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The Amanpour Hour
Interview with Detained Columbia University Student Mahmoud Khalil; Interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Interview with Galia David, Mother of Hamas Hostage Evyatar David; Marking the 30th Anniversary of Srebrenica Genocide; The Road to Live Aid. Aired 11a- 12p ET
Aired July 12, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[10:59:47]
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Those insurgent campaigns shocked the Democratic establishment and drew tens of thousands of people to Jackson's rallies across the country and his campaign changed the Democratic Party. They supercharged black political power in America and paved the way for the country to finally elect the first Black president, Barack Obama.
This book takes another look at Jackson's political legacy more than 40 years later. And I cannot wait for you all to read it. So scan the QR code on your screen and pre-order today. I appreciate it.
And thank you for watching "TABLE FOR FIVE". You can text me every week night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern with our "NEWSNIGHT" roundtable and anytime on your favorite social media X, Instagram and TikTok.
But in the meantime, CNN's coverage continues right now.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to THE AMANPOUR HOUR.
Here's where we're headed this week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Free after more than 100 days in detention without charge. My conversation with Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil as the Trump administration continues its efforts to deport him.
Then -- is the pro-Palestinian movement fueling a new U.S. progressive streak? I asked Senator Bernie Sanders.
Also ahead --
GALIA DAVID, MOTHER OF HOSTAGE EVYATAR DAVID: This is the first time that I really have hope.
AMANPOUR: Galia David's son, Evyatar is still a Hamas hostage. Why she thinks a deal to return them all and end the Gaza war could be closer than ever.
And --
RATKO MLADIC, "BUTCHER OF BOSNIA" (through translator): We'd be poor without the Muslims. It's good to have them around, but in a smaller concentration.
AMANPOUR: Face to face with the "Butcher of Bosnia". 30 years since the Srebrenica massacre, we look into my archive to see how the world let it happen, and how Mladic and the other architects of that horror eventually did face justice.
And finally --
BOB GELDOF, LIVE AID: All of it was wing and a prayer. No contracts with anyone, just their word.
It just was preposterous What happened next.
AMANPOUR: 40 years since the humanitarian concert event that made history. We take a peek at the road to Live Aid.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London.
Few stories have become as symbolic of President Trump's second term than that of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, the lead student negotiator amid the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.
In March this year, the State Department ordered ICE to seize him from his apartment and threatened to revoke his lawful permanent resident status.
Until just a few weeks ago, Khalil was held in an ICE facility in Louisiana, separated from his wife, a U.S. citizen who had to give birth to their first son while he was detained for 104 days without trial.
Khalil is at the crossroads of several issues that President Trump has built his presidency around -- deportation, a battle with America's elite universities, and what critics argue is a war on free speech and the right to protest cloaked as a crackdown on anti-Semitism.
On June 20th, Khalil was released on bail, and I've been speaking to him about his future and how it felt to be the unhappy poster child for Trumps deportation agenda.
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AMANPOUR: Mahmoud Khalil, welcome to the program.
KHALIL: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
AMANPOUR: Take me back to that day, which was awful for you and your family and all your friends and relatives and people watching when they came to your house and seized you.
KHALIL: Yes. Christiane, it-- it felt like kidnapping, having plain- clothed agents follow me into the lobby of my building, a private space, threatening my wife with arrest if -- if she wouldn't separate from -- from me, refusing to answer any -- any -- any questions they have, refusing to produce a -- a warrant arrest.
And basically like saying all the wrong things, like that I have a student visa. They did not believe that I am a green card holder.
And for the next 24 or 30 hours, I was literally moved from one place to another like an object.
AMANPOUR: Were you harmed at all at any time? Were you beaten? Were you rough handed? Were -- were you harmed?
KHALIL: I -- I was shackled all the time. Shackled like -- like this and my -- my -- my ankles as -- ankles as well. So like I -I was a criminal.
It was a very -- very dehumanizing experience for someone who was not accused of any crime whatsoever.
AMANPOUR: Let's talk about the accusations. You say it was, you know, foreign policy related. Let's get it absolutely straight. President Trump on Truth Social, called you, quote, "a radical, foreign, pro- Hamas student."
[11:04:48]
AMANPOUR: His spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that you were, quote, "siding with terrorists".
You were one of the student protest leaders in this very fraught situation of the war between Israel and Gaza on Columbia University campus.
What did you think when they -- when they said that -- that about you?
