:00:12. > :00:17.An enormous country in the heart of Africa said to be on the brink of
:00:18. > :00:21.utter chaos. As France deploys more troops to prevent a feared genocide.
:00:22. > :00:29.What has brought the central African Republic to such a crisis. He's
:00:30. > :00:42.going for a duck house? Just like our one? WhatTRANSMIT He's going for
:00:43. > :00:47.a duck house? Just like our one? What? How do MPs end up with an 11%
:00:48. > :00:58.pay rise that some are not bothered by.
:00:59. > :01:02.As the Ukraine crackdown on protestors, what is the future. We
:01:03. > :01:08.speak to the presidential candidate's daughter. Will your
:01:09. > :01:14.mother be President of this country? I hope so. And with street lights we
:01:15. > :01:19.don't get to see this, is it worth the sacrifice? Another force of
:01:20. > :01:25.French soldiers ordered to Africa began disarming fighters today in
:01:26. > :01:30.the central African Republic, Britain is supplying air transport.
:01:31. > :01:36.The Central African Republic, a vast, land locked poverty-striken
:01:37. > :01:43.mess, almost at the centre of the conflict is racked by sectarian
:01:44. > :01:48.conflict where children are said to be particularly vulnerable. We talk
:01:49. > :01:57.to our correspondent in the town of Bossangoa in the north of the
:01:58. > :02:04.country. What have you seen today Today in the town the situation is a
:02:05. > :02:07.little calmer compared to the situation we have seen over the last
:02:08. > :02:12.few days, extremely tense, we have seen three days of fighting, during
:02:13. > :02:16.which Christian militia, backed by former soldiers attacked Muslim
:02:17. > :02:20.civilians here, that prompted a reaction from the mainly Muslim
:02:21. > :02:27.groups which put the current President in power earlier this
:02:28. > :02:31.year. This fighting, we have seen African peacekeepers fighting hard
:02:32. > :02:37.and frankly they managed to prevent a bloodbath here in the town of
:02:38. > :02:42.Bossangoa, they were clearly targeting civilians and now there is
:02:43. > :02:47.a sudden relief that has come over the weekend because of the arrival
:02:48. > :02:53.of French troops in the town. Both communities are confined to camps on
:02:54. > :02:59.either side of the town at the moment. The French Foreign Minister
:03:00. > :03:04.the other day talked about being on the verge of a genocide in the
:03:05. > :03:11.Central African Republic, does it team like that to you when you are
:03:12. > :03:15.there? It is cleared that the conflict has taken a dangerous
:03:16. > :03:19.religious turn, and the sectarian violence is quite clear in the
:03:20. > :03:25.region. What we have seen over the last few days was clearly that the
:03:26. > :03:34.fighters from both sides were targeting civilians according to
:03:35. > :03:37.their religion. Now we have seen African peace keepers being able to
:03:38. > :03:42.contain the fighters on both sides of the town. If they hadn't been
:03:43. > :03:47.there I can, I think that it was clear that it could have been a mass
:03:48. > :03:51.killing in this town and a lot of civilians would have died. Now
:03:52. > :03:59.genocide is obviously quite a strong word, I don't think that there is
:04:00. > :04:03.any sort of attack that is so well orchestrated at the moment. It is
:04:04. > :04:11.rather chaotic what is happening here. Organised bands of fighters --
:04:12. > :04:15.preying on the civilians and carrying out attacks here or there,
:04:16. > :04:20.there is no clear chain of command that is telling us that this mass
:04:21. > :04:26.killing is clearly orchestrated at the top of their group. Thank you
:04:27. > :04:29.very much. So how did the Central African Republic get into this
:04:30. > :04:34.state, and what is driving the unrest? The Central African
:04:35. > :04:38.Republic, as its name suggests lies in the heart of Africa surrounded by
:04:39. > :04:44.countries with their own war torn countries. How did the CAR, end up
:04:45. > :04:49.in this state with armed militias on the streets and hundreds dead. And
:04:50. > :04:54.the old colonial power sending its troops to keep the peace. That old
:04:55. > :04:58.colonial power, France this time, not Britain, surely bears some
:04:59. > :05:04.responsibility. Since the CAR gained independence in 1962 it has swerved
:05:05. > :05:09.between short lived democratic Governments and sometimes brutal
:05:10. > :05:15.dictatorships. The regime of the self-styled Emperor and alleged
:05:16. > :05:20.cannibal, Bocasa, in the 1970s and 80s was a particular memorable low
:05:21. > :05:26.point in the nation's history. As in so many colonies arbitary borders
:05:27. > :05:30.drawn on maps failed to create a unified nation state. In the absence
:05:31. > :05:36.of national unity, people's sense of identity came instead from their
:05:37. > :05:40.religion or their family. That has meant bitter struggles between the
:05:41. > :05:46.Muslim minority and the Christian majority. In March this year Muslim
:05:47. > :05:52.rebel groups, known as the Seleka, ousted the Christian President and
:05:53. > :05:57.installed a new President. In response Christian militias were set
:05:58. > :06:01.up, ostensibly to protect Christian communities and violence was soon
:06:02. > :06:06.out of control. After a UN resolution was passed in October,
:06:07. > :06:10.peacekeepers were sent in. But the violence of recent days led to calls
:06:11. > :06:15.for extra French troops to be flown in. They have now begun to patrol
:06:16. > :06:22.major cities and are working to disarm the militias. Joining us from
:06:23. > :06:32.New York is the UN's assistant secretary-general for human rights.
