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INSIDE AFRICA

South African Historian Murdered; Chinese President Visits Africa

Aired February 3, 2007 - 12:30:00   ET

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

FEMI OKE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Femi Oke. This is INSIDE AFRICA, your weekly look at life and news on the continent, coming to you from Johannesburg, South Africa.
It's been a busy news week on the continent, so we're going to get you caught up on some of the major stories that hit the headlines. We start, sadly, right here in South Africa, with the murder of the historian David Rattray. He was known as the white Zulu, for his passionate portrayal of Zulu history and culture. He was buried on Thursday. His murder was the latest in a series of high-profile killings that make South Africans really think about the level of violent crime in their society. I went to David Rattray's funeral in Kosulu Natao (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: They came to mourn David Rattray, a white South African who made Zulus proud of their history once again. He spoke Zulu, and his passionate storytelling recounting the battles between the British and the Zulus made him a celebrity who had fans around the world.

He was murdered in his home last Friday.

MARK READ, DAVID RATTRAY'S FRIEND: And he came running out, and his beloved wife was there being confronted by this - this specter with a gun, and David screamed at her and pushed her to the ground and advanced on this man, who removed his life.

OKE: This latest high-profile killing has reminded South Africans that violent crime is a reality of daily life. Government figures show murders, rapes and assaults are down, but ministers are trying hard to persuade the public and tourists that they have a handle on crime.

CHARLES NQAKULA, SAFETY AND SECURITY MINISTER: I feel that South Africa is indeed enjoying better safety than the case has been in the past. But more than this, I want to say that the future looks even much rosier.

OKE: Police say murder rates have dropped 40 percent since the end of apartheid in 1994. But even though the rate is lower, the numbers are still alarming. Last year, more than 18,000 people were killed in a population of 45 million. This translates into about 50 funerals a day.

REV. PHILIP RUBIN, BISHOP OF NATAL: We're not served well, friends, when our leaders deny the harsh reality of crime by throwing around statistics that crime is decreasing in South Africa.

OKE: I spoke to David Rattray's closest friend just as he finished writing the historian's eulogy.

READ: Primarily, Dave Rattray would have wanted people in this country to sit down and say, why is this happening now? And how can we stop it?

OKE: It's a question many in South Africa are asking, as one of the country's favorite sons is laid to rest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: David Rattray will be greatly missed by South Africans and his fans around the world.

Three other killings this week highlighted the senseless and rampant crime that has long affected Kenya's capital. As Christian Purefoy reports from Nairobi, the East Africa commercial hub is paying in more than human lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the chase of escaped carjackers in Nairobi, Kenya, three people have been shot. The thieves tried to steal their car, the officer explains.

It's dangerous work, often resulting in a firefight, as many of the thieves are desperate and armed.

JIM KAMENJU, SECURITY RESEARCH & INFO. CTR.: Because we're finding that most of the carjackers are fairly young men. They're very young people, and the problem is the availability of arms. So you find young people who have nothing to do, some of them fairly educated, so they're going to find a relieving (ph) through crime.

PUREFOY: Typically, carjackers follow and then force themselves into the car, robbing its occupants and then stripping it down and selling the parts. Too often, these carjackings turn deadly. Last weekend, in two separate incidents, an American missionary and her daughter-in-law, and the regional director of aid agency CARE International, were shot to death for their cars in Nairobi.

UNIDENTIFEID FEMALE: They told us to get out, and we started to get out, and then they started shooting, and then they shot my mother-in-law and my sister.

PUREFOY: A 2005 United Nations study says crime is a problem across Africa, listing the high proportion of young unemployed people, glaring income inequalities, and rapid urbanization as reasons behind levels of violent crime.

EDWIN GIMODE, KENYATTA UNIVERSITY: Basically, Nairobi and those other cities experience the same problems of crime, the same problems of insecurity. And in my view, basically, it is poverty. These people are not born criminals as such. In terms of economy, investment cannot (inaudible) without security. In terms of basic ordinary - ordinary - ordinary safe life, everyone wants to be safe.

PUREFOY: Although figures are hard to come by, one survey found a quarter of Kenyans traveling on buses in and around Nairobi experienced a holdup at least once a year.

