BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
Video Monitoring Services of America, Inc.
| Date: | | July 24, 2005 |
| Time: | | 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM |
| Station: | | CNN |
| Location: | | Network |
| Program: | | CNN Live Sunday |
LISA SYLVESTER, anchor:
The situation in Darfur is an epic tragedy. Since 2003,
countless people have died, and hundreds of thousands have
been forced to flee their homes. Many are now encamped in
squalid refugee camps in neighboring Chad. They have
almost nothing and face unimaginable dangers.
The college TV network MTVU recently sent a crew to
document the plight of the refugees. The correspondent is
a survivor of the Rwandan genocide of a decade ago.
Ms. STEPHANIE NYOMBAYIRE (Genocide Intervention Fund):
First you arrive at the camp, and you see all these tents,
and you think that tent is where these people will be
living in for you don't know how long and they don't know
how long.
When I was 8 in Rwanda, I really had no capability to help.
In this time, I have everything that I need to be able to
at least try, to at least try to get other people to
mobilize.
There's a ration, one for one person and so on for more
people.
To ration, they carry it to their home, they get it once a
month, and they stock it for the whole month until the next
shipment.
She walked to the border of Chad.
Unidentified Man #1: 50 Days.
NYOMBAYIRE: 50?
Man #1: Yes, 50 days.
NYOMBAYIRE: Do you think I can ask her what's going
through her mind right now, why she's tearing up?
Why was what was she doing before, before she had to
escape?
Unidentified Woman #1: (Through translation) I lived with
my parents who were killed by the Janjaweed.
NYOMBAYIRE: I just want to have an idea before she had to
live here, what happened.
Man #1: (Through translation) Did anything happen to you?
Did they touch you?
Woman #1: (Through translation) Yes, they got to me.
Man #1: (Through translation) They raped her.
NYOMBAYIRE: They raped her?
Man #1: Yeah.
We asked what happened, and she said she was raped.
Thirteen-year-olds were raped. You have to walk 40 days
from your house without your parents and you have to come
to this place. It's not even a life. They're in survival
mode.
SYLVESTER: The Darfur crisis closely mirrors the genocide
that gripped Rwanda ten years ago.
Stephanie Nyombayire had firsthand experience with the
Rwandan massacres. She lost nearly 100 relatives and
friends in the ethnic bloodshed. Today Stephanie is a
student at Swarthmore College and involved with the
Genocide Intervention Fund. She was chosen by MTVU as its
special correspondent to cover the Darfur crisis.
Stephanie joins us now from New York to talk about what she
saw.
And in your reporting, we heard about 13-year-olds being
raped. Tell us some of your other impressions on your
trip.
NYOMBAYIRE: I mean, there was not just that 13-year-old.
You hear the story of that 13-year-old, you know that it's
just one story among millions of the same stories that are
as horrible, if not worse. We spoke to young kids that
were 10, 9 or 6 years old who were telling you the same
stories that happened to them. Young girls, as young as 9
years old were raped, young boys as young as 6 or 5.
I've seen atrocities that none of us would be able to
handle. The life that they're living right now is one that
no one should accept to stand by and watch happening if
there is something we can do about it.
SYLVESTER: Now, some of the pictures that we're seeing
now, these are pictures--my understanding is that these are
pictures that kids drew. And as you can see, it shows
soldiers with weapons. They're drawing these pictures as
if this is just part of everyday normal life.
NYOMBAYIRE: Yes. They are. And when you ask them how
many times they've seen what's drawn on the picture, they
all tell you they've seen it so many times. They see it
all the time. One of the problems is the atrocities are
not over. They're not living in refugee camps with very
close to nothing and living under generosity of the workers
program or HCR, or any of those organizations. They're
seeing horrible things, same as they had when they fled
Darfur. They have not moved on to a better life. They're
living a worse life than they were living before they fled.
And they're in a situation where they don't know what's
going to happen tomorrow, for the children, for the women,
and for the men that are left.
SYLVESTER: And what you saw in Darfur, did it bring back
personal memories? Your own experiences in Rwanda and what
happened to you and your family?
NYOMBAYIRE: It did. When you hear the horror stories the
young girls they were talking about, being raped, or the
you men they were talking about, watching their fathers and
brothers being killed in front of their eyes is just a
repetition of the 1994 genocide where the few survived
could tell you stories that none of us would be able to
handle. So it did bring back memories. The refugee camp
did bring back memories of families that we're telling you
about. The international community not taking action, the
international community watching as it happened.
When you talk to the refugees, the one thing they ask for
is can you please bring back my story and tell them what's
going on and how we need their help? And not just
humanitarian aid, but to provide security for each and
every one of them.
SYLVESTER: We hear the term genocide a lot applied to the
situation. But it's clear that we're talking about people
who have been killed not for what they are doing but simply
for who they are. How do you raise awareness, the
consciousness of Americans and other people around the
world as to what has been going on?
NYOMBAYIRE: Going with MTVU to do the documentary was one
of the ways. I'm also working with Genocide Intervention
Fund, Swarthmore College, where we have mobilized thousands
of students, communities and churches, and tell them the
first step is to raise awareness and second is to tell them
that this is hard to believe, and it's hard to believe that
there is something you can do, but there is. You can call
your congressmen, your representative and senator to tell
them to support the legislation against the Darfur
genocide. You can also support, for example, support and
push for support for the only peacekeeping force that's on
the ground, the African Union Peacekeeping Force.
So, as we have seen in Rwanda, inaction is also
complicity--silence is also complicity. If you stand back
and let it happen, it will continue to happen.
SYLVESTER: What else? What other role can other countries
play here?
NYOMBAYIRE: They can provide security that the people
need. The one thing that's preventing them from returning
to Darfur is the continuous threat of the Janjaweed and the
continuous threat of being raped or killed, and having
being chased out of their homes. Countries can provide
security. Countries can put sanctions on the government
that is committing this genocide, and is widely known they
are responsible for what is going on. So sanctions against
the government, sanctions--I guess--specific officials that
are committing these crimes and not letting them believe
that they have impunity and can do what they're doing to
their own people.
SYLVESTER: Hundreds of thousands of people have been
killed in Sudan. We know that Secretary Rice was there
just last week. Her goals were to push for a resolution to
the humanitarian crisis in the region. Do you think her
trip was successful?
NYOMBAYIRE: I don't think that her trip was successful
because first we have seen what happened to her. The
reporters and the State Department officials that went
there and the results weren't that the government admitted
or accepted to put more effort into Darfur.
I think we're putting too much emphasis on how much the
Sudanese government has done right when they've really not
done much, and we're forgetting how much they're
responsible. We forget they sponsor the Janjaweed. The
Janjaweed are still on their payroll and they're
incorporating the army, they're incorporating the police
force, and they are still a threat to all the civilians.
They're still a threat to every single person in those IDP
camps. Either--they have to tell the Sudanese government
that they are accountable for what they're doing. They're
not above the law and not allowed to commit those
atrocities. I think it was not a successful visit in the
sense that the government was not held accountable enough
for what they're doing.
SYLVESTER: Stephanie Nyombayire, thank you. We appreciate
your taking the time to share with us and to explain and
show us really what has been going on there. Thank you
very much.
NYOMBAYIRE: You're welcome.
SYLVESTER: Thank you very much, Stephanie.
NYOMBAYIRE: Thank you.
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