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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK
Discussion with Jeff Koinange
Aired September 5, 2003 - 05:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this time last month, Liberia's civil war dominated news coverage. And our own Jeff Koinange got more than his own personal view of being on the front lines with various exclusive reports from there, giving us a sense as to what was happening on a day to day basis.
Nice to have you back in the States, at least for a little bit before you head back overseas.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be back. Absolutely, yes.
WHITFIELD: Good morning to you.
Well, let's talk about the continuous problem there. Peacekeepers are now being asked to kind of fan out one more time to try and get a better handle of the security situation that is lacking and people are being scattered. Civilians are being scattered in various small towns.
What's going on there right now?
KOINANGE: Well, you have to remember, there's only 2,900 peacekeepers right now, out of -- there's supposed to be a total of 3,200 this first time around. Definitely not enough. There's already fighting in the interior of the country, a place called Kakata (ph). Civilians, like you said, are fleeing towards the capital of Monrovia.
In fact, the U.N. special representative, Jack Klein, said it's going to take at least 10,000 to 15,000 troops to bring any kind of law and order back to Liberia. So this is very normal right now. There's still fighting going on, still a lot of agitation. It's going to take a while before that place settles down.
WHITFIELD: Ten to 15,000 troops, and does that include West African nations' support?
KOINANGE: Yes, indeed, 10,000 to 15,000, including U.N. troops, or the blue hats, they call them. So it's going to take a while and no one's willing to commit those numbers right now. Nigeria said they'd commit the bulk of them. They're still taking a while getting there. So they're not quite out of the woods just yet.
WHITFIELD: And what about the plan, so to speak, if there was one, about, you know, post-Taylor? Still some of his administration leaders are there.
KOINANGE: That's...
WHITFIELD: So, do civilians feel like they really are dealing with the same kind of administration or is there a new front, so to speak?
KOINANGE: Well, so far, up until October 15, they will have to deal with the vice president, Moses Blah, who is in charge right now, and, like you said, Taylor's old cronies. October 15 the interim government takes effect for two years. That's when Gyude Bryant, the businessman turned politician, he takes effect, him and a whole new team compromising former LURD rebels, former civil society, members of all those taking part in that government for two years and then hopefully at that time they'll hold elections.
But it's going to take a while. People aren't quite convinced.
WHITFIELD: Isn't it true that even some government fighters are being blamed for scattering some of these small towns outside of Monrovia, just about 60 miles outside of the capital city?
KOINANGE: Absolutely. And Buchanan is not that far off, which is the second biggest city in Liberia. That is controlled by MODEL, the other smaller rebel group. As long as there's agitation, people on the ground feel, they'll say, hey, Taylor's days -- he may be coming back. And he always says...
WHITFIELD: Well, why is that happening?
KOINANGE: They just want to cause more agitation because they want people to start feeling, hey, we miss that man, we want him to come back.
WHITFIELD: Oh.
KOINANGE: And that's the worst thing. If they start wishing that Taylor comes back, that would be the biggest mistake, because now that he's gone, they have to get in there and solve their problems themselves. The world's not going to do that. Yes, the world came in and settled the situation. But it's up to Liberians to take it from there.
WHITFIELD: Another form of intimidation for the people there?
KOINANGE: Absolutely. Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Let's talk about your personal experience there. I remember one of the kind of indelible images. You were on the bridge. You've got a, you know, flak jacket on. It's marked TV. You've got fighters on both sides, on each side of the bridge. How did you and your crew try to protect yourselves at the same time, you know, being on the front lines, trying to get the freshest elements of these stories?
KOINANGE: Well, honestly, when you're on the bridge, you don't see what you were describing. All we're looking at is the lens.
WHITFIELD: You think about fear last, don't you?
KOINANGE: Absolutely. But when you go back to the edit room and look at the tapes, you say whoa, what were we doing there?
WHITFIELD: Right.
KOINANGE: We shouldn't do these kind of things. But when you're on the ground, you don't think of that. You're so focused. And that's what we were doing, we were trying to get the story out as well and as quickly as we could. And, you know, it's very important not to overstay your welcome over there. You're there two or three minutes tops, shoot all the pictures you need and get out, because it was so unpredictable, such a fluid situation.
WHITFIELD: And then here, you know, you were being witnessed by when it was rebel forces or government forces. They see that you're, you know, interviewing folks on each side. It's all happening out in the open. Did you feel like there was a real delicate balance of diplomacy that you had to kind of exercise while talking to these two sides?
KOINANGE: Absolutely. And every time we talked to, let's say, the government side, the rebel side, the next time we saw them they would say, hey, why did you talk to them longer than you were talking to us? We were walking a really fine line. And, you know, you saw it in Liberia, they love to talk. They'll talk to anyone who will talk to them. So they insisted equal -- basically, equal time. If you talk to the government, talk to us.
WHITFIELD: Let's talk about the access that you would have to President Taylor. You know, this is somebody who was quite gregarious, most people agree.
KOINANGE: Yes.
WHITFIELD: He was certainly very charming, on camera and off.
KOINANGE: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Do you feel like he really did know how to kind of turn it on when the cameras were on?
KOINANGE: Absolutely. And with us, he realized how powerful CNN is. And he would call me often. He would call me and say, "Jeff, I want to clear the air" or "Jeff, I didn't like that report." And that last exclusive interview, when everyone was saying Taylor has fled the country...
WHITFIELD: Then you had to be really careful not to be manipulated by him.
KOINANGE: Absolutely, and that's why we kept asking the tough questions -- are you going to leave, when are you going to leave, what are you going to do? We kept pushing those questions. And he would come back and give the answers. But he did know the power of TV and he wanted to manipulate. But I don't think he did at the end. In the end, he had to leave. He knew he had overstayed his welcome.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jeff, very good.
Thanks very much.
KOINANGE: Good to see you.
WHITFIELD: Great job over there.
KOINANGE: Thank you very much.
WHITFIELD: Good to see you in person.
KOINANGE: Take care.
WHITFIELD: All right, take care.
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