:06:33. > :06:35.How serious is the situation in the Central African Republic? The
:06:36. > :06:41.situation is extremely serious, what started assort of religious division
:06:42. > :06:46.that was deepening, in the last couple of days escalated into
:06:47. > :06:56.interreligious violence. Our assessment is only in the capital we
:06:57. > :07:02.had 459 casualties. What hopes do you hold out for the success of the
:07:03. > :07:07.intervention force? Well, I'm quite optimistic, it is very good that the
:07:08. > :07:15.number of French troops has increased, but it is also important
:07:16. > :07:21.that the arrival of called the African-led groups is being sped up,
:07:22. > :07:27.for example, Americans are providing for logistical help to fly in
:07:28. > :07:32.Burundians sooner than envisaged. It is highly important to increase the
:07:33. > :07:37.number of troops there, because no national security forces are
:07:38. > :07:41.reliable. So first priority is to increase security and then, of
:07:42. > :07:47.course, humanitarian access. We are speaking of our direct casualties,
:07:48. > :07:53.but far more dangerous is that a lot of civilians are in the bush, there
:07:54. > :07:58.is a spread of Malaria, and there is quite high rate of infant mortality
:07:59. > :08:03.and malnutrition. People are paying a lot of attention outside the area
:08:04. > :08:10.to what's happening there, because of this turn that was used by the
:08:11. > :08:14.French Foreign Minister recently about being on the verge of
:08:15. > :08:20.genocide, because everyone remembers what happened in Rwanda, does it
:08:21. > :08:26.look like that to you? In Rwanda you had deep-rooted ethnic hostility and
:08:27. > :08:32.history of clashes. This is what we historically did not have in Central
:08:33. > :08:38.African Republic. However, there is clear evidence of widespread
:08:39. > :08:47.questionably whether systematic crimes against humanity being
:08:48. > :08:51.committed. The called Seleka are deliberately targeting civilians
:08:52. > :09:01.that predominantly of Christian faith. While we had cases also of
:09:02. > :09:17.called other groups attacking Muslim civilians.
:09:18. > :09:23.The leaders of the biggest political parties in parliament have spent
:09:24. > :09:26.much of the day running around like headless chickens, protesting at
:09:27. > :09:32.their MPs being paid more. According to reports our politicians are in
:09:33. > :09:35.line for an 11% pay rise. Ed Miliband has called for cross-party
:09:36. > :09:38.talks on the issue, though this was met with a cool reception from the
:09:39. > :09:44.Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. The are bothered because
:09:45. > :09:48.at that time when much of the public sector is Lucio to get more than 1%,
:09:49. > :09:56.it is no way for any of them to bask in the affections of their voters.
:09:57. > :10:01.Tomorrow a play based on the MPs' expenses scandal opens in London, it
:10:02. > :10:05.is, of course, a comedy. Tell me we haven't got a duck house. We have a
:10:06. > :10:10.duck house in the pond? The pond. Did we claim for it? I expect so?
:10:11. > :10:14.Why have we got a duck house? Somewhere for the ducks to live?
:10:15. > :10:19.They have somewhere to live, it is called the wild. It is a roof over
:10:20. > :10:25.their head! . The producer says the MPs were sitting ducks! Anyone who
:10:26. > :10:29.lives away from home is entitled to accommodation and access to an
:10:30. > :10:33.office. It was the fact that it is the kind of thing that was claimed.
