Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

Chen Guangcheng Asks U.S. Help To Get Family Out Of China; Osama bin Laden Documents Show Isolated, Frustrated al Qaeda Leader; Four Minors Accused of Rape in South Africa Released on Bail

Aired May 03, 2012 - 16:00   ET

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

BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Tonight on Connect the World, inside the mind of bin Laden: the trove of documents which reveal the fears and frustration of the world's most wanted man.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN London, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.

ANDERSON: The papers released paint a picture of a terror mastermind desperate to stay in control and determined to attack America once again.

Also tonight...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Granny, it's me she shouted. A boy dragged me and raped me, she said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: A family shocked after the brutal rape of an eight-year-old girl in South Africa. The attacker also a minor.

And a slice of France across the Channel. Why London has become hot property for ex-pats escaping what is a EuroZone crisis.

Well, first up tonight, he was the leader of the most feared terror network in the world. But we now know Osama bin Laden was wracked by anxiety, frustration and doubt in the months before his death. Newly published documents give us an unprecedented look at bin Laden's state of mind. Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is following the story tonight from London. And Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr monitoring reaction in Washington coming to both of you.

Barbara stand by.

Nic, let's start with you.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDNET: Well, 197 pages for us to go through trying to get through them at a very short space of time. Incredible what we're learning. Details we only had vague ideas about before. But also things we hadn't got a clue about, including jealousies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: After more than 6,000 documents, 17 released showing a CEO isolated from his empire struggling to exert his authority and improve his creation's image. To the Taliban in Pakistan -- don't kill Muslims, or we'll go public and criticize you. Letters to al Qaeda's protege in Somalia -- don't take our name. It will make you more enemies.

Even hints of jealousy. Anwar Awlawki, the now dead Yemeni cleric, a former rising al Qaeda star, bin Laden is told that Awlawki is qualified and competent to take over al Qaeda's leadership in Yemen, but bin Laden blows off the suggestion, positive attestation of Awlawki is duly acknowledged. We would like further assurances, for example, over here we are generally assured after people go to the battlefield and are tested there. Dissing Awlawki for lacking his own battlefield credentials.

Then there's the money. Al Qaeda seems cash strapped, not just the cramped, squalid conditions of bin Laden's Abbottabad compound, but across the organization. Bin Laden, the son of a multi-billionaire, considering sending a trusted deputy on a dangerous mission to Pakistan to Algeria and Yemen to raise close to a quarter-million dollars.

He's also worried about the increasing impact of drone strikes. "The Americans have greater accumulated expertise of photography of the region due to the fact they are doing it for so many years. They can even distinguish houses that are frequented by male visitors at a higher rate than is normal," bin Laden writes.

Bin Laden also tells his 20-year-old son Hamza to leave an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan to the Gulf state of Qatar, traveling only during cloud cover.

For the other fighters, bin Laden says, "I'm leaning toward getting most of our brothers out of the area." Directing not to the sanctuary he once brought his son, but to the dangers of Afghanistan's mountain forests, hopefully hidden from drones.

A recurring theme throughout the 197 pages of bin Laden's translated documents attack America. To affiliates in Yemen, "don't attack Yemeni forces, focus on U.S. targets." To his deputies, "we need to extend and develop our operations in America and not keep it limited to only blowing up airplanes."

It seems that some were listening to him. 2008 and 2009 plots hatch for attacks on a New York subway and the Long Island Railroad, but no success.

And his ambitions didn't stop there. He wanted two teams to bring down President Barack Obama's plane, one near the Afghan airbase that Obama safely landed in just a few days ago. And why focus on Obama? Because bin Laden opined, "Vice President Joseph Biden would be utterly unprepared."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: But at best this can really only be a partial analysis, because it is only 17 out of 6,000 documents. So we have to look at this and know that the U.S. officials that have released this so far they've at least taken part in shaping what we learn from it.

ANDERSON: And these documents, of course, are recovered during the raid of OBL's compound in Abbottabad almost a year ago to the day back in 2011. Nic, stick with for the time being.

Let's head to Washington. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. 17 of some 6,000 documents, as Nic suggests, released by the Pentagon, does that mean the other, what, 5,983 documents are still being used in actionable intelligence, or can we expect to see more released in the future?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORREPSONDENT: Well you know, Becky, right now -- and it is U.S. intelligence community to be clear that's released the documents, not the Pentagon -- nobody is saying that you should expect to see any more. There certainly is a treasure trove out there. Some of them we are told are very routine instructional materials and some clearly still very close hold because of the security implications in those documents.

