on some type of statement that would warn North Korea against such action and also call on Pyongyang to return to those so-called six-party talks, dialogue that North Korea walked away from.
Yesterday the Chinese ambassador said if China does test that nuclear device, they wouldn't have any protection from Beijing and they'd have to realize they would face serious consequences. The ambassador, though, downplayed any significance that Beijing has an incredible connection with North Korea now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WANG GUANGYA, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: I think that, among the six parties in the negotiations, I would assume that actually all the other five have been influenced the way that negotiations could go. China has its influence. But others also. I believe that any of the five, in one way or the other, in their decisions, in their positions, in the six-party negotiations, could in a way promote the negotiations for a good solution. China is doing it, but I do hope that others will also contribute. This is not a issue between China and North Korea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: One senior Security Council diplomat, not with the Chinese delegation said, well, we don't have much influence at all. And they're in a better position in China to talk to North Korea, considering the business and economic ties, oil and the like, that they do have between the two countries.
Also, one senior Security Council diplomat, Ralitsa, with an interesting comment on discussions behind closed doors yesterday. It appears Ambassador Bolton of the U.S. and Ambassador Churkin of Russia got into a little bit of hard talk between the two of them when Russia said why doesn't the U.S. talk directly to North Korea, Bolton said, so, how many of your troops, how many of yours died as a result of attacks in North Korea? One diplomat said it wasn't really a productive exchange. The work goes on a statement here inside the Security Council for North Korea.
Back to you.
VASSILEVA: Richard, thank you very much. Richard Roth at the United Nations.
Jim?
CLANCY: Christopher Hill, the lead U.S. negotiator at those stalled six-party talks, is with us now from Washington to discuss the threat further.
Thank you so much for being with us, Mr. Secretary.
You were quoted this week as saying, "We're not going to live with a nuclear North Korea. We're not going to accept it." Realistically though, what can anyone do about it? The six-party talks have gone absolutely nowhere. Even an offer for bilateral talks on the sidelines hasn't lured North Korea back to the table.
CHRISTOPHER HILL, U.S. ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, first of all, I wouldn't agree that the six-party talks have gone absolutely nowhere. Through the six-party process, we brought China together, Japan, South Korea, Russia, et cetera. And we put together a pretty good joint statement, which, if implemented, would first of all denuclearize North Korea and secondly, bring North Korea into the international community.
So the problem is that the North Koreans, while agreeing to that, have not agreed to go ahead and implement it. And meanwhile, appear now to be talking about a nuclear test. Clearly, this is something that -- you know, they've made a lot of bad decisions over the years, but none as bad as the idea that they should test a nuclear weapon.
CLANCY: How imminent is that nuclear test? There are reports today that U.S. has a plane flying in the region that's capable of detecting radioactive elements in the atmosphere.
HILL: Oh, we have a number of sensors and have for, you know, many years on these issues. You know, it's hard to say. You know, it could come very soon. It could take a little while longer. What we have, though, is a statement, pretty authoritative statement, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which suggests that this is what they want to do. An what we need to make clear to them is that this is a very, very bad idea.
CLANCY: Now you sent a message to Pyongyang through its mission at the United Nations on Tuesday. What was the response? Any response?
HILL: No response yet, but that's not unusual. The New York channel is essentially used for passing messages. We've had really intense diplomatic contacts throughout the week including, of course, in New York. And it's very important that we work together with all the partners. Because I would agree with the notion that no one country can solve this. I mean, we need to work together. And that's the whole purpose of this six-party process.
CLANCY: Now, for the second time North Korea walked out of those six-party talks after the U.S. moved against a bank that had been processing, laundering, if you will, its fake $100 bills, counterfeit supernotes, as they've been called. That cut down perhaps some of the income, instead of being around $100 million a year from counterfeiting. Then you've got a missile test that failed. The missile sales are down. How much economic trouble is this regime in, and how does that translate politically in the U.S. view?
HILL: Well, I think North Korea is in a lot of economic trouble. And, you know, if you think back, if you look back to 1960 and 1970, North Korea was actually ahead of South Korea. So imagine what the North Korean leadership now feels when they look at South Korea, the world's 11th largest industrial country.
So they are falling behind in a relative sense and, at this point, falling behind in an absolute sense. And it seems that they think that weapons of mass destruction will somehow increase their prestige. It will somehow make them into a member of an exclusive club. And what we need to make very clear to them -- and I tried to do that yesterday -- which is that we're simply not going to accept them as the nuclear -- as a nuclear country.
CLANCY: Do you think that economic situation makes North Korea more dangerous today? HILL: Well, you know, it's hard to say. Certainly the Korean people -- the Korean people in North Korea are used to suffering. They've suffered for many decades.
CLANCY: And the regime doesn't care. That's not a pressure point.
