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Your World Today
Controversial Muslim Activist in Custody; Iraqi Deputy Health Minister Detained in Raid; Progress Reported at Mecca Talks
Aired February 08, 2007 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABU IZZADEEN, MUSLIM ACTIVIST: ... in bed with your wife, they'll drag you from your own bed under any guise, and...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: He burst on to public eye a while back when he heckled a British minister. Now a controversial Muslim activist arrested, suspected of encouraging terrorism.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Raising the stakes in the battle to secure Baghdad. An Iraqi government minister is arrested in a raid on his office by Iraqi and U.S. forces.
CLANCY: A trip deep into the Delta. Our correspondent comes face to face with some of the militants fighting foreigners and the government over Nigeria's oil wealth.
GORANI: And technology, literally, at your fingertips. No mouse, no keypad. No keyboard. Will consumers embrace the new touch-screen technology.
Well, it is 5:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 in the evening in Baghdad.
Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the world.
I'm Hala Gorani.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.
From the capitals of Europe, to the Middle East, to Africa, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
Undeniably, he's one of Britain's controversial Muslim figures, perhaps best remembered for fiercely heckling Home Secretary John Reid last year at a public meeting.
GORANI: Well, Abu Izzadeen was arrested earlier today, Thursday. The leading figure in a banned radical Islamic group, he's being held on suspicion of encouraging terrorism.
International Security Correspondent Paula Newton reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IZZADEEN: When they come in the morning to your house...
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He is one of the most provocative Muslim activists in Britain, and now he is in police custody, arrested early Thursday on suspicion of encouraging terrorism.
IZZADEEN: This isn't about terrorism. It's terrorism by the British police. How dare (ph) you come to a Muslim area.
NEWTON: And here he is last fall during a confrontation with British home secretary John Reid, taunting him, accusing of state terrorism against Muslims. But he has said much more than that.
In this mobile phone video from 2004, obtained by CNN through Online Investigators Vigil (ph), he calls for the murder of British Muslim soldiers as kaffirs or traitors.
IZZADEEN: Whoever allies himself with the kaffirs, against the believers, he's one of them. So those enemies to Allah who join the British government -- because remember, the British government, my dear Muslim brothers, they are crusader. Crusaders who come to kill and rape Muslims.
Whoever joins them, he joins the British army, he joins the American Army, he's a kaffir, and his only hukum is for his head to be removed. Indeed, whoever changes his deen, kill him.
NEWTON: "Kill him," he says. And yet police sources tell CNN this video is not the reason he was arrested, but in connection with another ongoing investigation in the Birmingham area.
That is where yet another a police investigation called Operation Gamble continues to unfold and provoke controversy of its own. While seven suspects remain in custody here, police have yet to lay any charges, and two other suspects have been released without charge.
The stakes are high in this investigation, the allegations startling, that a group of Muslim men were planning to kidnap, torture and behead a British Muslim soldier. Abu Bacar (ph), who doesn't want to be identified, says he knew nothing of the alleged plot when police stormed into his home last week and arrested him without explanation.
They began scouring his home day and night for three days. Police searched and probed, but he was released without charge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That only made things worse for me, because knowing what my family has been gone through, knowing how other people are going to perceive you -- because obviously everybody does think there's no smoke without fire. Here there's no fire. What have I got to do with this?
NEWTON: While he calls Britain the police state for Muslims, the British government shot back and in a statement called that a "gross caricature" and pointed out that in British law, to protect the public, sometimes people must be arrested, questioned, and released without charge. But this former British police chief admits counterterrorism authorities are under growing pressure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It raises questions about the value of the intelligence and the information. And I think if that happened, then the police would have to justify on what grounds they arrested and detained people.
NEWTON: That is what British Muslims are waiting for. Authorities here continue to tread that fine line between battling terrorism without trampling on civil liberties.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: You know, after a day like today, in terms of counterterrorism, you start to get a sense of the scope of what the authorities here are dealing with.
Now, in that video, that mobile phone video we saw of Abu Izzadeen, I mean, that clearly -- police have told CNN that that video has nothing to do with the plot unfolding in Birmingham. But, of course, when you look at that video and what he is saying on the video, and you look at any circumstances around the alleged plot, certainly the similarities are hard to miss. And also to point out that that mobile phone video has been posted on the Internet for several months now.
GORANI: All right. Paula Newton, live in London.