So the ballpark right now is that we won't see anymore.

And what else won't we see? There may be videos. And of course we're not going to see the death photos of bin Laden. The president has ruled that out.

But it is these documents that we have that really fit, at least partially, the narrative that the U.S. wants to put out there, that bin Laden was obsessed with his own security, that he was afraid of those drone attacks, that he might have been not very much in -- is in much in charge as he wanted the world to think he was and obsessed with attacking the United States.

But here's a man by all accounts that was frustrated and not fully in control of al Qaeda.

ANDERSON: Barbara Starr out of Washington. Barbara, thank you for that.

Nic, we heard about bin Laden's apparent rivalry with Anwar al Awlawki. Now the radical cleric, he was killed of course months ago in a missile strike, is it appears at least speaking from the grave. I want you to address this. His writings appear in the latest addition of Inspire, al Qaeda's (inaudible) produced English language magazine, I want to say. Al Awlawki, who co-founded the magazine, gives his most detailed advice yet on attacking western countries. He calls for firebomb campaigns in the United States, so does the use of chemical and biological weapons and says women and children can be targeted if they are among so-called combatants. It's unclear why this article is now being published. Do you have any sense?

ROBERTSON: Well, if any way that al Qaeda can come back, knowing these documents were going to be released, that it's the Inspire magazine and Awlawki from the grave.

But, you know, you can think about this as well from bin Laden's writings, he wasn't happy with Inspire magazine. So from the grave bin Laden himself may be unhappy. He called -- he warned that there will be dangerous consequences from this magazine.

And again it's one of those areas where bin Laden is struggling to control this huge organization he's created, but all these real radicals like we saw in Iraq want to join that are doing terrible things that even he -- even he couldn't get behind. And that again, is criticism of this. And these chemical and biological attacks Awlawki is talking about, yeah, this is al Qaeda wanting to hit back as best they can.

ANDERSON: Fascinating, Nic, thank you for that. Nic Robertson with me here in the studio.

Let's get some more perspective now on all of this today, especially the writings of Osama bin Laden. We're joined by Philip Mudd, a former top counterterrorism official with the CIA and FBI in the states. He's now a senior global adviser at Oxford Analytical.

How surprised were you by this seeming tension with the Yemeni leader of al Qaeda in the region?

PHILIP MUDD, COUNTERTERRORISM EXPERT: I have to be honest, when I was looking at the documents today I didn't see many surprises, including about the tension with the Yemeni affiliate of al Qaeda. The reason is pretty straightforward, you see a bin Laden is very isolated, that isolation is meant that communication with the so-called affiliates in places like Indonesia or Yemen and North Africa is very difficult. And so these affiliates start taking action on their own and you see bin Laden sitting back and saying, no, no, don't do that, you're violating the spirit of my revolution.

ANDERSON: What do you think then the key issue that we should take away from these newly released documents, documents I must remind our viewers once again came were recovered from the raid that killed bin Laden back in May of 2011.

MUDD: I think there are a couple of things we need to think about. The first is the extent of damage to al Qaeda from drone attacks. There are a lot of debates about these within the U.S. security community and globally, but you can clearly see that bin Laden is dealing with a hollowed out organization.

When I was looking at the names that were cropping up in those documents today and thinking back to what we were facing in CIA a decade ago there's no comparison between the names and the prominence of the names you saw a decade ago and the players who are in the game today. It's a really striking example of how damaged the al Qaeda organization is.

ANDERSON: I want you to have a look at what I'm going to show our viewers now. Have a listen to this. This is a campaign ad for Obama newly released. I want you to tell me whether what we have seen and heard out of OBL just recently and on the anniversary effectively of his death, whether Obama is playing politics. Have we got this guys?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's one thing George Bush said that was right, the president is the decider in chief. Nobody can make that decision for you.

Look, he knew what would happen. Suppose the Navy SEALs had gone in there and it hadn't have been bin Laden? Suppose they'd been captured or killed...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Playing politics?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: ...the downside would have been horrible for him. But he reasoned. I cannot in good conscience do nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Playing politics, Philip at this stage do you think?