HILL: You know, it -- I would have to agree with you. They've had terrible famine. They've had all kinds of economic problems. Now flood problems. And yet, they persist with these extremely expensive weapons systems, whose purpose, I think, is pretty hard to fathom.
CLANCY: Is the U.S. working or does it have a -- you work with a psychological profile of Kim Jong-il. What does it say about his leadership, his fears, his methods?
HILL: Well, you know, there are a lot of opinions. I have not met him. I will say, though, that he seems to be in command of himself and in command of his country. And he seems to believe in this approach. And I think we need to make it very clear to him that this will be a very bad mistake.
CLANCY: All right. Christopher Hill, the U.S. assistant secretary of state, the lead man in those six-party talks. Thank you very much for being with us.
HILL: Thank you.
VASSILEVA: Well, you know, Jim, Sunday marks the first anniversary of that huge earthquake that struck Pakistani-controlled Kashmir with such deadly consequences.
CLANCY: That's right, and at least 75,000 people are estimated to have been killed.
VASSILEVA: Thousands more were injured, and some 3.5 million were left homeless.
CLANCY: Donor countries have pledged $6.7 million or so for relief and reconstruction work there.
VASSILEVA: Much of that money has been spent on the construction of new homes.
CLANCY: Still, it's important to point out, Pakistan's president is appealing for even more funds, saying the damage from the quake really larger than anyone believed at first.
VASSILEVA: And for many people the suffering caused by the earthquake as symbolized by the image of a badly injured boy.
His arm was crushed. His spirit, though, wasn't as we find out from Andrew Stevens.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANDRWEW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Zeshan Casby (ph), he's the one in the orange trousers, seems like any other 9- year-old, Laughing As he plays with his friends in the mountain village of Nurosari (ph) in Pakistani Kashmir.
But Zeshan has come a long way in the past year. When the devastating earthquake brought his home crashing down, he was pinned under a heavy beam. Days later, this was the picture the world saw of Zeshan, recoiling in pain as a doctor tends to the stump left on his amputated arm. But Zeshan's life would be changed by that award- winning picture, taken by the Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder, and the determination of German philanthropist Sylvia Eibl.
SYLVIA EIBL, PHILANTHROPIST (through translator): It is a very beautiful thing. I saw photographs that won the World Press Photo Award, and now this child is going to Italy for some help. It is the most beautiful thing in the world.
STEPHENS: Eibl went into the mountains with 100 copies of the photo, and finally tracked Zeshan down in Kashmir's Nelam (ph) Valley. It was 10 months after the quake, and Zehshan He and his family were still living in conditions like this, along with thousands of other homeless victims of the disaster.
But Zeshan was one of the lucky ones. Eibl arranged a trip to Italy and a new arm. He's also been reunited with the photographer who captured his pain.
DAVID GUTTENFELDER, PHOTOGRAPHER: The photo that I took of him has affected his life and my life, and it's really kind of an unusual and overwhelming experience really to come here and see him.
STEPHENS: One photo, one moment in time. But the hope it has brought to one boy is immeasurable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: We're just getting in these pictures now. This shows U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making a surprise visit. Now these pictures were taken hours ago. This is as the secretary of state arrives in Baghdad, being greeted there by, looks like, some people on the ground. It wasn't a high-level Iraqi delegation. Her plane was delayed by indirect fire near or at the airport. Now that would mean mortars or something. Not unusual for that airport. We understand that Ambassador Khalilizad was there to meet the U.S. secretary of state. More on that coming up.
Well, the United States, meantime, calling for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council following a letter from Sudan's government. In it, Sudan rejected the Security Council resolution passed last August. The goal of that resolution was to give the United Nations authority over an African Union peacekeeping mission that had been unable to contain the violence in Darfur. Sudan saying it would review any future troop commitments to that force as hostile acts. But the U.N. undersecretary for peacekeeping operations wants to assure Khartoum the U.N. is not a threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN-MARIE GUEHENNO, U.N. PEACEKEEPING CHIEF: We believe that the real solution is a transition to a U.N. operation. We are very convinced that is the feasible, that is the practical answer, and we don't think that there are -- that we can live under the illusion that there is somewhere some miracle solution.
VASSILEVA: In the meantime, hundreds of thousands fled the violence facing them in Sudan's Darfur region. Mothers, fathers and children found shelter at the U.N. refugee camps of Chad. While they managed to escape from the physical threat, as Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us, they will forever carry the emotional scars.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Everyone here has a story.
"Like knight riders, they came after midnight," this man tells me. He's talking about Janjaweed, a pro-government militia accused of atrocities across Darfur.
Armed gunmen on horseback. A single bullet, they crippled these twin girls. Scrambling for their lives, they ran on shattered legs, desperate to escape Darfur. Though the wounds are healing, they may never recover from the terror.
(on camera) How many of you feel safe here? Nobody.