:10:34. > :10:39.As personified finally by the title of this play, which is who needs a
:10:40. > :10:43.duck house? In an effort to clean up after the scandal the new
:10:44. > :10:47.independent parliamentary standards authority will recommend a new pay
:10:48. > :10:51.and expenses package for MPs, published on Thursday. The sneak
:10:52. > :10:58.previews, have not, it is fair to say, received rave reviews. The pay
:10:59. > :11:06.of a backbench MP is concernedly ?66,400, on Thursday, -- Ipsa will
:11:07. > :11:12.recommend an 11% pay rise N doing so they are cutting back allowances and
:11:13. > :11:16.pension entitlements which will make the new package ?2. 2 million
:11:17. > :11:22.cheaper to the taxpayer than the current one. It is right that IPSA
:11:23. > :11:26.does scrap the resettlement grants and the gold plated pensions that
:11:27. > :11:30.MPs enjoy. That doesn't justify increasing pay at the time, IPSA
:11:31. > :11:34.should be doing it regardless, not trading it off to give MPs a very
:11:35. > :11:38.big pay increase at a time when many people are struggling and private
:11:39. > :11:44.and public sector workers haven't seen an increase. Take the Mickey
:11:45. > :11:48.out of MPs for claiming for sparkly toilet seats or massage chairs might
:11:49. > :11:52.make great comedy, but many MPs aren't laughing. All the party
:11:53. > :11:58.leaders have come out against the IPSA pay rise, saying it is unTHIBL.
:11:59. > :12:04.A lot of backbench -- unthinkable, a lot of backbenchers see that has a
:12:05. > :12:09.betrayal. Why? Because they say it is already for the leaders, they
:12:10. > :12:12.have a higher paid jobs, a high-earning spouse in the family
:12:13. > :12:17.and inherited wealth to boot. The party leaders could well afford to
:12:18. > :12:21.buy whole estates of duck houses if they fancied them. There is two
:12:22. > :12:25.elements to it, one is paying MPs for the jobs they do. You could say
:12:26. > :12:29.it is worth it for what they do, you can pay the salary accordingly.
:12:30. > :12:33.There is the allied point of attracting people able to do that
:12:34. > :12:36.very complex job. You may be seeking to attract people who have had
:12:37. > :12:40.experience, they have held professional jobs, you want them to
:12:41. > :12:46.come in with their experience. So for them it is taking a pay cut to
:12:47. > :12:50.actually come into parliament. MPs' pay has slipped when compared to
:12:51. > :12:56.average wages ever since MPs were first paid in 1911, they received
:12:57. > :13:01.nearly six-times the average wage. The it was around 3. 1 six times the
:13:02. > :13:06.average wage, now it is slipping back to 2. 7, bringing it back to
:13:07. > :13:14.the average multiple over time would take pay to ?83,6460, that is far
:13:15. > :13:18.more than IPSA is proposing. This isn't the usual House of Commons
:13:19. > :13:24.stuff? No, this is pricier, but I thought what the hell, you know, I
:13:25. > :13:28.kept the receipt. In the meantime the whole subject is a gift to the
:13:29. > :13:41.gag writers, even if it is not doing much for the reputation of politics.
:13:42. > :13:45.Cheers? Cheers, up yours. Now Walker is the MP for Broxbourne, and the
:13:46. > :13:51.vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs.
:13:52. > :13:57.Caroline Lucas is the green MP for Brighton pavilion. Why do you
:13:58. > :14:01.deserve a pay rise? IPSA was set up in the wake of the expenses scandal
:14:02. > :14:05.in 2010 to take pay and expenses out of the hands of the Members of
:14:06. > :14:10.Parliament. We were told we would never get involved in that margin.