MUDD: I have to confess, as a national security professional this makes me a bit uncomfortable. I always was taught you know national security stops at the shores. That said, when I watched that operation unfold, both the intelligence that happened beforehand and thought through it and the operation that was executed by Navy SEALs that took remarkable courage to execute that operation.

As a former insider, the number of things that could have gone on -- and the president had to know this -- was remarkable. So I do believe it was quite a courageous act by the president, but I kind of believe that national security ought to stop at the shoreline.

ANDERSON: Why just 17 of 6,000 documents recovered released by the States today?

MUDD: I can give you a couple of guesses. The first guess is when you talk about the documents in the media or when academics talk about them, they look at strategic pictures, what's happening with bin Laden? What's happening with the al Qaeda revolution. As an analyst what you're looking for really, though, is not necessarily that big picture. You're looking for tactical information. Couriers, phone messages, emails et cetera. And I suspect there's still a lot of valuable tactical information in there that analysts are pouring over.

The second thing I'd say is regardless of whether more documents are released, my guess is this gives you a pretty clear picture of what that whole treasure trove of thousands of documents says. This is an isolated organization. If anything, bin Laden is more negative about al Qaeda than most Americans will be. He's clearly discouraged. It's an organization where there's a lot of friction with these so-called affiliates in places like Somalia and Yemen. So I'm guessing so the people who looked at these said this is pretty representative of the whole treasure trove we have.

ANDERSON: Fascinating, always a pleasure to have you. Sir, thank you for joining us this hour here on CNN.

Our top story tonight: frustrated by his organization a curiously worried about civilian deaths, documents recovered from the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound that killed the al Qaeda leader show a man worried about the work of the affiliates waging terror in al Qaeda's name and about the impact of what he thought as unnecessary attacks from ordinary Muslims. Insight, provided by just a small cache of documents released.

The U.S. says the rest of what was found will remain classified for security and operational (inaudible).

You're watching Connect the World here on CNN. Live from London.

Still to come, for youths accused of raping a mentally disabled girl are freed are bail, we examine the painful truths of child rape in South Africa.

The Chinese activist at the center of a diplomatic firestorm Chen Guangcheng says he believes the U.S. will help him and his family escape. The latest from Beijing after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Your watching Connect the World here on CNN. I'm Becky Anderson out of London for you. Welcome back.

Now the Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng says he now regrets leaving the protection of the U.S. embassy in Beijing. The blind lawyer who escaped house arrest no longer trusts the Chinese government promised that his family will be safe, that at least is what he has told CNN. He said he believes U.S. officials will now help him and his family leave.

More on this from our senior international correspondent Stan Grant joining us out of Beijing.

Stan, what do we know at this point?

STAN GRANT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Becky. You know, yesterday was all smiles when he left the embassy. You saw those pictures. He was hugging embassy officials. He wanted to leave. He wanted to stay in China. He thought there was a deal between the U.S. and China for him to live safely and freely along with his family.

Between leaving the embassy, getting to the hospital where he was seeking treatment and speaking to us at 3:00 am Thursday morning, a lot had changed. He reunited with his family. His wife told him about the level of threat, that danger that they were facing, even death threats. He thought there was no way they could continue in the country. And he wants to get out. Even through us appearing directly to president Obama to intervene to make sure his family could relocate to the United States.

At the same time, though, there was a lot of concern from Chen Guangcheng that he was being encouraged to leave the embassy too soon. He didn't have all the information that he needed and that he was being deserted. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN GUANGCHENG, CHINESE DISSIDENT (through translator): I'm very disappointed with the U.S. government. The embassy kept lobbying me to leave and promised to be with me at the hospital. But this afternoon, soon after we got here, they were all gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: Now embassy officials have been back in touch throughout the day while he was at hospital. Very, very heavily guarded, that hospital is as well. They do also manage to speak to his wife to try to allay some of her concerns. But the U.S. maintains that all along they've been acting with Chen's consent. These were Chen's wishes.

I sat down with Ambassador Locke. And here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY LOCKE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: He was very, very clear all along. He wanted to be reunified with his family. He wanted to stay in China to be a freedom fighter. Did not want to go to the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: Now here's the reality. If he wants to seek asylum, according to Ambassador Locke, he must first be on American soil. That could include the U.S. embassy, the very place Becky ironically that Chen walked away from.