The Muthiganis' 25-year-old son David was one such victim. Shot last November when his bus was hijacked at 5:00 in the evening. He spent two months in hospital, and after enduring 11 surgeries, his mother says he died on the 15th of January, with the hospital bill of over $100,000 that his parents are unable to pay.

ROSE MUTHIGANI, DAVID'S MOTHER: But now I'm the victim, (inaudible) good security and for people to be secure. But now, right now I'm a victim. My son has died (inaudible) insecurity.

PUREFOY: Insecurity. It only seems to be getting worse. In 2000, some 2,300 cars were stolen, or carjacked in Nairobi, but in 2004, the figure was 15 percent higher.

This time, the police have caught the alleged carjacker, but for some, not enough is being done.

MUTHIGANI: But I feel that something should be done about security, for innocent people who have already died.

PUREFOY: Christian Purefoy, CNN, Nairobi, Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: Coming up, the conflict in Darfur undermined Sudan's bid for leadership of the African Union. We have details from the summit.

And trade and aid. Chinese President Hu Jintao makes his third visit to Africa. We take a closer look at his objectives and see what the critics have to say about Chinese approach to the continent. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OKE: Good to see you again, you're watching INSIDE AFRICA from Johannesburg. The leader of virtually every African nation could be found in Ethiopian capital this week for the African Union summit. It aims to make progress on some of the continent's serious conflicts.

On the agenda: A peacekeeping force for Somalia, but as one of the promises, the delegate only managed to raise about half of the 8,000 troops needed. But it was Darfur and the conflict there that overshadowed the summit, (inaudible) Sudan's bid for A.U. leadership. ITN's John Snow reports from Addis Ababa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN SNOW, ITN CORRESPONDENT: Fifty-two African presidents and their entourages arriving in Addis Ababa for one of the most high-profile summits, under pressure from aid agencies and their supporters for failing to move urgently enough on Darfur. Yet their first priority is to prevent Sudan from taking over the chairmanship of the African Union.

This is Sudan's President Bashir, arriving in the conference center, accused of facilitating genocide in Darfur.

(on camera): Mr. President, any advance on Darfur today?

OMAR AL-BASHIR, PRESIDENT OF SUDAN: I'm not talking about Darfur today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me.

SNOW: Very good, sir. Any - any hope on Darfur? Some movement on Darfur?

In fact, not one of the assorted presidents was keen to address Darfur. Beyond the conference, Libya's Colonel Gadhafi stayed in his nearby tent. He's holding court beyond the hotel pool, and has frozen $50 million he was going to put into Darfur as part of his pressure to get Sudan and others moving. The current stalemate renders Darfur's crisis worse than ever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we are seeing is not only high levels of insecurity and fear, but also in terms of just being able -- for people to be able to get out of the camps. It's extremely difficult. I mean, walking a kilometer out of the camp could leave a woman or a man prone to, you know, either rape or assault. And that - that situation has to stop, because what it's doing is it's causing a tremendous demand on the humanitarian agencies to provide that which people could provide for themselves.

SNOW: The joint appeal from Oxfam and the other agencies in Darfur to the African Union gathered in Addis says that four years on, Darfur is worse that at any time. Displacement, murder and what America's called the slow drip of genocide, in which a quarter of a million have died. Sudan is accused of assaulting its own people. The U.N. is accused of slowness in deploying. And the African Union for failing to supply enough forces fast enough.

The new U.N. Darfur representative told me why peacekeepers are now so urgent.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Now, we have seen some signs of an interest in a political process. But you have to prove that this is genuine will on your side. And the way to prove it is to reduce the level of violence, stop the aerial bombardments, stop arming militias, stop attacking offensively government offices, and, of course, provide access to the internal operations.

SNOW: This summit did finally get under way, Ghana stepping in to prevent Sudan taking over the chair. Sudan's President Bashir showing little emotion about failing once again to become African Union president. The serious danger had been that he would be given charge of the very African Union troops that are being sent to restrain him in Darfur.

The new U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made Darfur his top priority, and is here to encourage joint African Union/U.N. action. But in his speech, he displayed little feel for it yet.