KHALIL: It's -- it's absurd. It's basically to -- to intimidate me. They want to conflate any speech for the right of Palestinians with a speech that's supporting terrorism, which is totally wrong.
The protests were -- were -- were peaceful. We're asking a simple ask to stop Columbia University and the U.S. complicity in -- in the genocide that's happening in -- in Gaza.
And that -- that's why I -- I see these accusations as intimidation.
This is what -- what's happening or what happened to me and -- and to others. And it's a message that they want to make an example out of me, even if you are a legal resident, even if you are a citizen, actually, that we will find a way to come after you, to punish you, if -- if you speak against what we want.
AMANPOUR: In some other universities, there were people in the immediate aftermath, pro-Palestinians, in the immediate aftermath of October 7th, who essentially blamed Israel and, you know, even exacerbated -- even support for Hamas.
And I wonder whether you think in retrospect these protests were, the early ones, maybe even some on Columbia campus, were self-defeating and got you all in the kind of trouble that you're in now.
KHALIL: What's -- what's self-defeating and what's -- what's dangerous is actually continuing the killing in -- in -- in Palestine. This is what these students speak or spoke against.
And from -- from the moment that these students spoke out against Israel, they were labeled anti-Semite, that they're creating hostile environment to Jewish students.
Again, this is just like deliberate distortion from reality. The Jewish students were an integral part of this -- of this movement because their Jewish values and -- and teachings tell them that they should stand up against injustices.
So, I --I refuse this sort of connotation that these protests were, in any way, violent, in any way anti-Semite. What's violent is -- is universities and governments penalizing and criminalizing freedom of speech.
AMANPOUR: You've missed the birth of your first child, a boy. Everybody was very concerned about your wife, who is an American citizen there without you.
What was that like? And then what was it like when you were first able to hold your child for the first time?
KHALIL: Missing the birth of my child, I think that was the most difficult moment in -- in -- in my life, especially because, like, this could have been avoided.
We -- we put so many requests to be able to attend that -- that moment. And I -- I will not -- I don't think I would be able to forgive them for taking that moment away from -- from me.
The first time I saw my child was literally through thick glass. He was literally in front of me, like five centimeters away from me. Yet, I couldn't hold him.
And when the moment came to hold him, it was by court order to have one hour with -- with him. So, to be honest, my -- it's -- I --I just can't describe that -- that moment. And it's -- it's a combination of -- of anger and happiness.
I was happy that I'm -- I'm -- I'm finally -- I was finally holding him in -- in my hands, but at the same time, angry at the system that deprives people from -- from such -- such important moments in -- in --in -- in their lives.
AMANPOUR: Mahmoud Khalil, thank you so much for being with us.
KHALIL: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And you can watch my whole interview with Mahmoud Khalil online at CNN.com/Amanpour.
And next on the program from Mahmoud Khalil to New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani -- a new wave of progressive activism is rocking the Democratic Party. But will it take them to the top? I asked Senator Bernie Sanders.
[11:09:46]
AMANPOUR: And later on, 30 years since the Srebrenica massacre, we look back at my archives and my interview with the infamous "Butcher of Bosnia", who directed that genocide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MLADIC: What's the lady's name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christiane.
MLADIC: Christiane (INAUDIBLE)? I like Kennedy's (ph) Christina.
It won't be difficult for her to understand, because when I saw her first reports from Sarajevo, I was very angry.
[11:10:11]
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AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.
Is a new progressive streak emerging in America the world is watching? It's one tied to issues as varied as the pro-Palestinian protest movement and fears about sweeping cuts to programs like Medicaid.
Well, in New York, the answer appears to be yes.
Our first guest, the activist Mahmoud Khalil, got a hero's welcome after he was freed from detention and the self-styled Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani has stunned the world by winning his party's nomination for the mayoral election a few weeks ago.
But what does this mean for politics nationwide across America? And can this new generation counter Republicans, concerns within their own party and shift the dial on issues like the war in Gaza?
I asked America's most important progressive politician, former presidential candidate and Independent senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders.
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AMANPOUR: So, the question is, what is the big strategy? You have been very solid in your political, you know, mission and your career. You're a progressive. Once you were called yourself a socialist when you were a mayor in Vermont.
And now you've endorsed the campaign of Zohran Mamdani for New York mayor. He, of course, has taken not just the U.S., but the world by storm.