:14:11. > :14:14.It seems we are. I don't think Members of Parliament deserve a pay
:14:15. > :14:19.rise, nor do I think they don't, it is up to IPSA, an independent body
:14:20. > :14:25.making decisions on our pay. You will take? I will. Why? Because I
:14:26. > :14:37.have not turned pay rise down in my 25-year professional career, and I
:14:38. > :14:42.won't be holier than,000 on -- thou? Are you going to be holier than
:14:43. > :14:47.thou? I think when people are having to take pay cuts and MPs getting an
:14:48. > :14:51.increase of 11%, it sends out the message we are not all in this
:14:52. > :14:55.together but deeply hip crate calm. When MPs are held in little esteem
:14:56. > :15:01.this is the worst thing we could do. Do you think there may be something
:15:02. > :15:06.to do in the argument if you sit in a safe seat it is easier to accept
:15:07. > :15:09.it than sitting in a seat you might lose? There is probably some truth
:15:10. > :15:15.about that, that is why you shouldn't have safe seats, so no MP
:15:16. > :15:20.MP is feeling complacent we need to change the electoral system. I
:15:21. > :15:24.walked into that? You did. You would accept they are possibly going on to
:15:25. > :15:28.two categories of MP, a category of MP who can afford to take the money
:15:29. > :15:31.and a category who cannot? In terms of public opinion it is wrong that
:15:32. > :15:35.anybody should feel that they can afford to take it. We know this is
:15:36. > :15:40.deeply unpopular outside of parliament. And quite understandably
:15:41. > :15:45.so. This has been a running sore for 40 years, Members of Parliament have
:15:46. > :16:01.broken links with recommended pay increases for 40 years, or the prime
:16:02. > :16:04.ministers of the day have. I think the whole thing will unravel and Ed
:16:05. > :16:08.Miliband calling for talk, we will be right back to square one, we have
:16:09. > :16:12.learned nothing of the past four decades. Once again party leaders
:16:13. > :16:19.will make a terrible, terrible mistake. You don't dispute that MPs
:16:20. > :16:22.should be paid? No, I certainly don't dispute they should be paid,
:16:23. > :16:27.of course they should be paid and paid a reasonable amount. Do you
:16:28. > :16:30.think they should decide their own salaries? Ideally I believe it
:16:31. > :16:35.should be an independent body that should do it, which is why we find
:16:36. > :16:38.ourselves in a difficult position. My point would be is that I wouldn't
:16:39. > :16:41.have asked the independent body to do this piece of work at a time when
:16:42. > :16:46.we are in the biggest economic crisis for many, many decades. There
:16:47. > :16:49.is no logic to this at all, you shouldn't be setting your own level
:16:50. > :16:54.of pay, you say, and yet you say you should be able to determine when an
:16:55. > :16:57.independent body can do it and when they can't? I would have thought it
:16:58. > :17:01.is common sense at a time when you have politicians trying to tell the
:17:02. > :17:04.rest of the population that we are in unprecedentedly difficult
:17:05. > :17:07.economic times that we all have to tighten our belts. At that
:17:08. > :17:10.particular time to go away and ask anybody, whether an independent body
:17:11. > :17:15.or anybody else to come up with suggestions of pay increase for MPs,
:17:16. > :17:18.I think is just completely mad timing. I don't think that is an
:17:19. > :17:25.incomprehensible position to take, I think it is a logical one. The other
:17:26. > :17:29.point made in the report is there were net savings to the Exchequer
:17:30. > :17:34.because of changes in pensions and all the rest of it. That is a good
:17:35. > :17:38.thing isn't it? I found myself in the unusual position of agreeing
:17:39. > :17:43.with the Taxpayers' Alliance when the gentleman said those cuts should
:17:44. > :17:47.be made any way not as trade-off to an increased salary. If there are
:17:48. > :17:50.savings to be made on mention, fine let's look at that, but not the
:17:51. > :17:55.price to pay for the increase in salaries. The overall package
:17:56. > :18:00.reduces the cost of politics? It will increase it even more, it will
:18:01. > :18:04.enable us to save more money if we didn't take a pay increase. We are
:18:05. > :18:09.telling people who have not had a pain crease for many, many years and
:18:10. > :18:14.we are trying to justify an 11% increase. I'm not telling anybody
:18:15. > :18:19.anything, incompetence IPSA is an independent pay body. What do you
:18:20. > :18:23.think your constitutes think? I'm on the wrong side of the argument with
:18:24. > :18:26.my constitutes many of them, I was in parliament in 2010, and it was a
:18:27. > :18:30.desperate situation we found ourselves in, we can't revisit it
:18:31. > :18:34.again, I fear we will. We are hurtling towards having a parliament
:18:35. > :18:39.of extremely rich people. If that's what the British public want, fine,
:18:40. > :18:42.that is absolutely fine by me, but that is where we are heading. We
:18:43. > :18:46.will have a heart of the independently wealthy, a Government
:18:47. > :18:50.of the independently wealthy and parliament of independently wealthy.