Abu Izzadeen is featured prominently in the Christiane Amanpour documentary, "The War Within." And Christiane will join us live later this hour -- Jim.
CLANCY: Iraq's health minister speaking out about the detention of one of his deputies by U.S. and Iraqi forces. Ali al-Shamari (ph) says he should have been notified and that the proper legal channels should have been used.
Michael Holmes, live from Baghdad, joins us now to explain the significance of this raid and the reasons behind it -- Michael.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, this is creating quite a furor here among government ministers, and right up the chain.
The U.S. and Iraqi forces, led by the Iraqi special forces, arrested this Iraqi deputy health minister, Hakem Abbas al-Zamili. He's also a senior member of the political party loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Now, of course al-Sadr's Mehdi army is blamed for a large part of the sectarian violence that we see here in Iraq.
A lively session in parliament was sparked, as I said. Some lawmakers saying that the minister deserved to be arrested. Others, however, sharply criticizing the raid, saying not even the prime minister knew this was going on. The health minister himself didn't know that his deputy was going to be arrested.
This from the health minister...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI AL-SHAMMARI, IRAQI HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): When I was told, I was going to the meeting with the ministers, so I told the minister who was not aware of this arrest, actually, this is a kidnapping and not an arrest. And also, the leaders of the security ministers did not know about this either. This is against the health department and Iraq's authority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, Jim, the U.S. says that this deputy health minister is, in fact, a central figure in corruption allegations. He's also accused of aiding the infiltration of the Health Ministry by militiamen and is, in fact, implicated in the deaths of ministry workers. So, I mean, very serious allegations, and the Health Minister, as you know, has been accused of all kinds of things in the past related to militia activities, including the use of its ambulances to transport militiamen and their weapons -- Jim.
CLANCY: Well, and Sunnis say they're afraid to go to hospitals to claim the bodies of relatives that may have been killed in suicide bomb blasts or other parts of the conflict there. What was the reaction in parliament? A little bit more on that, just how the different ministers -- how the different lawmakers may have weighed in.
HOLMES: Yes. As I said, it was a raucous session. It surprised us as we watched a lot of yelling, raised voices in the parliament.
It has to be said that a vote was passed to demand more information on this, condemning, in essence, the arrest -- or what the health minister calls a kidnapping. And it just shows the sort of level of feeling here about these ministries.
One woman MP speaking up and saying, well, this minister deserved it, he's a criminal, he's done all kinds of awful things. And others speaking up and saying that it's an example of U.S. arrogance that Iraq didn't have the sovereignty to be advised at the highest levels of its government that this was going to happen.
One of the reasons the prime minister wasn't told is -- we're told -- essentially it boils down to this -- they didn't trust that information about this raid wouldn't leak. Because we know that in the past the prime minister has stepped in, in situations like this, and sometimes ordered the release of suspects who had been arrested. And in the case of the Mehdi militia, ordered the Americans to back off so that roadblocks could be reintroduced around Sadr City -- Jim.
CLANCY: All right. Michael Holmes, reporting there live from Baghdad.
Elsewhere across Iraq, 29 people were killed, 90 more wounded in bombs -- Hala. GORANI: All right. Well, it's crunch time there for Palestinians, the rival factions that have been fighting on the ground. Their leaders meeting in Saudi Arabia, and they've reached an agreement on at least one issue that's crucial for avoiding civil war.
Officials from Hamas and Fatah say they've decided how to divvy up cabinet posts for the government of national unity.
Ben Wedeman is following the talks from Jerusalem and joins us now with the details.
Is there a sense that this agreement is going to stop the fighting on the ground, Ben?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly there is a sense that if they do come to a final agreement on the formation of a national unity government, that would certainly help to prevent further fighting. That fighting since December has left more than 100 Palestinians dead.
Now, what they've come up with at this point -- and apparently they're going to sign a document probably within the next few hours -- is how to divide up government positions. According to this document, Hamas will get nine ministerial posts. Hamas -- rather, Fatah, six. And one each to four parties that are represented in the Palestinian parliament.
In addition to that, Hala, three critical posts, the posts for foreign affairs, the interior, and finance, will go to independents. And in addition to that, Ismail Haniyeh, who is currently the prime minister and a leading member of Hamas, will retain his position.
Of course, the critical problem here is that this formula doe not include the formulation of a program for the government. And that's really what will make or break the situation.