ANDERSON: Fascinating stuff. And the story continues. Stan Grant out of Beijing for you on what is a fast moving story. Stan, thank you for that.

A look now at some of the other stories that are connecting our world tonight.

Troops in Syria swarmed the university early on Thursday killing seven people including six students and arresting 200, that is at least according to opposition reports and this video posted online appears to show students running from gunfire at Aleppo University.

Syrian forces are severely clamping down on student dissent despite a UN truce implemented three weeks ago. Here (inaudible) unarmed monitors will be sent into Syria by the end of May.

Protests continue in Egypt a day after violent clashes there left at least 11 people dead. Earlier today the military council reiterated its intention to hand over power, but protesters remained unconvinced. Many are frustrated at the slow pace of change over a year after Mubarak was ousted from power presidential election is scheduled for later this month.

Well, the college students suing the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for forgetting about him. 23-year-old was arrested in a drug raid and left handcuffed in a holding cell for five days. He nearly died and was forced to drink his own urine to survive. When he was eventually found he was suffering from kidney failure and he spent two days in intensive care. The DEA has called it an accident and they have apologized.

Well, those are your headlines at this point. We're going to take a very short break. More headlines in about 15 minutes time.

When we come back, in the U.S. the NFL still mourning a day after a former star dies form an apparent suicide. Don with us with the latest on that and your other sports headlines. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: This is Connect the World. It is on CNN. 25 minutes past 9:00. I'm Becky Anderson.

Authorities on Thursday were conducting an autopsy on the body of the former National Football League greater Junior Seau a day after he died of an apparent suicide. Concerns being raised as to whether he might have been suffering from depression as a result of his playing career.

Don Riddell with more. Don, what do we know?

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you say Becky, an autopsy has been conducted either now or very soon. And until we know the outcome of this case, an awful lot of speculation, because this is becoming a growing trend within NFL or at least among players who have retired from the game.

Only two weeks ago, Ray Easterling committed suicide. 15 months ago Dave Duerson committed suicide. He shot himself in the chest so that he could preserve his brain so that could be analyzed. And the analysis revealed that Duerson had been suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is a degenerative disease that is brought on by kind of repeated hits to the brain, to the head, bringing on concussion one after the other and that's what leads to this degenerative disease.

So although there's no link for sure between the death of Junior Seau and CTE, that is what a lot of people are speculating. The university college that is leading the research into this, Boston University, they have asked for the brain so that they can do some independent analysis and establish if that was indeed the case there.

I've been speaking to a former NFL player, in fact a friend of Junior Seau's, and he's really concerned about this current trend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMAL ANDERSON, FORMER NFL PLAYER: I hope that this isn't the situation. You know, I almost want to -- when they go to and do an autopsy to find that he was fine and something else was going on -- I don't know. I know the way he played the game. I know how long he played the game. And I know for a fact that this is happening with other guys. This is a fact.

So if I based it on how long he played football, who he is as a player, I mean it's not hard to draw the comparisons and the parallel to what we've seen already.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: Becky, it's very sad and very worrying to the NFL too.

ANDERSON: Junior Seau there.

A messy bus stop during an Italian football -- or let's call it soccer given that we've been talking about the NFL -- soccer match on Wednesday.

RIDDELL: Yeah, you'd never know it was the game of football, though. This is absolutely incredible. The former -- and I saw former -- Fiorentina manager -- former because after this on Wednesday night he was fired. He's been banned by Serie A for three months.

You're looking at Delio Rossi who just went absolutely bananas on his player who he just substituted. Adam Ljajic obviously provoked him in some manner. And the manager just went for him. He had to be pulled off by the coaching staff. The player afterwards looked absolutely stunned by what had happened. Just absolutely incredible scene.

This was a team that is trying to avoid relegation from Serie A. They ended up drawing the game 2-2. But of course everybody is now talking about that.

ANDERSON: Yeah, if your boss did that do you you'd be pretty shocked as well, I reckon.

RIDDELL: Just a touch.

ANDERSON: Don, back in an hour 28 minutes past 9:00 here. Back at a half past 10:00 of course is World Sport. That's London time and you can work it out wherever you are watching in the world. Don Riddell with your sports news.

Still to come on Connect the World four young suspects in the brutal gang rape go free. And get this on just $67 bail. We're going to take a look at South Africa's rape crisis after this.