This is at times a chaotic event, but it is one where serious business is done in the margins. These leaders have avoided one embarrassment, but a much bigger one lurks. They cannot afford to come back to another summit to find their troops are still not properly deployed, and Darfur continues to bleed to death.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: Cino-African relations are back in the spotlight this week, as Chinese President Hu Jintao conducted (ph) a whirlwind eight-nation tour of Africa. Top of this agenda: Aid and trade. But Mr. Hu's trip is already causing controversy. Isha Sesay has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: China's President Hu Jintao touched down in Cameroon earlier this week, kicking off a 12-day tour of the African continent. On the surface, Mr. Hu's visit -- his second this year -- is aimed at boosting economic and political ties. But critics say at the heart of Cino-African relations is China's voracious hunger for natural resources, influence, and new markets.

JAMES KYNGO, AUTHOR, "CHINA SHAKES THEWORLD": When China looks at the world and looks at what's on offer to it, Africa stands out as the most attractive place to sate its insatiable appetite.

SESAY: What is undebatable is that as China's economy has grown, so has its trade ties with Africa. Trade between the two last year rose by 40 percent on 2005, to $55.5 billion, according to Beijing, a five-fold increased since 2001. That represents more trade than Africa does with the E.U.

But as trade grows, South African President Thabo Mbeki has expressed concerns that African manufacturing is being stifled by an overflow of Chinese goods. Meanwhile, China has also been increasing aid, credit and investment to the continent.

Since 1956, China has completed 900 projects of economic and social development in Africa, provided scholarships for 18,000 students from 50 African countries to study in China, and it sent 16,000 medical personnel to 47 African countries, who have treated more than 240 million patients.

Even before departing for this latest trip, Mr. Hu announced $3 billion in credit to African countries, with additional aid, in interest- free loans, over the next three years.

But this move by Beijing is sure to raise concerns in some quarters. In the past, China's unfettered gifts came under fire from critics such as Paul Wolfowitz, the World Bank president, who has described China's lending policies as irresponsible and capable of pushing African countries back into a huge debt cycle build-up.

SAMANTHA POWER, JOHN F. KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT: You're seeing an assertion of Chinese political and economic might, and those - those two things are going to correlate more and more.

SESAY: Meanwhile, alarm bells are already ringing about Mr. Hu's schedule stop in Sudan. China has repeatedly refused to use it influence as a big oil customer to pressure the Khartoum government to end the conflict in Darfur. And according to Amnesty International, China's weapons sales to Sudan have helped to field the fighting and atrocities in the region. At least 200,000 people have been killed and over 2 million displaced since the violence began in 2003.

In an open letter to Mr. Hu dated January, 29th, Human Rights Watch urged China to do more to improve the situation in Sudan.

SOPHIE RICHARDSON, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: China is the single largest investor in Sudan, and so it yields considerable leverage there. You know, we would like to see him, for example, speak publicly, or even consider visiting Darfur on his visit -- you know, to add some credibility to China's claims that it is a great friend of the African people.

SESAY: Mr. Hu's trip will also take him to Liberia, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique and the Seychelles, and the fact this trip comes so soon after the Africa summit in Beijing last November highlights the continent's strategic importance to China's booming economy. Africa already supplies one-third of China's imported oil.

But not everyone is happy with this deepening relationship. So as Mr. Hu sets out to make new friends and influence people on his latest African adventure, many others will be watching closely.

Isha Sesay, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: There is more to come on INSIDE AFRICA. After the break, meet South Africa's first black junior surfing champion. Not bad for a young man who couldn't swim before he got on the surfboard. Surf's up in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OKE: Welcome back. Or as they say here in Jo-burg, (inaudible). You're watching INSIDE AFRICA.

He wants to become surfing's first black world champion. Not a bad dream for an 18-year old who could barely swim six years ago. Jeff Koinange caught up with him in Cape Town, South Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 18-year old Kwezi Qika is South Africa's junior surfing champion, the first black South African to ever win his country's most prestigious surfing tournament. Just a few short years ago, this sport was for whites only in this once racially divided nation. Kwezi would not have dared step into these waters.