If it does not please the quartet which is composed of the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations on three key conditions, then the international embargo on the Palestinian Authority will not be lifted and, therefore, many of the problems behind these clashes will not have been solved -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. That is a big question going forward.
Now, in Jerusalem, there's been much controversy regarding excavation work near a holy site, holy to both the Muslims and Jews.
What's the latest on that?
WEDEMAN: Yes, this is a big one, Hala. People are very worried about this.
Now, the Israeli authorities, what they're doing is they are revamping a ramp that goes up to what's known as the Magrabi (ph) gate, which is one of the gates of what Muslims call the Haram esh-Sharif, the noble sanctuary, known to Jews as the Temple Mount. Now, Muslim officials have said that they fear that this is going to undermine the foundation of the Aqsa Mosque, which is the third holiest site in Islam.
Now, Israelis say that simply isn't the case. The say they are willing to install 24-hour live Internet cameras to show the world that no harm is being done to the foundation of the Haram esh-Sharif, the holy sanctuary, the Temple Mount, depending on what you want to call it.
But nonetheless, these reassurances really have not satisfied some key figures in the Muslim community. Among the Palestinians, many of them say that it's been undermined. They're calling for demonstrations, for action across the Muslim world.
So tension is very high. The security presence around the old city is very high indeed. And, of course, keeping in mind that tomorrow is Friday, the day of Muslim prayer, there is concern that this could, Hala, get out of control.
GORANI: All right. And of course that's been a -- the site has been a flash point more than once in the past.
Thanks so much.
Ben Wedeman, live in Jerusalem.
We'll continue to follow that story.
CLANCY: Well, as you can see, a lot of our -- our top stories once again from the Middle East. And coming up, a Middle East popularity contest.
GORANI: All right. You don't want to miss this. Or you might want to call it an unpopular contest, if you prefer. A new poll asked people in six Arab nations whom they considered the most and least admired people outside their own country.
Guess which is which.
CLANCY: And then later, join us as Jeff Koinange comes face to face with rebels fighting for a bigger piece of Nigeria's oil wealth, the people of the impoverished Niger Delta region.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CLANCY: Welcome back to CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.
GORANI: Now we bring CNN's international and our American viewers, as well, up to speed on the most important international stories of the day, including this...
CLANCY: All right. One of the most comprehensive opinion polls to be conducted in the Middle East is being released today.
GORANI: All right. We got a sneak preview of some of its findings from Shibley Telhami, who conducted a six-nation poll. CLANCY: That's right. The University of Maryland survey asked respondents who is the most popular figure not in their own country.
Now, in previous years, French president Jacques Chirac was the one that nudged up there into first place.
GORANI: Right, Jacques Chirac. Well, listen to this. This time around -- and this was after the Israel-Hezbollah last year -- a surprise. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon, was easily named the most admired figure and, as Shibley Telhami told us in his preview, it's got a lot to do with that conflict last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIBLEY TELHAMI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: In the Arab world, outside of Lebanon, the vast majority of Arabs seem to support Hezbollah more. And they're not falling on sectarian lines.
Sunni Arabs in Egypt, in Saudi Arabia, in Jordan, in Morocco, they all are more supportive of Hezbollah because they're looking at Hezbollah through the prism of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and they see it as having given Israel a black eye, and their anger with America. And again, it's a case of Hezbollah seeming to be effective against Israel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, I'll tell you, I'm not surprised that Nasrallah came in first. I'm surprised he didn't get more than 14 percent.
CLANCY: Yes. Remember, they're all -- they're allowed to name whomever they like. So 14 percent was still double almost what some of the other people got.
And at the same time, what's important here is that this cuts right across those lines, as Shibley Telhami was pointing out. Even the Sunnis were voting for a Shiite here, saying that he's the guy because he stood up to Israel.
GORANI: But my question is, had there not be Sunni-Shia tension in Iraq and in other parts of the Middle East, wouldn't Hassan Nasrallah have gotten more? I think he would have.
CLANCY: He might have.