And getting hot under the collar, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande face off for almost three hours on live TV. So who had the upper hand? That after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Very warm welcome to our viewers across Europe and around the world. I'm Becky Anderson and these are the latest world news headlines on CNN. The U.S. has posted some of Osama Bin Laden's seized documents online. They show the al-Qaeda leader was anxious and frustrated in months before his death. Amongst other things, he wants the killing of Muslim civilians who was undermining his organization, al-Qaeda.

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng remains in the hospital and, amidst extremely high security, Chen says he wants asylum in the United States as he and his family are in danger. U.S. Embassy officials said they will do what they can for Chen and his family. They must walk a fine line within China doors.

Video posted online appears to show students running from gunfire here in Syria's Aleppo University. Some oppositions raid the streets and killed at least seven people in the street or laid there. And, it is said, another 18 died elsewhere.

And four minors accused of raping a mentally-disabled teenager in South Africa have been released on bail. They were arrested after video of the crime was found viral among schoolchildren in Soweto.

Those are the headlines at this hour.

It was said that a woman born in South Africa is more likely to be raped than she is to learn to read. Today, four young suspects accused of raping a teenage girl were granted bail. CNN's Nkepile Mabuse joins now from Johannesburg. Nkepile, this is the case of the shock (INAUDIBLE) of South Africa. But the world -- remind us of the details of the case.

NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these four are part of a group of eight that are accused of gang-raping a mentally disabled teenager in Soweto and then filming the whole crime. As you said, it has outraged many people here in South Africa.

Today, they were released on bail of 67 U.S. Dollars each. We understand that they have relocated from the communities that they are from because they all fear that, because people are so upset about this case, they might see their release as them having gotten away with a crime and take the law into their own hands.

So, they haven't gone back to the homes where they are from. They will return to court in Juneand join the other three adults that are accused of the same crime, Becky.

ANDERSON: Okay, and let's just remind our viewers, these are minors, of course. And I want to remind our viewers that South Africa has, quite frankly, appaling record on violence against women. This will really make you think.

In South Africa, local -- including those crimes not reported, a woman is raped every 26 seconds. That is 26 seconds. More than one in three South African men admits to having committed rape, according to the country's medical research council. More than 66, 000 sexual offenses were reported between March 2010 and March 2011.

And that's believed to be just a fraction to the iceberg of the numbers that go unreported. Pretty stocked (ph) indeed. Nkepile, we've heard these numbers and we've repeated these numbers in the past couple of weeks. Given this ongoing court case -- only to hear -- you are reporting on tonight another case which, for me, is so shocking. I think, half of you is going to find this pretty indigestible.

MABUSE: Of an 8-year-old, Becky, sadly, she's not the youngest rape victim that South Africa has seen. This is a country where babies have become rape victims. But we're told by experts that perpetrators and victims in South Africa are getting younger. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice over): Like most of rural South Africa, Mgungundlovu is a beautiful place. But last Monday, its lush green hills hid a terrible crime. While walking home from school, this woman's eight-year-old granddaughter was dragged into the sugarcane field, raped, strangled. Her eyes were partly (ph) gouged out. She was found along this part, trying to feel her way back home.

Her attacker, a fifteen-year-old neighbor who goes to the same school and church as his victim. Because they are both underaged, we cannot identify them or their family members. The victim's granny told me the child's face was so badly mutilated. She didn't recognize her at first.

VICTIM'S GRANMOTHER (through translator): "Granny, it's me," she shouted. "A boy dragged me and raped me," she said. "What happened to your eyes," I asked. "He tried to take them out with his hands."

MABUSE: The girl was rushed to the hospital. One eye was saved but the other is permanently blind. The boy's grandmother called the police and they charged him with rape and attempted murder. She said that early on the same day, the boy attempted to rape another girl at school.

ACCUSED BOY'S GRANDMOTHER (through translator): I was very angry. I don't know where he learned to hurt other children.

MABUSE: The two attacks happened about an hour apart.

(on camera): It's been extremely difficult to try and piece together what could have driven this teenager to commit such a horrific crime. The school refused to speak to us and the grandmother says, besides steal a couple of things, the boy wasn't really troublesome. But the Department of Education has received reports that he was teased by some of his classmates who accused him of being gay.

JOAN VAN NIEKERK, CHILD RIGHTS ACTIVIST, SOUTH AFRICA: The factors that produce this kind of behavior are multiple.