How many of you lost somebody during this conflict? Almost everybody.
(voice-over) This woman lost a daughter. Her story is so painful her mother must speak for her.
As she was fleeing, she put her 2-year-old little baby girl on her back. Two years later, she still can't talk about it, but her mother witnessed it all. Gun fire rang out, and suddenly her daughter went quiet and limp, shot dead with a bullet meant for her. Now, they are bonded by that terrible moment and by their new lives as refugees.
(on camera) How is your life here in this camp?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We live in the situation that you see right now. We don't have many things.
GUPTA: A lot of people ask what does a refugee camp look like? Well, you're looking at one of the biggest ones where so many of the 200,000 displaced people from Darfur are living.
These little huts is where people actually live. These trees are actually bound together. They use this to actually pound food into a paste that they can cook. And over here is where they keep some of their water. It's not enough. Everyone tells us that all the time. They don't have enough food or water. This is where they're living on. This is how they're living.
(voice-over) Few of them know how they're going to get through next week, much less if or when they'll ever return home. Even so, they're trying to create new lives.
(on camera) Look at all the brightly colored clothing around here. These are all refugees that actually come to this market to exchange goods. They don't have any money. They actually barter one service for another so they can take some of these goods back to their homes.
(voice-over) Or what they now call homes. Huts, really. Made of sticks. Women preparing what little food they have.
(on camera) Besides food and clothing, what do you want for your grandchildren?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Food and education.
GUPTA (voice-over): The children also have stories. So many of them are losing their parents.
LAURA PEREZ, UNICEF OFFICER: We've heard just really terrible heartbreaking stories. I heard a story of a young girl who's 14 who was gang raped by 15 men, 15 Janjaweed.
Children who witnessed the murder of their parents. We've heard stories of mothers and girls being taken from their villages by Janjaweed. We don't know where they're taken to. Just atrocities and horrible, horrible stories that are traumatic. These children are traumatized and adults are traumatized, as well.
GUPTA (on camera): The stories are horrifying and so many start just beyond those hills where the Sudan-Chad border is. So many people came by foot, walked all the way to these refugee camps.
What we find, though, is they have so much in common with people in other parts of the world. Yes, they want food and water, but they also want their own land. And most importantly, they want education for their children.
(voice-over) When their sleep is not broken by nightmares, they dream the dreams we all dream. It's so basic. They want a better future for their children. They want their kids to be safe.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Goz Beida, Chad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: The chances are if you carry a cell phone, you carry a little piece of the Congo right along with you every day.
VASSILEVA: Coming up on YOUR WORLD TODAY, Anderson Cooper explains how the battle for natural resources contributes to the ongoing tragedy in the Congo.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VASSILEVA: Welcome back.
We want to return now to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
CLANCY: It is a country that is rich in natural resources. But that includes tin as well as other elements used in electronics.
Anderson Cooper reports, though, despite all those riches, little of it goes to the people who mine it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A young miner descends into the earth, hoping to scratch out a living in the dangerous darkness below.
(on camera): It's pitch black in the mine. The ceiling in this mine is maybe two and a half feet. You are literally crouching down, crawling through the mine.
(voice-over): Hunched over, sitting in a pool of water, we find 23 year-old Siba Jua (ph). The rocks he pulls from the ground earn him just a few dollars a day. But they've also created widespread corruption and helped fuel a civil war that resulted in more than three million deaths. Dozens of warring armies and militias have fought for control of Congo's natural resources.
(on camera): This is a cassiterite mine, usually where tin comes from. We're probably about 100 feet or so inside a mountain in the eastern Congo. The mine itself is a low-tech operation, but increasingly tin is used in high-tech products. Because of changes in environmental regulations, tin has replaced lead in circuit boards used in equipment like -- well, like these cell phones. Chances are if you use a cell phone, you're probably carrying a piece of the Congo with you.
(voice-over): In the last four years, the price of tin has more than doubled. You'd think that would be a great development for the cash-strapped Congo. But very little of the money paid for Congolese tin actually ends up benefiting the people here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a predator state. So you have the customs officials completely corrupt, it's estimated 60 percent to 80 percent of customs are never -- are embezzled, never get back to the people. You can blame the people who are doing it. They're doing it because they can and they can because there's no state. There's nobody to tell them not to.
COOPER (voice-over): A 2005 report by the nonprofit group Global Witness found most miners have to pay bribes to local police and military officials just to sell their tin.
(on camera): Much of the cassiterite, or tin ore, that is mined here is smuggled into Rwanda and other neighboring African countries. Corrupt Congolese officials are paid to look the other way. According to aide workers, the export of tin is worth at least $50 million. And the Congo should be profiting from that by taxing it. So far, they're not.
(voice-over): The Congolese government says there is regulation but the problem is enforcing it. The infrastructure is poor, so it's hard to prevent smugglers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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