Now, beyond this one issue, you look at events in Iraq, who was the most unpopular world figure in the six Arab nations polled?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TELHAMI: Every year I ask the question, "Whom among world leaders do you dislike most outside your own country?" And every single year the prime minister of Israel has been number one. In the past few years, the president of the United States has become number two. In the most recent survey, the striking thing is, for the very first time in the Arab world, the most disliked person is the president of the United States of America. And superceded the combined numbers for both the prime minister of Israel and his hated predecessor, Ariel Sharon, who's in a coma.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, another very interesting viewpoint among many in this poll is the perception that amid so much distrust over the Bush administration policy in the Middle East, there is still one issue that could change people's minds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TELHAMI: All of the polls since before the Iraq war in the past few years, they've indicated that there's not much trust in America's intentions. Very few people believe that we're seeking democracy and human rights.
They think that primarily what's motivating American foreign policy is oil, Israel, and weakening the Muslim world. There's no surprise there.
But when you ask them, what is -- what issue would improve your attitudes towards the United States most, the number one answer by far is brokering Arab-Israeli peace based on the '67 border. That is the number one issue. It is the prism through which they evaluate America, it has been so in previous polls.
This is a very clear picture of it that we get.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: All right. A very clear pictures coming in there.
You know, the whole -- the full release -- and there are dozens and dozens of questions that are asked of opinion across the Middle East. It's going to be released about two hours from now.
GORANI: All right. And we'll bring it to you in more detail and in its complete form once we can in a couple of hours.
Well, after a short break on YOUR WORLD TODAY, we'll check on the global financial markets.
CLANCY: That's right.
Also ahead, an exclusive look at the reclusive and mysterious Nigerian militants who say they're fighting for oil profits for the poor.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CLANCY: Hello, everyone and welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Jim Clancy.
GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. Here's some of the top stories we're following for you.
Police in Britain have arrested one of country's most controversial Muslim figure, he's Abu Izzadeen, an activist who made headlines last year when he heckled the home secretary in England, John Reid at a televised public meeting. He known for praising suicide bombers, including the July 7th bombers in London. Abu Izzadeen is being held on suspicion of encouraging terrorism.
CLANCY: Iraq's deputy health minister arrested in his office early Thursday by U.S. and Iraqi forces. The U.S. military statement says the man arrested is suspected of being a key figure in alleged corruption, as well as the infiltration of the health ministry by the Shia Mehdi army allied and under the command of Muqtada al-Sadr. Hakim Abbas al-Zamili is also implicated in the deaths of several fellow ministry officials.
GORANI: Now rival Palestinian factions meeting in Mecca have reached an agreement on at least one issue that could be crucial in avoiding civil war. Officials from Hamas and Fatah have decided how to divy up cabinet posts for a government of national unity. Its been in discussion. Hamas would have the most, nine cabinet posts followed by Fatah with six, while three critical posts would, quote, "independents."
CLANCY: A little bit more now on the arrest of that controversial British Muslim figure, widely known for his extremist outbursts.
GORANI: Abu Izzadeen, as he's called, is being held on suspicion of encouraging terrorism. Abu Izzadeen was among those featured in Christiane Amanpour's documentary, "The War Within." In it, she tracks the rise of extremism in Britain in some circles, especially among some of the younger Muslims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANIF QADIR, YOUTH WORKER: There's a minority, I mean, in the schools that actually believe that -- I mean these are Muslims and non-Muslims, and this is very shocking -- but blowing people up is quite cool.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): That blowing people up is cool?
QADIR: It's quite cool, yeah.
AMANPOUR (voice over): Last August, British police descended on Wolfenstowe, saying they had foiled a conspiracy to blow up a dozen U.S.-bound airliners with liquid explosives. This set off the biggest security alert since 9/11.
QADIR: I got an e-mail about this, so I put the question to some of these guys, and the answers I got back is, when a bomb goes off in Baghdad or Afghanistan, and innocent women and children are killed over there, who cares for them? So if a bomb goes off in America, or in London, what's wrong with that?
AMANPOUR: Indeed, a poll in "The Times of London", showed a shocking 13 percent of British Muslims believe the London subway bombers were martyrs, and many British Muslims see the Iraq war as a war against Islam, against them.
(On camera): We're talking about England here, we're talking about young Muslims, who have grown up in this country. I think people would be really stunned to hear you say that it is essentially foreign policy which is causing youngsters to blow themselves up on the subway system, and youngsters to think that that's cool.
QADIR: Foreign policy has a lot to do with it, but it's -- it's the minority radical groups that use that, to get to our young people.