MABUSE (voice over): Joan van Niekerk is one of South Africa's most prominent child rights activists. She says that the country's violent past and the fact that most young boys here grow up without fathers are some of the factors partly to blame.

VAN NIEKERK: So when you have a child who is growing up without parenting figure with whom they can identify, they lose out on this very, very important teaching of -- of social norms -- consideration for others, empathy, understanding how -- if I do something bad to another person, that must feel for them.

MABUSE (voice over): In 2009, U.S. government report estimated that more than a third of child sexual offenses there were committed by other children. In South Africa, that figure is over 40 percent. Research shows that with good treatment programs, juvenile sex offenders have a better chance to be rehabilitated.

But for victims and their families, the pain can be everlasting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Becky, we spent a bit of time with the 8-year-old. Her injuries are disturbing. Her eyes are swollen. Her one eye, of course, blind. You can still see the marks from the way she was strangled. But child rights (ph) says, they are more worried about the psychological impact of something like this.

She is still too young to process what has happened to her. And they expect that when she reaches puberty, she is really going to need all the support that she can get. Becky?

ANDERSON: Shocking stuff. Nkepile, thank you very much indeed for that. Social media has been instrumental in raising the profile of what is a -- let's call it a shocking pro blem in South Africa. We are seeing a lot of reactions from the continents specifically -- take us out to Nigeria. A Facebook user there says, "they need to be jailed when they have become old enough to be sentenced."

Sadly,many of those perpetrating these crimes aren't old enough to be jailed. Out of Kenya tonight, a slightly different view. From Anne it says simply, "The minors should have been jailed for life." Out of Malaui, Paulina --

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: The level of violence is just so horrifying and the fact that it was carried out by a child, a 15-year-old, we keep trying to understand why this is happening -- why women and girls are being attacked and one of the explanations I received in the past is that apartheid has conditioned men and boys to be violent in South Africa -- this is a 15-year-old. How can you use that -- that line of reasoning to explain this case.

JACKIE BRANFIELD, FOUNDER, OPERATION BOBBI BEAR, SOUTH AFRICA: That makes no sense at all. You can't blame apartheid here. You can't even -- you can't even blame the government. You can't blame anybody but our society for this type of violence.

Apartheid has nothing to do with the crimes that are carrying on at the moment. It's just they are doing it because they can. Our police are inefficient , understaffed, under-resourced. The courts are in the same way. The hospitals are horrific. It's like walking into hell.

SESAY: What can be done. How do you get to a point from this one where children, the most vulnerable, are being attacked (ph). You said it's a war out there. There's an absolute war out there on South Africa's children.

BRANFIELD: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, we've got -- our vulnerable kids are orphans -- nobody cares, you know. The beautiful Zulu word "ubuntu". You know, you are only somebody because somebody makes you somebody. Any child of Africa is a child of mine. That's gone. It doesn't exist anymore. It's gone.

SESAY: Can you get it back. Can you tell South Africa, "Get back on the track where its women and girls are valued."

BRANFIELD: Well, we're trying. In Bobbi Bear, we're targeting schools. And we do four, five schools a week. And we do various programs in -- and with this latest trend of three, four, five adults raping a young girl and videoing it -- we're in the schools, telling the school children, "Your age can't protect you anymore."

SESAY: Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa, may be watching our conversation. This is your opportunity. What would you want to say to him as you are there on the frontlines, talking to the victims of rape, the child sexual abuse victims. What is your message to the likes of President Zuma and of the government officials there in South Africa. Take a moment to say what you want to say.

BRANFIELD: President Zuma and your cabinet, I need you to be the fathers that you dreamed and wished you had. I need you to get this through to the other people running our country. I need all the fathers out there to be the fathers that they dreamed and they wished they had.

SESAY: An extremely powerful plea to South Africa's President Jacob Zuma. If you're watching, we'd love you to come on the show and give us your perspective on the situation there in South Africa. That was rape advocate Jackie Branfield, founder of Operation Bobbi Bear.

We'll continue to cover South Africa's rape crisis and give you key voices who are advocating the change. We're going to keep in touch with Jackie. You're watching CNN NEWS CENTER. While blind activist Chen Guangcheng is inside the hospital, outside, one of his supporters takes a big risk. Here's a preview.

(START VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I care about Chen Guangcheng because he should live freely.