:18:51. > :18:54.If that is what the public want. It will only get worse biceping the pay
:18:55. > :18:58.rise. I don't see how that is logical in terms of saying let's
:18:59. > :19:05.have an 11% pay rise. Right now we have a number of senior politicians
:19:06. > :19:10.where being a member of parliament is a hobby job, they have outside
:19:11. > :19:14.work and high-earning spouses and being a minister is a hobby job. The
:19:15. > :19:19.Deputy Prime Minister said he would be happy to do this job for nothing.
:19:20. > :19:27.I haven't met a single constitute who could afford to do his or her
:19:28. > :19:30.job for nothing. It is one of the serious decisions a court can take,
:19:31. > :19:35.whether or not a child should be removed from a family. The view of
:19:36. > :19:39.an experienced professional can be crucial in reaching that decision.
:19:40. > :19:45.Newsnight has heard a number of professional witnesses in the family
:19:46. > :19:48.courts said they will continue refuse to appear because the money
:19:49. > :19:53.they get has been cut by the Government.
:19:54. > :19:59.It is the expert view that decides whether or not a child goes into
:20:00. > :20:04.care, the most drastic step a court can take. They can be experts,
:20:05. > :20:11.psychologists or social workers. I might take 15-20 hours to work on an
:20:12. > :20:18.assessment of a mother. And I bring to it my experience as a
:20:19. > :20:21.psychiatrist, psychotherapist and psycho analyst. Which the court does
:20:22. > :20:27.not have available to it from anyone else. To speed up case, and cut
:20:28. > :20:31.costs, judges in the family court have been told they can only call an
:20:32. > :20:36.expert witness if it is strictly necessary for the case. Rather than
:20:37. > :20:40.reasonably required. Which was the old test. In addition cuts to Legal
:20:41. > :20:44.Aid are now having an impact. From this month new rules mean experts
:20:45. > :20:51.are paid less for their assessments. The fee for a child psychiatrist,
:20:52. > :20:58.for instance, has dropped from ?1 per hour to ?108 per hour. For the
:20:59. > :21:02.first time the hours they can charge on a case have been limited, for a
:21:03. > :21:07.child psychiatrist it is a maximum of 25 hours. The danger not merely
:21:08. > :21:10.now of reducing the rates of pay, as it were, per hour, but crucially
:21:11. > :21:16.saying that you can only spend a certain number of hours on an
:21:17. > :21:19.assessment. That really restricts the professional competence of
:21:20. > :21:24.expert witnesses, many of them who are saying now they won't do this
:21:25. > :21:27.work, say that would so compromise their work that it would be
:21:28. > :21:33.unethical to try to assess a whole family in a certain limited number
:21:34. > :21:38.of hours. Newsnight has seen the resultings of a survey of its
:21:39. > :21:41.members -- results of a survey of its members. The poll makes stark
:21:42. > :22:03.reading. Some doubt the experts would turn
:22:04. > :22:07.down the work. I have been an expert witness in a large number of trial,
:22:08. > :22:12.and I have seen myself as very well paid and embarrassingly well paid,
:22:13. > :22:20.actually. There is obvious room for a reduction in the rates. And I
:22:21. > :22:25.think most expert witnesses will continue to appear. They like the
:22:26. > :22:29.work, they are well paid any way and so I don't think there will be any
:22:30. > :22:39.effect at all in the availability of experts. Expert rates were cut
:22:40. > :22:43.significantly in October 2011, we never thought that they needed to be
:22:44. > :22:47.cut any furthe There were some people who said they were unable to
:22:48. > :22:52.work at the cut rates, but most people found a way to continue
:22:53. > :22:58.working. It is this further cut that we think is destructive. It is not
:22:59. > :23:01.just the expert witnesses, with the obvious self-interest, worried about
:23:02. > :23:07.these changes. The country's leading judges are concerned too. They said
:23:08. > :23:12.that a declining availability of true expertise will inevitably
:23:13. > :23:16.impede efficient administration of justice and detrimentally affect
:23:17. > :23:21.decision-making in the best interests of children. Family courts
:23:22. > :23:24.are already cutting back, in one recent case two social workers
:23:25. > :23:32.applied to remove a new born baby with no expert evidence at all. In
:23:33. > :23:37.court the judge was easily persuaded to refuse that application and
:23:38. > :23:42.ordered that the child, and that the mother and baby go into an
:23:43. > :23:46.assessment centre, a former expert witness, and she has done extremely
:23:47. > :23:51.well and shown that a lot of the concerns of the local authority were
:23:52. > :23:55.misplaced or exaggerated. That is the difference an expert witness can
:23:56. > :23:59.make. The Ministry of Justice told us the Government was often paying
:24:00. > :24:04.much for more legally aided expert witnesses than others, and this
:24:05. > :24:07.could not be justified. The current system can be agonisingly slow,
:24:08. > :24:13.figures released today showed dozens of care cases started in 2010 are
:24:14. > :24:17.still unresolved. That could mean children and families are still in
:24:18. > :24:21.limbo after three years, waiting for the courts to decide their future.