AMANPOUR (voice over): And some of those young Muslims are easy prey, because they believe the British government crackdown is scapegoating them, as when Minister John Reid came to talk to Walthamstowe parents.
MINISTER JOHN REID: There are fanatics who are looking to groom and brainwash children, including your children, so all I say is look for those telltale signs now.
AMANPOUR: One of those fanatics was in the room, waiting to pounce.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they come to your own houses, when your house is raided or your business is raided, you'll be just as irate as I am!
AMANPOUR: Omar Brooks, a self-styled religious leader of an extremist group that is now banned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm the one they call extremist rubbish!
QADIR: Now, he's went in there, and he's you know, he's shouting and he's hollering at everybody and everybody thinking, yes, this guy is against the system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm outside. Where's your freedom of speech now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over there.
QADIR: They're considered to be heroes, you know, for the younger guys. Yes, get in there. He's telling them how it is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right and as we mentioned, Abu Izzadeen is featured prominently among others in the Christiane Amanpour documentary, "The War Within." And you can watch an encore presentation of that special report at 07:00 GMT on Saturday. CLANCY: Well the Iraqi government's new security plan for Baghdad has some unique elements to it.
GORANI: One key component is U.S. and Iraqi troops living in the city's neighborhoods.
CLANCY: Now that means more risk of course, but if the tactic works, it could keep insurgents at bay.
GORANI: Well Michael Holmes, our colleague, has a look at life for the members of Charlie Company in a dangerous part of the Iraqi capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Adhamiya is one of Baghdad's oldest neighborhoods, birthplace of the Ba'ath Party, once very upper class, home to kings.
(on camera): But not anymore. This is a Sunni stronghold, and it's surrounded by Shia areas. Now, both of those areas have hard- core insurgents who fight each other and target the Americans.
SGT. KENNETH HENDRIX, U.S. ARMY: A lot of hand grenades, a lot of improvised explosive devices.
HOLMES (voice over): So many hand grenades tossed from buildings, that the men have built homemade protection for their exposed gunners.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of our guys got hit by a grenade in here. And an IED went off two days ago here right behind our truck.
HOLMES: We're with Charlie Company, 126th Infantry, based at forward operating base Apache. Although it's not really a base, it's actually a house. A hundred and twenty men in the middle of probably the city's most dangerous area.
HENDRIX: Some guys call it the Alamo, you know. It's just a house in the middle of Adhamiya. Nobody else around. No other units.
HOLMES: They are fired on regularly by insurgents, both Sunni and Shia. The house shows the scars.
A couple of months ago, insurgents attacked her. Charlie Company killed 38 of them. Around here, something as simple as leaving a house after speaking with the owners requires smoke grenades for cover.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We unfortunately, you know, learn some hard lessons.
HOLMES: Since arriving here in August, Charlie Company has never left, never stopped patrolling, 24/7. They've lost five men, two dozen wounded, and earned a fistful of medals for bravery.
(on camera): Is there a day here where something doesn't happen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No.
HOLMES (voice over): One soldier, 19-year-old Specialist Ross McGinnis (ph), is being nominated for his country's highest award, the Medal of Honor, after throwing himself on a grenade that had been tossed into his Humvee, saving the lives of four comrades.
LT. RYAN MARAVILLA, U.S. ARMY: I have four killed in action due to sniper attacks and roadside bombs, and four wounded in action.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take it slow.
HOLMES: But Lieutenant Ryan Maravilla says those losses brought the men who live and work here even closer.
MARAVILLA: You would not have even thought that we lost four guys. It's not because we don't remember them and we don't think about them. It's just we know that we've got to carry on.
HOLMES: Carry on in a place where the camaraderie might be ever present but so, too, the urban warfare that is Adhamiya.
HENDRIX: I'll look back on it as probably -- probably the hardest tour I've ever done. Hopefully that is my first and only year in Adhamiya.
HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN, Adhamiya, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: All right, let's turn our attention now to Africa and the violence in Nigeria's oil-rich but impoverished Niger Delta.
GORANI: Well, more than 100 people have been kidnapped in that part of the world since militants stepped up their attacks on the country's oil industry.
CLANCY: Nigeria of course, one of the world's top oil producers, yet most of its people live in poverty.
GORANI: Militants say they're fighting to force the government to give their region a greater share of oil profits.