But step he does. Not bad for a poor kid from an even poorer neighborhood, who showed up one morning six years ago at this surfing school eager to learn a sport he knew nothing about.

KWEZI QIKA, SOUTH AFRICAN SURFING CHAMPION: I (inaudible) but I didn't assume (inaudible). I'm like, oh, no, I'm only going knee-high or something I don't want to drown. But it was a good experience. But when I got up on my first wave, he told me I'm really good.

KOINANGE: The he is Gary Kleynhans, the former South African surfing champion. He now owns Gary's Surf School and is passionate about inspiring the next generation of surfers.

GARY KLEYNHANS, GARY'S SURF SCHOOL: I'll tell you, this kid didn't leave until I left the beach. The next morning when I got to the beach, he was waiting for me. And so I just realized, this kid, taking to the water, and when he realized that he could do it, I mean you couldn't get him out of the water. It was - it was incredible.

KOINANGE: From that day, Kleynhans knew Kwezi was destined for greatness.

QIKA: This is my (inaudible) jacket, (inaudible) you only get once you make a Springbok team.

KOINANGE: The Springboks are South Africa national surfing team. Kwezi is the first black Springbok surfer ever. He says it is his proudest achievement yet, and led to representing his country at the world surfing championships in California.

Kwezi's fame and trophies are growing, after just six short years of surfing. He didn't take part in the main tournament at the world championships. He was a substitute on the team, but finished third in the secondary tournament.

QIKA: What? You're from Africa? You know how to surf? Oh my gosh! People are like, you're from Africa? (inaudible), oh, my gosh!

KOINANGE: Kwezi is not just a great surfer. He is a straight A student. When not in school, he can usually be found here, helping his mentor teach underprivileged kids how to surf.

Gary Kleynhans is on a mission.

KLEYHANS: People took it for granted. They thought that black people in this country could not swim, which was not really the case. It was because they were never exposed to the ocean, or they weren't attracted to the ocean. But yet, we all know -- I mean, everyone knows that black people have rhythm, so that's the other side of the coin. And if you look at surfing, surfing is a rhythm, timing, combined with a bit of physical ability. And I think that's what actually the crux of the matter. And once they realized that they can actually do it, they pick it up so much faster than a lot of the other - the kids.

KOINANGE: Kwezi says if it wasn't for surfing, he might have ended up on the wrong side of the tracks, like many of his childhood friends.

QIKA: Because the guys that I was with when I was younger, they at the moment are all in jail. They even told me, Kwezi, I was sitting in jail, and I just saw you on TV surfing. I was like, whoa.

KOINANGE: Kwezi Qika knows he's one of the lucky few, riding the waves while breaking barriers and stereotypes.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Capetown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: You know, I loved that story. The only thing that's missing is Jeff Koinange on a surfboard. I would pay good money to see that. At least 10 rands.

Now, before we go, I want to share some e-mails with you from journalists on the continent, writing about Ban Ki-moon's first speech to the African Union this week.

The first e-mail comes from Simon Kasyate in Uganda, who I happened to know, who is an excellent journalist. Hello, Simon. Thanks for your e- mail.

Simon says, "Ban Ki-Moon's visit may well serve as a gesture that the world body has Africa high on its agenda. The challenge, however, is to actually see the U.N. act upon the issues. Poverty, disease, illiteracy and civil strife require action now. Not tomorrow, but now."

The second one comes from Yaya Tamani in Burkina Faso, who says: "What Africans are expecting from the new secretary-general is a way to solve the troubles in Guinea, Somalia, Cote D'Ivoire and Sudan. We'd also like him to put more emphasis on the struggle against poverty and HIV/AIDS. And we wish him all the best for his new task."

If you'd like to send us an e-mail about the program, the address is InsideAfrica@cnn.com. That's InsideAfrica@cnn.com.

And that's almost it for this week's program, but before we go, it's a little taste from last year's Sounds of Wisdom festival in Zanzibar. The new one kicks off next weekend, and I don't think you want to miss it, if you can get to it.

I'm Femi Oke. Until the next time, take care.

END

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