:24:22. > :24:28.It is this problem as much as cost that the changes are intended to
:24:29. > :24:31.deal with. Now a busy night for air traffic controllers in South Africa,
:24:32. > :24:36.as leaders from all over the world make their way to Johannesburg for
:24:37. > :24:41.tomorrow's memorial service for Nelson Mandela. You would have to go
:24:42. > :24:47.a long way to find anyone who would dispute man Delled had a's --
:24:48. > :24:55.Mandela's widely viewed political skills. We are reporting from Soweto
:24:56. > :25:02.illustrating how that rare skill set was brought into play in a moment of
:25:03. > :25:06.real danger for the country. Nelson Mandela was forged in the fierce
:25:07. > :25:12.heat of radical black politics. Soweto was the cauldron of the early
:25:13. > :25:21.liberation struggle. This, not prison, was what gave manned the --
:25:22. > :25:25.Mandela what he would need for the prison life. He learned a unique
:25:26. > :25:30.moral authority. That is not where his real authority or power sprang
:25:31. > :25:34.from, it sprang from a set of hard-headed political skills as a
:25:35. > :25:39.leader, from a clarity of political vision sustained over decades and
:25:40. > :25:45.from a steely ability to make himself the indispensable figure at
:25:46. > :25:50.Millennium Domes of great crisis. April 1993 was one such moment. In
:25:51. > :25:54.which Mandela would prove himself a brilliant political operator. And
:25:55. > :25:59.save South Africa. The white Government had still not conceded a
:26:00. > :26:03.date for free elections. The communist leader, Chris Hani, was a
:26:04. > :26:08.heroic figure, second only to Mandela in popular esteem. Then he
:26:09. > :26:13.was shot dead by a white racist. I went over to the house and I saw
:26:14. > :26:19.Chris, he was lying there, clutching a newspaper. And he was, I think he
:26:20. > :26:23.was dead. ??FORCEDWHI Public rage tore through the country, many
:26:24. > :26:30.blacks lost patience with a peace process that seemed endless. Rolf
:26:31. > :26:33.Meyer was a key player, leading negotiations for the white
:26:34. > :26:39.Government. I would say for 36 hours it was a tipping point. It could
:26:40. > :26:47.have very easily moved us over the edge. And everything was so very
:26:48. > :26:52.sensitively balanced that a major impact like this could have taken us
:26:53. > :26:59.completely out of the possibility of a peaceful solution. We want an
:27:00. > :27:03.election date now. Mandela told the white Government bluntly there could
:27:04. > :27:08.be no more delay. He needed them to agree a date immediately for free
:27:09. > :27:11.elections, only that could halt the slide. He then appeared on
:27:12. > :27:18.television at immense risk to his own public credibility to make a
:27:19. > :27:24.dramatic appeal for calm. Our grief and anger is tearing us apart. He
:27:25. > :27:27.knew the public mood was turning against reconciliation, but still he
:27:28. > :27:36.spoke of the white woman who had tipped off the police about the
:27:37. > :27:43.killer's identity. A white woman of Afrikana origin risked her life so
:27:44. > :27:48.that we may know and bring to justice this assassin. Mandela had
:27:49. > :27:56.the authority from within himself. He had the inner conviction to do
:27:57. > :28:01.the right thing that would actually confirm his leadership. That was a
:28:02. > :28:05.perfect moment where he did it. The Government committed to elections,
:28:06. > :28:11.democracy was only a matter of time. It had a date. Mandela had snatched
:28:12. > :28:19.from the greatest moment of peril the biggest advance. At Soweto
:28:20. > :28:23.Cricket Oval, black and white together take a moment of silence
:28:24. > :28:30.for Mandela before play. This is, in a sense, the future he rescued for
:28:31. > :28:33.this country. In the early days of Nelson Mandela's presidency the
:28:34. > :28:37.England cricket team came here to play a one-day friendly against a
:28:38. > :28:42.Soweto team. Then the streets around the club were still tense with the