CLANCY: Now in this exclusive report, Jeff Koinange traveled to the Niger Delta and he came frighteningly close to the armed gunmen that we're telling you about.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A treasure lies beneath these brackish waters, billions of barrels of oil, so much that Nigeria produces about 10 percent of the oil brought into the U.S. So, if this oil is interrupted or stopped, it's all but certain to cause a disastrous recession in the U.S.
But where there are vast riches in Africa, there's always something else: bloodshed. But to see for ourselves what is happening in the Delta, we first needed permission from a mysterious rebel leader named Jomo, who communicates via e-mail, and whose heavily armed and fierce men are fighting for control of the Delta and the oil.
Jomo agreed to have us come by. But he wrote: "There's a snag. I don't do audio or video interviews."
Days later, we were on a speedboat to meet the phantom Jomo. We were an hour-and-a-half upriver from the Delta town of Warri, when, suddenly, out of nowhere, masked gunmen in powerful speedboats surrounded us, shooting over our heads and demanding to know who we are -- their weapons, impressive, small machine guns, a boat-mounted .50-caliber, and grenade launchers, far more firepower than I had ever seen in the Delta.
Simply put, in their black outfits and black ski masks, these guys were terrifying. And that's exactly what they have become: Nigeria's worst nightmare. They call themselves the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND. Their goal, they insist, is to mend what they say is the unequal distribution of the vast wealth reaped from Nigeria's oil bonanza. These murky water contain some of the richest oil deposits, and, ironically, some of the poorest people in the world.
The rebels say they are like Robin Hood, and it's a matter of taking back the oil money from corrupt politicians, a corrupt military, and the oil companies, and giving it to the people who live here.
Recently, the rebels have ratcheted up. They are kidnapping expatriate workers who have come to work here. The number of hostages is growing quickly.
As for the Nigerian military, when they come down to the hostile swamps of the Delta, they are easy prey for the rebels, who kill them indiscriminately.
Oil facilities here are also favorite targets. Explosions have sharply cut the flow, a drop from three million barrels of sweet crude a day down to two million.
But for us, there seemed to be a dangerous misunderstanding. The rebel leader Jomo had invited us here, but these men in the black ski masks were suspicious and angry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many times do you come here with your cameras, and you didn't do anything? We don't want you guys to come here again.
KOINANGE: But we weren't about to leave so easily. We asked about Jomo. But they insisted he doesn't talk to anyone, especially journalists. But to prove how serious they are, they offered to take us to one of their hide-outs to show us something no western journalist has seen. Another hour winding through the mangrove swamps, and we arrived at a scene I never thought possible in Nigeria. Men put on a show for us. Men in black dancing and chanting themselves into a trance. Some point their guns menacingly at us. Others try to intimidate us.
And yet we still had no idea who was in command here. No sign at all of our host, Jomo. And there's no way we could have ever guessed what they wanted us to see next.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Well, we are going to get to see that and if you want to join us and see what the Nigerian militants wanted to show Jeff Koinange, we'll have that after a short break here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.
GORANI: All right, you don't want to miss this on the program. Please stay with us at CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back. You are with YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.
CLANCY: That's right. If you count them all up, we're seen live in more than 200 countries all around the globe.
GORANI: All right. We're going to continue our exclusive reports on the militants in Nigeria, their tactics, their cause and the violence and the fear in some cases that they've created.
CLANCY: This is part two of Jeff Koinange's reports. Militants take our correspondent on a journey that few would ever forgot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOINANGE: Like Robin Hood and his men hiding in the dense woods, the MEND fighters have found safety in the unmarked islands hidden among the swamps of the delta. So, of course, there is no way to check on their claim. MEND tells us these are but a handful of 200,000 fighters they have throughout these waterways, an area about twice the size of Maryland.
But they could prove their willingness for audacious crimes.
(on camera) Just to show us how confident these MEND militants are, they brought us here deep in the heart of Niger Delta, to show us their latest hostages, 24 Filipino sailors.
(voice-over) It was a brazen raid at sea, The largest number of hostages kidnapped at once. The armed rebels' speed boat surrounded the workers' ship at sea, and they have now been held captive for nearly a month. MEND insists no harm will come to the hostages. This is about intimidation, a demonstration of MEND's power. It's also about ransom.
As for these dazed and confused sailors, imagine what they must be thinking when they see this menacing dance of madness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all OK, but only we want to be free. We want to be released.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a family. And we need to communicate with them but our communications is closed.