SESAY: And he is the face behind the deal worth named (ph) one hundred and twenty million. But this isn't a job for just anyone. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWS CENTER. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Isha Sesay at CNN's International Desk. This is the command center for our teams right around the world. A story that we're following closely for you out of Sudan. Now, you may have remembered that the U.N. Security Council of Sudan and its neighbor, South Sudan, to end hostilities by Friday or, else, pay sanctions.

We are now hearing that there may be some kind of response from one of the governments involved -- this conflict, of course, driven by a number of issues including oil and the disputed border. We're working to get some more details and we'll bring them to you as soon as they come in to us here at CNN.

Also, another story we're closely following -- and that's the -- the delicate diplomatic situation involving that blind human rights activist in China, Chen Guangcheng. Our Eunice Yoon shows us now just how sensitive the situation has become for China and just how tense the situation is on the ground there. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EUNICE YOON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the hospital where the blind activist, Chen Guangcheng, was taken by U.S. officials. He is supposedly somewhere iorn the hospital. We were told before, he was on the ninth floor. There were a couple of pictures that came out with him being wheeled out. He was undergoing some medical treatment, some medical check- up. And he's supposed to be with his family so we're going to take a look around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): But within minutes, the police arrived.

YOON: Is there a reason why there's so many police here at the hospital right now. Why are there so many police here. Is it because of Chen Guangcheng. Chen Guangcheng.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

YOON: So, obviously the security is very tight around the hospital. Those two police officers are uniformed and they were telling us that we're allowed to take our cameras to another designated areas where there are other journalists but we're not allowed to go inside the hospital, they said. So --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): As it turns out, we find an open door where we passed unseen, hoping to find the Chinese dissident who escaped house arrest and spend six days at the U.S. Embassy.

YOON: This building has the tightest security. You don't know whethere or not Chen Guangcheng is inside but he was brought here, originally, escorted by U.S. officials. As part of the deal between the Chinese and the Americans, the U.S. officials were allowed to visit from time to time. And, right now, we do see that there are some --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): The officials tell us, they've been there all day. No word on Chen. But outside where the rest of the media gather, a few of Chen's supporters speak out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I care about Chen Guangcheng because he should live freely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Then, suddenly, this -- unidentified men show up, a journalist steps in, this bystander questions the aggressors and is quickly silenced.

YOON: Obviously, Chen's case is very, very sensitive. Chen, originally, when he came to the hospital, said that he was going to stay here in China. But since coming to the hospital, he starts to worry more about his safety, as well as the safety of his family.

So, now, he's been calling on the U.S. to arrange some sort of deal for an exile. The whole issue has become very complicated for both the U.S. and China and has attracted a lot of media attention from around the world. Eunice Yoon, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Wow, you are watching CNN NEWS CENTER. Coming up -- with that kind of money being thrown around, you'd think you'd be a little bit more stressed out. I'll speak to the man himself, auctioneer Bert Meyers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Let's take it to Paris, Hala Gorani. We've been teasing off you. It's about who we think came out on top last night in what was the only televised debate for the two fighting it out for president of France. So, what's the answer?

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it seems as though, when you speak to people -- look, there are some who are on the right who will tell you, Sarkozy did ok but he did not deliver the knockout blow. Those on the left predictably will say that Francois Hollande did a better job.

But one of the interesting things in this debate is that the socialist challenger came out fighting. You know, many people said, "Look, he's winning by pretty much being tame, not making any waves, by doing not much -- he's way ahead in the polls." So, people were surprised when he actually came out attacking and he interrupted Sarkozy in many of his answers.

So, that's something that people found interesting -- the fact that he didn't want to be seen, in that one-and-only debate between the two rounds, as somebody meek, kind of weak, who could take an insult and not really respond back

So, in that sense, he did a good job. One of the things that was interesting in this debate is that we saw a few policy differences. Perhaps, not as many as you'd see in other elections. But most timportantly, you saw a personal antipathy, a personal tension between these two men that went way beyond their political leaning. Listen to this excerpts from the debate yesterday and you'll get a sense of what I am talking about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, SOCIALIST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, FRANCE (through translator): You've appointed your close colleagues everywhere, in all the ministries and regional government. If I understand correctly, you've appointed them everywhere.