You posted, "At this dangerous moment in history, status quo politics isn't good enough. We need new leadership that's prepared to stand up to powerful corporate interests and fight for the working-class. Zohran Mamdani is providing that vision. He's the best choice for New York City mayor."
So, what would you say to the number of New Yorkers who say, oh, my God, he's never run anything and he says, free buses, and he's -- you know, is he anti-Semitic or not? What would you say to people?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): All right. Let me deal -- look, first of all, understand, he's going to have the entire establishment, the oligarchy, the billionaires coming down on his head, not only because he's demanding that the wealthy and large corporations in New York City start paying their fair share of taxes. they are worried that his campaign is an example of what can happen all over the country when you bring people together to demand a government that works for all of us and not just a few. So, they really want to crush this guy.
And you have billionaires saying quite openly, we are going to spend as much as it takes to defeat this guy. You have Democratic -- Democratic leadership not refusing to jump on board a campaign where this guy is the Democratic nominee.
So, most importantly, I'm going to do everything I can to see that Zohran becomes the next mayor of New York.
In terms of his policies, look, it is very, very hard to govern a major American city. A lot of problems out there, but I think he is a very smart guy. I do know that he is prepared to reach out to his -- get as many advisers in New York City and around the country.
How do you deal with the crisis of affordable housing? How do you make healthcare more accessible and affordable in New York City? How do you deal with transportation?
You know, the idea of having municipally-funded grocery stores, it's not a radical idea. Working-class families want to have a healthy food for their kids. They can't afford it right now. Not a radical idea.
But it is no easy task to become a mayor, but I am confident that he himself and the people around him can do a good job.
AMANPOUR: So, when -- you know, put the pedal to the metal, so to speak, and the Democratic Party does seem to be moving more to the progressive side, your wing of the party. But that's not all America -- the Democratic Party maybe, but not all of America.
You yourself didn't have a huge amount of success when you were running for the presidency in New York primaries and stuff. Do you think that the concern about, well, progressive politics in America, certainly at the presidential level, you know, could hamper your progressive mission, even though you are creating so much excitement now?
SANDERS: What I do know is you ask people, is it appropriate in America that you have one man owning more wealth in the bottom 52 percent of America, that you have large corporations, in some cases, making billions, not paying a penny in taxes to people, whether you're conservative or progressive, do you think that makes sense? No.
Do people in America think that we should be the only major country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people at a time when we're spending twice as much per capita as the Canadians or people throughout Europe? Our system is much worse.
Do we have the courage to take on the drug companies and the insurance companies, guarantee healthcare to all people? Should we be addressing the major crisis that we're dealing with in affordable housing?
That's true with New York City. It's true with Burlington, Vermont. True with cities, towns, all over this country.
[11:19:46]
SANDERS: Why are we not building more low-income and affordable housing rather than putting money into the military industrial complex?
So, I think that the issues that we are talking about, an economy that works for all, not just the few, demanding that the wealthiest people, largest corporations start paying their fair share of taxes.
I think those are ideas that will resonate all over this country and will lead to strong election victories.
AMANPOUR: I want to ask you also, because I just heard an interview with a previous presidential candidate and Secretary of State John Kerry. And he was asked about immigration. And Trump has won the war on immigration, at least that's how he got elected. I don't know about now.
And Kerry was saying, you need borders. We have passports for a reason. The Democrats screwed up. They let that border be open territory and they've paid for it.
Now, Trump is pouring, I think, in this new bill, $150 billion into immigration enforcement by giving all this money to ICE. So, what are you going do as Democrats to address the legitimate concern about immigration and borders?
SANDERS: I am not a Democrat. I'm an Independent.
AMANPOUR: Yes, I know, but you caucus with them. Yes. Sorry.
SANDERS: But this is what I do think. Kerry is certainly right that you don't have a country without borders. If you have borders, you should enforce that border. Democrats have not done as good a job as they should -- period, end of discussion. That's correct.
But I will tell you something else. In this country right now, you have millions and millions of people who came from Latin America or wherever, who are working in meat packing plants, they're harvesting crops. They've been in this country for years. They're law-abiding. They are paying taxes. And they are doing some of the most dangerous underpaid work in America.
So, we have to deal with immigration broadly with comprehensive immigration reform. We have failed in that. Democrats, Republicans have failed in that for many, many years. We need right now to come up with some way to protect these workers who are maintaining the economy.
Trump wants to throw them all out, fine. The price of food will double or triple. God knows what'll happen to nursing homes in this country.