KOINANGE: But how did it ever come to this? Who is coordinating these attacks?
After much discussion, the rebels did agree to take us to their leader, but only under one condition. Because of his superstitions we could only interview him in the water, out in the middle of the swamps. We wondered were we finally going to meet the mysterious Jomo?
(on camera) I'm here to find out about the movement. Who are you? What do you want? What's your struggle?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta is a struggle, a movement for the liberation of the Niger Delta, the most devastated and the most threatened region in the world.
KOINANGE: Is your fight against the oil multinationals or against the Nigerian government or against them all?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our fight is against everybody, every institution that don't want the people of the Niger Delta to have their fair share of the Nigerian project. Any person that is either by knowing or unknowingly has connived to deny the people of Niger Delta their fair share of the Nigerian project.
KOINANGE: And how far are you willing to go? How far is MEND willing to go to accomplish your goals?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: MEND has come to stay and that there is no force in the universe that will stop MEND in achieving these demands.
KOINANGE: What do you want to tell the oil companies right now? To leave Nigeria?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are telling all expatriates to leave Nigeria. Leave Nigeria. We will take lives. We will destroy lives. We will crumble the economy, mercilessly.
KOINANGE (voice-over): And with that the interview suddenly ends. The general's men feel vulnerable here in the open. We're escorted out and into open waters. But as we're about to take off one of the masked men issues yet another threat to the Nigerian government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they don't listen, well, maybe we don't know how many pieces it will go into, but the federal government will not be in peace except they listen to us. KOINANGE: As for Jomo, we never did get to meet the man who invited us here. Or perhaps we did and he just wouldn't reveal himself.
But when we got home, we did get another message from the e- mailer calling himself Jomo. In this one, he complained the hostages we saw were not kidnapped by his group MEND and that our report would be misleading.
We have no doubt those kidnappers were MEND militants, and we have no idea why their leader would now distance himself from that. But the delta is full of mystery and magic and bloodshed.
Jeff Koinange, CNN in the Niger Delta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Fascinating look there. I mean, those waterways go forever.
GORANI: That it is, mysterious and all the rest of it.
Well, just ahead on -- thanks to our Jeff Koinange. Just ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY, it's a case of IT interaction taken to the extreme.
CLANCY: Experts say your keyboard -- that's definitely out. What's in -- touch screens.
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CLANCY: Love these high-tech stories. Nobody has to die in order to make it into the news, and we all come away perhaps learning something. Plus, there's neat gadgets.
GORANI: Absolutely. And make it interesting and talk about your future potentially. Forget keyboards, forget mouses. I don't think you say mice, right? Mouses.
Eunice Yoon gets in touch with your digital future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EUNICE YOON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the sci-fi thriller "Minority Report," Tom Cruise hunts bad guys by whipping through images on large touch-sensitive screens.
But what is clear is this futuristic technology is busting its way into consumer electronics this year. Apple is the most famous to point out the trend. It's launching the iPhone, a mobile phone with a touch display instead of a keypad, in June. But the iPhone won't be the first no-button phone to find its way into consumers hands.
Here in South Korea, where watching live TV on your cell phone is considered old news, LG has created a similar model with Italian fashion house Prada. Their phones reaches stores, first in Europe, starting this month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Mobile phones are used for everything. Touch screens will make it easier to switch from playing a video, browsing the Internet or taking photos. Touch is in.
YOON: It's also in other gadgets. The IT-obsessed Japanese are putting touch panels in digital cameras, electronic dictionaries, game consoles and of course handsets.
TAKEHITO YOSHIDA, MOBILE PHONE DESIGNER, DOCOMO (through translator): Touch panels are natural and fun.
YOON (on camera): Touch screens may look cool by getting rid of all those pesky buttons, but you could also end up with a messy screen that's difficult to read.
(voice-over): Scientists are getting a better feel for touch technology.
New York University's Jeff Han is experimenting with wall-sized displays, that can be manipulated by self-people all at once.
JEFFERSON HAN, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: A lot of people believe that the future is going to be where there's computing surfaces everywhere, and for that kind of thing to happen, you really need an interface with this.
YOON: And perhaps eventually like this, making computing a whole lot more powerful to help us get the job done.
Eunice Yoon, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: More powerful and more fun. That's our report for now. I'm Jim Clancy.
GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. Stay with CNN.
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