NICOLAS SARKOZY, PRESIDENT, FRANCE: Can I finish my phrase. What you're saying now is a lie. It is slander. You're nothing but a little slanderer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: "You're nothing but a little slanderer." And the term "little" as well used there and it shows you that this has become quite personal. So, what happens today. Today, just three days before the second round, is crucial. Of course, that will determine who the next president of this country will be. Today, they were both holding their last big political rallies.

And Francois Hollande already looked presidential, some said -- saying that he was promising the country that he would lead them and unite them when you said, "Francois Hollande is only a candidate that will divide you and that will respond to the interest of those on the right side of the political spectrum. Becky.

ANDERSON: Hala and I will be back Sunday. It's going to be a great contest. So, Hala, thank you for that -- out of Paris for you this evening, following what is the back end of the campaigning for a president, French president.

So there, from a super hot debate to, well, to the moon. Find out what is so super about it after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Fifty-four minutes past nine out of London. Stargazers will not searh to see a full moon this weekend. If you're out looking, sky would, say, you'll -- well, you're going to catch the biggest full moon of the year -- a so-called Supermoon. When I say big, it's really big. Jennifer Delgado is in the World Weather Center with more. Jen.

JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Exactly. Now, I am supposed to say, "You're supposed to ask me how big actually it is being in comparison to a regular moon." We're talking about a 14 percent increase. And this is all what happens when a moon, basically, moves right along the path closest to Earth.

Now, as I show you on our graphic here, we're talking about Perigee. Perigree, of course, the moon, as I said -- closest. And in comparison to Apogee when the moon is farthest away from the Earth. So, what happens is, when you're looking at the moon especially on the horizon, the full moon looks even exceptionally bigger. And, of course, this happens one day of the year. And it's coming ths weekend. The problem is what happens is, basically, the moon was round in its oval orbit. And this allows the moon to have this larger appearance. Now, when is this going to happen. Well, this is going to happen Saturday, as well as this Sunday.

If you're in the Eastern Time Zone in the U.S., it happens a little bit earlier for you. So, you'd start to see it around 11:34. But, say, if you're in Europe, it's going to check in at 3:34. And as I said, it's appearing 14 percent bigger but it's also going to appear at 30 percent brighter.

So, maybe, if you're sleeping in the bed and you're staying in this lights filter, maybe you need to get out of the bed and go check out the moon because, again, it only happens one time a year. But, you know, it does have potential -- to have effects on tides as well.

So, you're probably wanting to know what's the weather going to be like for the upcoming weekend. Well, you see, in the U.K. -- well, you'll see upward airways, including fronts. So, problem is, we have an air pressure coming through. So, that means for areas including Western Europe as well as -- even though towards Central Europe -- you're going to see clouds around.

For the U.K., you're going to have a better chance to see it because we have this front that's going to be pushing through. But going towards Eastern Europe, we're going to be dealing with clearer skies as you wake up in the morning and that's roughly going to be very close to 5:00 am. So, Becky, go to bed early so you can rise early on Sunday to check out the Parogee, the Supermoon.

ANDERSON: I will. I will.

DELGADO: Fantastic.

ANDERSON: For once in my life, I will get up at that time in the morning.

DELGADO: That's when I go to bed. I hear you.

ANDERSON: Then call me. Then call me just in case I stayed in bed. Hey, listen, great story. Jen, thank you for that. So, those of you who'd do get up, well, go to bed now and you might make it. I'm Becky Anderson at CONNECT THE WORLD. Thanks for watching. World news headlines up after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Headlines is up. Newly-released documents show Osama Bin Laden was worried about losing control of global al Qaeda affiliates. He's was also concerned of the killing of Muslim civilians who is undermining his organization. The documents were seized last year from his hideout in Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by U.S. commanders.

Chinese activitst Chen Guangcheng says he wants asylum in the United States since he and his family, he says, are in danger. U.S. Embassy officials says they will do what they can for him and his family, but they must walk a fine line within Chinese laws.

Just a short time ago, Chen called in to U.S. Congressional hearing. Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN GUANGCHENG (via telephone) (through translator): I want to meet with Secretary Clinton. I hope I can get more help from her.

ANDERSON: Well, four minors accused of a rape in South Africa are being released after posing $67.00 in bail. And with four other suspects, the teens refused raping a mentally-disabled girl. Now, a South African court has already ruled the three -- the four minors will be prosecuted.

That's our latest headlines in CNN, the World's news leader. Amanpour starts right now. Don't go away.

END