So, we need a rational, humane solution, not having people with masks on them, throwing people into vans and then transporting them to God knows what country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And up next, behind the smiles and the handshakes between President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week, there is anguish, heartbreak from hostage families.
I talk with Galia David, whose son Evyatar, is still a Hamas captive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID: And they are begging for their life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:22:31]
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AMANPOUR: Welcome back.
For 21 months, amid the starvation and the endless killing of Palestinians in the Gaza strip, is the anguish and heartbreak that the families of the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas have had to endure since October 7th. Often left in the dark with little official information about their whereabouts or their health, these families have tried everything to bring home their loved ones.
20 of the 50 hostages left in Gaza are believed to be alive. One of them is Evyatar David, taken from the Nova Festival together with his best friend.
As his family awaits an announcement on a ceasefire deal, I sat down with his mother, Galia here in London, who has decided to speak to the international press for the first time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Galia, thank you very much for coming in. And it's extraordinary to think that it's more than 640 days since this atrocity happened and your son was among those kidnapped and held hostage.
Do you think that this time, as they talk about hostage release and potential ceasefires, do you have any extra hope or have you been this route too many times?
DAVID: This is the first time that I really have hope, because in the last deal when it's began, it was just the first phase.
AMANPOUR: Tell me what happened. He was taken from the Nova Festival.
DAVID: Yes, yes. A festival of love, a music festival. And he was with three friends. One of them, Guy Gilboa Dalal, was kidnapped with him. And other two were brutally murdered.
AMANPOUR: Which is horrible. Did the one who was kidnapped with him, he's come out, right?
DAVID: No.
AMANPOUR: No. He's still there?
DAVID: He is still there.
AMANPOUR: But you have heard about your son.
DAVID: I heard the testimonies from --
AMANPOUR: Others who were with him being held.
DAVID: Yes. For a long period of time.
AMANPOUR: And what do they say about how he's doing, how their conditions were?
DAVID: Very bad. Very bad condition. Right now, at this time, at this minute, they're under tortures -- physical and mental tortures.
They are underground right now, in a narrow tunnel and one meter wide and 10-meter long with a hole for the needs.
[11:29:52]
DAVID: They barely have food or water to drink and no medicine care. And --
AMANPOUR: How do you think -- you know your son -- how do you think he's holding up?
DAVID: My son is very modest. And also, he have strong personality. But I hope that he is still -- know that we are doing everything to bring him from --
AMANPOUR: Bring him back.
DAVID: -- this hell. Yes.
AMANPOUR: So, I know you're not a political person, but you have endured, and all the Israeli families have endured, you know, 20 months of this and of not knowing when you're going to see your relatives back.
And I wonder if you have a message for your prime minister now who seems to have put defeating Hamas above bringing back the hostages. Do you feel that way?
DAVID: I think that he's talking different in the last two weeks. And I hear that he changed the priority of the war. And I hope that at the end, and it'll be soon, peace will achieve. And it's -- it can be possible just after all the hostages will come home.
AMANPOUR: There was a video of your boy, Evyatar, kind of in the background when others were released. You saw that. And --
DAVID: Of course.
AMANPOUR: -- that must have been just hellacious to see your son having to endure other people's freedom and not be able to get out then.
DAVID: It was, first of all, a torture for him, a sadistic one. And for me, it was a sign of life. But very tough one, because the look in his eyes, his body language, his gestures, this is not my boy. This is not my son.
Imagine after 505 days they brought Evyatar and Guy Gilboa Dalal out from underground and they just forced them to watch to see. And they're begging for their life. And after that, they closed the door, the van door and took them back underground.
AMANPOUR: This time you hope though things might be a little different. Do you think the prime minister maybe -- you think the negotiations are closer than they've ever been?
DAVID: I hope so.
AMANPOUR: How do you get through the day, every day and the night?
DAVID: Barely eat, barely sleep. And I'm trying all the time to make Evyatar's voice, because he just can't speak for himself. So, I must do it.
AMANPOUR: Well, you're an eloquent voice, and people will relate as they have done to the pain of the hostage families and of all the hostages.
So, thank you Galia, for coming in.
DAVID: Thank you very much. And I hope we will receive good news as soon as possible.
AMANPOUR: I do too.
DAVID: And all this -- the war will finish. And first of all, all of the hostages must come home and the war also must be finished.
AMANPOUR: Thank you.
