CNN.com - Transcripts http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0811/08/i_if.01.html Home World U.S. Politics Crime Entertainment Health Tech Travel Living Business Sports Time.com Video iReport Impact Hot Topics » Transition to Power • Barack Obama • Economy • Pirates • Amy Winehouse • Heroes • more topics » Weather Forecast International Edition Transcript Providers Return to Transcripts main page INSIDE AFRICA Covering the Obama Victory Aired November 8, 2008 - 12:30:00 ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. And welcome to INSIDE AFRICA. I'm Jim Clancy in for Isha Sesay. Well, what a time it was. Here in the United States there were celebrations, as the election campaign ended, and Barack Obama emerged as president-elect. So from where we stand, it's pretty hard to tell whether those of you in Africa didn't celebrate even more. David McKenzie was in the home village of Obama's father in Kenya when Barack Obama was declared the winner. David, what was it like to cover this story from there? DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Jim, it really was a special and unique experience. The CNN team came here to western Kenya to witness what the people of Kogelo, a tiny village about an hour and a half that direction from the capital here, to see what it was like, whether Barack Obama would win this presidency, and to 1 of 8 11/25/2008 5:22 PM CNN.com - Transcripts http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0811/08/i_if.01.html be there was really a special time for us, Jim. And so now, after months of Barack Obama mania, Obama mania here in Kenya and around the world, here in Africa, there in that village, it was really the center point of that excitement. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE0 MCKENZIE: When we first arrived in Kogelo, we found a sleepy sort of place, but things were about to change. There's construction going on everywhere to improve Obama's village. And the worldwide press assembled to hang on every word of Obama's family. MALIK OBAMA, OBAMA'S HALF BROTHER: We're extremely excited. We're not nervous. MCKENZIE: Everyone was hoping for an Obama win, but we did find one likely supporter of McCain -- the bull ready to be slaughtered should Obama take the White House. But democracy still had to play out. Malik Obama, a half-brother of the senator, watches the news trickle in with the diehard fans. Villagers watched it on the big screen until the moment came. And now, the entire village is coming here to Barack Obama's ancestral home, as they see it here in Kenya, to celebrate this historic victory. Let's watch as they have a party. MALIK OBAMA: Hey, way to go, brother. You did it. You did it, you know, and, you know, all the best, and I'll be seeing you. MCKENZIE: Even granny Sarah Obama at 86 couldn't resist the drive (ph). She's already getting ready for the inauguration. SARAH OBAMA, OBAMA'S STEP-GRANDMOTHER (through interpreter): I want to thank everybody for voting my grandson in. It is a very important job that he's just got. I might die from excitement at the airport. What I can tell you is, that he should work very hard and bring progress to Kenya and all of America. MCKENZIE: For today, they won't want to think about the challenges that could await President Barack Obama. The village of Kogelo only sees possibilities. And that bull -- well, we all know how much Kenyans love their barbecues. (END VIDEOTAPE) MCKENZIE: Certainly, it's an event that Kogelo will never forget and nor will Kisumu, where I'm standing right now. You know, people sat up all night, in the morning they found out Barack Obama was the next president. They partied throughout this town, throughout this country and throughout this continent, Jim. CLANCY: David, an exciting time, but what really do they expect might come with Barack Obama in the White House? MCKENZIE: It's a great question, Jim. Over the past two months, we've been talking to people in Kenya and across this region, asking, you know, why is it that you want Barack Obama? Obviously, they say, first it's because of his Kenyan heritage, but then we pushed them and we say, well, what else could he provide? Some people on the streets of Nairobi said, well, this might mean visas and passports for us, but all joking aside, people think -- they're realistic, that as the next president, his priorities will be to fix the financial crisis in the U.S., to help the U.S.'s image abroad. And Africa might not be his immediate priority, but people are really hopeful that just his image and his prospect for change they're excited about, and that perhaps one day, because of his links to Africa, he might come here and visit them, and that certainly would be an exciting day here in Kisumu -- John. 2 of 8 11/25/2008 5:22 PM CNN.com - Transcripts http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0811/08/i_if.01.html CLANCY: All right. David McKenzie, there in Kenya, thank you for that. Well, Nigerians also celebrating Obama's historic victory, and Christian Purefoy filed this report from Lagos. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, I'm Christian Purefoy in Lagos, Nigeria, the most populous black nation in the world. There's about 150 million Nigerians. And the news today -- that a black man is president of America -- has left people here overwhelmed. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, as a black man, winning the president in America, we -- all the black in Africa, we're very happy, and we're very glad about that. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has made history, for all the blacks (inaudible), for all the black to move and (inaudible). PUREFOY: And here what is basically the gateway to America in Nigeria. U.S. embassy is up there; people applying for residency, visas down here. Their hopes and dreams fundamentally changed by Obama's victory. (on camera): How are you feeling about the election? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For a black man to be the president of the United States of America and (inaudible) proud to the whole world, generally. PUREFOY: What do you want from the next president of the United States, Barack Obama? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, what -- what they stood for is change. And that is what we want. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That he's going to make some changes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole world has recognized that (inaudible) in a black man. Now we're so happy that for the first time, a black man is ruling the world. Now we believe very, very strongly that he's going to do better, that he's going to deliver. PUREFOY: So, opinion here is overwhelmingly in Obama's favor. And if any of these people are successful in their residency applications, Obama has paved the way for maybe their son or daughter to be president. (END VIDEOTAPE) CLANCY: Many Africans hope that Barack Obama will help solve some of the major problems facing their continent. Coming up next on INSIDE AFRICA, we'll look at one of those -- the conflict and humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo. Also coming up, basketball star Dikembe Mutombo talks about his hopes for Congo, Africa, and the Obama administration. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) CLANCY: Well, welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. You know, with Barack Obama now going to the White House, many wonder whether he can help heal the open wounds on the continent. One of the worst -- the conflict in eastern Congo. A decade of fighting there has killed more people than any conflict since World War II, left more than a million people displaced, and threatens to get even worse. 3 of 8 11/25/2008 5:22 PM CNN.com - Transcripts http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0811/08/i_if.01.html (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CLANCY: Cause and effect. This is eastern Congo, where a rebel conflict and the humanitarian crisis that comes with it have dragged on for a decade. The U.N. estimates a quarter of a million people have been displaced since the violence flared up again in August. Conditions in the camps are desperate. IBRAHIMA COLY, UNHCR NORTH KIVU CHIEF: There is the sentiment of panic here. The security is the first priority. The second priority is food. CLANCY: And there is not enough of either to go around. U.N. peacekeepers, who struggle to protect the displaced, are feeling the strain. ALAN DOSS, U.N. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE: We have approximately one soldier for every 10,000 citizens in the Kivus. We have 10,000 soldiers roughly; in the Kivus 10 million people. So that shows you the scale of the challenge we face. CLANCY: And the blue helmets are sometimes targets themselves. Rebels recently fired rockets at a U.N. convoy in North Kivu. Even some of the displaced are taking out their frustration on U.N. troops. One of the rebel leaders at the center of this conflict is Laurent Nkunda, a Tutsi. The former DRC army general says he's simply doing what the government will not, protecting ethnic Tutsis from Hutu fighters, who allegedly took part in Rwanda's genocide. Nkunda explained it to CNN's Anderson Cooper two years ago. LAURENT NKUNDA, REBEL COMMANDER: That's why our people remains in the refugees camp in Rwanda, in Burundi, and in Uganda.