DAVID: Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Up next, it is 30 years since the genocide committed in the small Bosnian town of Srebrenica. My interview from the archive with the man who conducted it.
[11:34:30]
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AMANPOUR: Welcome back.
Some 7,000 people marched through Bosnia's forests this week, retracing the path taken by the same number of Bosnian Muslim men and boys who were murdered in cold blood as they tried to flee the Srebrenica massacre.
In the age of never again, it was Europe's first recognized genocide since World War II. This weekend marks 30 years since that horror. And yet, even today, world leaders from Israel, Hamas, Sudan face some of the gravest war crimes accusations.
[11:39:47]
AMANPOUR: But in the case of the Bosnia war, the world did hold the Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, his military commander Ratko Mladic accountable. And indeed their patron, the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic.
They were charged and most were convicted and sentenced for genocide and crimes against humanity, for besieging and slaughtering civilians in Sarajevo and in Srebrenica.
From my archives this week, how Mladic, who I interviewed as a young reporter covering that war, finally did face justice.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MLADIC: We'd be poor without the Muslims. It's good to have them around, but in a smaller concentration.
AMANPOUR: Chilling words from the man they called the "Butcher of Bosnia", General Ratko Mladic. The snide humor masked his killer instinct. It defined Mladic and it made him an uncomfortable man to confront. And we'd see this preening smile again and again as the war unfolded.
Indeed the Muslims, the Bosnian government says --
I'd been covering the Bosnian war for more than a year by the time I met him living in this shelled, sniped, and besieged city of Sarajevo. A year of witnessing the ferocious war machine that the Bosnian Serb commander had unleashed and he did not like my reporting.
MLADIC: What's the lady's name?
AMANPOUR: Christiane.
MLADIC: I like Kennedy's Christina.
AMANPOUR: Like Kennedy's Christina.
MLADIC: It won't be difficult for her to understand because when I saw her first report from Sarajevo, I was very angry.
AMANPOUR: Mladic was commanding the Bosnian Serb military mission to carve out their own ethnically-pure republic and join it into a Greater Serbia.
This was a daily occurrence, dodging bullets as we covered the unfolding tragedy.
For the Bosnian Muslims, the villain was clear.
They're -- you know, your own people and your soldiers, to them you're a great man, you're a hero. To your enemies, you're somebody to be feared and somebody to be hated. How do you feel about that?
MLADIC: Very interesting question. First things you say are correct.
AMANPOUR: Prosecutors say what Mladic believed to be his greatness was in fact ethnic cleansing and genocide. It would reach its climax with the massacre at Srebrenica July 11th, 1995 -- more than three years into this brutal war.
It was meant to be a U.N.-protected zone for Muslims. When Mladic's forces overran U.N. physicians and invaded the tiny enclave, they handed out candy, and General Mladic promised the townspeople they would be safe.
Of course, they were not. His soldiers slaughtered more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys who tried to flee.
Hurem Suljic was one who miraculously survived the massacre. I tracked him down in the Bosnian-held town of Tuzla four months later.
HUREM SULJIC, SURVIVED SREBRENICA MASSACRE (through translator): The Serbs said, don't look around. Then I heard a lot of shooting and bodies fell on top of me. They were the people standing behind me. I fell too.
AMANPOUR: Here, he says, he saw Mladic one last time.
SULJIC: He stood there and waited until they killed them. When they killed them, he got back in his car and left.
AMANPOUR: After that massacre, the U.S. led a bombing campaign against Bosnian Serb military positions and peace negotiations that eventually ended the fighting.
Mladic became a wanted man and soon went into hiding.
I never knew if I would see him again, the man with whom I'd stood on a Bosnian hilltop at the height of the war.
But it was with deep satisfaction that I watched Mladic stand in the dock at The Hague to finally face the justice he so brutally denied others.
MLADIC: General Ratko Mladic.
AMANPOUR: America has -- call -- calls him a war criminal, and under any kind of U.N. tribunal, he may have to be prosecuted. What does he think about that?
And it's a tough question, but he's a tough man and he can answer it.
MLADIC: Yes, I can take it. I've taken more rough ones. I can take hers too.
I defended my people, and only my people can judge me. And there's no greater honor than defending your people.
AMANPOUR: Some twisted definition of honor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And for that chilling and murderous mission, Mladic has been convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Only he keeps asking for a clemency humanitarian release, something he never offered his victims.
When we come back, my return to Srebrenica on the 20th anniversary, watching bereaved families still recovering their dead two decades on.
[11:44:51]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: Welcome back.
And more of our continuing commemorations of the Srebrenica massacre on this 30th anniversary.
Ten years ago, President Bill Clinton joined other world leaders, marking two decades since that genocide.
[11:49:42] AMANPOUR: There I saw families of the victims who were still looking for closure, people who still came to bury the bodies of victims only discovered all these years later. They wanted justice and to preserve the memory of their loss for history.
Here's my report from July 11th, 2015.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: Samir Omerovic lost her 22-year-old son that day, and she's come with her sisters to remember.
That there is her son's headstone and he's buried under this mound. Where they're sitting right now is where they hope they'll be able to bury Soumya's husband. He has yet to be found, yet to be identified.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This day means a lot to me, the day of remembrance. And the more people I see coming here, the more relieved I feel because I know we are not forgotten.
AMANPOUR: President Clinton spoke and said he loved this place, that what he did gathering a coalition to confront the Bosnian Serbs after Srebrenica and then later on in Kosovo, were among the most important things he did with his presidency. And he issued this heartfelt plea.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am begging you not to let this monument to innocent boys and men become only a memory of a tragedy. I ask you to make it a sacred trust where all people here can come and claim a future for this country.
AMANPOUR: As the Muslim prayers for the dead, for the martyrs were being sung, the coffins of those who will be buried on this anniversary were being prepared.
It is extraordinary to think that all these years later, two decades later, remains are still being found, have yet to be buried. And there are another thousand victims who have not even been identified yet.
But as the Serbian prime minister came to pay his respects, the grieving families here in Srebrenica could contain themselves no longer booing and hissing and even pelting him. They were angry that under Serb pressure, the Russians vetoed the U.N. resolution calling this a genocide.
The prime minister and his people fled and left the scene. Afterwards, I asked President Clinton what all this meant.
CLINTON: Who would have thought when you were asking me questions about this 22 years ago, that after 22 years the question of identity would still be at the root of most of the world's problems.
AMANPOUR: Although the Dayton Accords stopped the war, the people of Bosnia know that it's cemented the ethnic divisions. For them real peace, real change will mean reopening the political process.
(END VIDEOTAPE) AMANPOUR: And the politics are still very, very shaky and unstable over there. All these years later, body parts of those killed on July 11th, 1995 are still being found.
Now, when we come back, the very best side of humanity. 40 years ago, the world's biggest pop stars came together to fight an epic famine in Ethiopia. The road to Live Aid is next.
[11:53:06]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMANPOUR: And finally, this weekend marks 40 years since rock stars Bob Geldof, U2, Sting, Queen and countless other musical heavyweights stepped onto stages in London and in Philadelphia and into the history books.
Their concert, called Live Aid, was a landmark musical event that saved millions of lives by raising money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
The new CNN original series "LIVE AID: WHEN ROCK AND ROLL TOOK ON THE WORLD", covers how the most popular humanitarian intervention ever actually came together, starting eight months earlier with an unforgettable recording for charity, "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GELDOF: I walked the 50 yards down to the Picasso Cafe and Sting was coming up the road.
STING, SINGER: We'd all seen appalling footage and, you know, most of us didn't have a clue what we could do. Just feeling powerless and useless.
GELDOF: I'd known him since the very, very earliest days of the Police. I also thought he was really good, Annoyingly.
STING: He says, I've got a song. And I said, yes, I think we should, you know, sing this song and then raise money for Africa.
Ok, Bob. You know, Bob's not the kind of guy you can say no to. He's persistent.
GELDOF: So by the time I sat down, we had Ultravox, the Boomtown Rats, Spandau Ballet and the Police.
STING: He was on my telephone. Running up massive telephone bills, phoning people all around the world.
GELDOF: Give me his room number.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Desperate to get the biggest artists that we could get because we needed their fan base.
GELDOF: As in -- All of it was wing and a prayer, no contracts with anyone, just their
word. It just was preposterous what happened next.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:59:45]
AMANPOUR: And wonderful. Live Aid stands out today for how a global community came together to save lives in a faraway place. In contrast to the devastating cuts the Trump administration has made to humanitarian aid by killing off USAID and so many of the lives that depended on it.
Be sure to tune in and watch how the movement continued. "LIVE AID: WHEN ROCK AND ROLL TOOK ON THE WORLD", premieres Sunday at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN.
That's all we have time for now. Don't forget you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.
I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching and see you again next week.