:28:43. > :28:46.aftershock of so much political violence. Half way through the match
:28:47. > :28:53.Nelson Mandela turned up, unannounced. I was standing a few
:28:54. > :28:56.feet away, and I could see as Mandela shook the hand of the young
:28:57. > :29:02.Soweto players they were shining with pride. Not just to be meeting
:29:03. > :29:04.Mandela, but also because they, black South Africans, were doing
:29:05. > :29:08.something that had been impossible until now. They were hosting the
:29:09. > :29:13.England team. They took it as great gesture of respect from the outside
:29:14. > :29:18.world. Which is what it was, but it was symbolic of something else as
:29:19. > :29:23.well, it was symbolic of the great promise of the future, symbolic of
:29:24. > :29:30.all the limitless possibilities that now lay ahead. This man grew up in
:29:31. > :29:34.teargas and turmoil. He's too young to have been here the day Mandela
:29:35. > :29:38.came, but he remembers what it meant to the people? I think for the
:29:39. > :29:41.people that was probably one of the biggest days, especially from a
:29:42. > :29:44.sports perspective, to have the great man himself here. Apartheid
:29:45. > :29:49.would have locked people like him out of the lives they live today.
:29:50. > :29:55.They inherit the future that Mandela pulled from the flames of the early
:29:56. > :29:59.1990s. Today I'm a chartered accountant and completing my law
:30:00. > :30:04.degree. I would say the sky is the limit. Even 20 years ago, to hear a
:30:05. > :30:10.young black, middle-class man speaking like this was pretty rare?
:30:11. > :30:15.Today I can definitely say there is a whole lot of "us" if I can refer
:30:16. > :30:20.to it like that. I would like to say to the professional, let's come back
:30:21. > :30:28.to the grassroots so that Soweto and every other township in South Africa
:30:29. > :30:33.can bossom. -- blossom. Poverty for the most part still has its
:30:34. > :30:38.distinctive skin colour in these townships. Did Mandela in return for
:30:39. > :30:42.the right to vote for freedom concede too much economically. Did
:30:43. > :30:45.he leave real economic power where it had always been, in white hands.
:30:46. > :30:53.That is a question that the guardians of his legacy are already
:30:54. > :31:03.facing. No electricity, no water, no shower. Most things people don't
:31:04. > :31:07.have. This man has lived in the migrant workers' hostel for 33
:31:08. > :31:11.years, democracy has not improved living conditions here. 23 years
:31:12. > :31:20.after winning the vote, he now bonders what the vote is for. Are
:31:21. > :31:26.you disappointed? Yeah. What can I do? We keep on voting, voting,
:31:27. > :31:36.voting, we are tired of that now. We don't know what we are voting for.
:31:37. > :31:44.So two Sowetos emerge from that pivitol moment in 1993, hope and an
:31:45. > :31:52.enduring despair sit side-by-side. Multiple Soweto, multiple South
:31:53. > :31:56.Africas sing Mandela to his sleep. The greatest moral figure of our age
:31:57. > :32:00.bequeaths a democratic South Africa, but his great political skills have
:32:01. > :32:04.not yet delivered a country that is free from what decades of apartheid
:32:05. > :32:10.and centuries of racial oppression did to it. The authorities in
:32:11. > :32:16.Ukraine seem to have decided they have had enough of the protests
:32:17. > :32:23.which have brought parts of the down a halt. Dismantling and blocking off
:32:24. > :32:30.several camps near key buildings in Kiev today. Demonstrations began
:32:31. > :32:34.when President Yanukovych, or how you pronounce it, decided it was
:32:35. > :32:37.more important to keep sweet with Moscow than get closer to the
:32:38. > :32:42.European Union. The EU is offering to mediate between Government and
:32:43. > :32:46.protesters. Our diplomatic editor has just returned from Kiev. Bring
:32:47. > :32:49.us up-to-date? This is a sharp increase in tension, there has been
:32:50. > :32:56.this stand-off for nearly two weeks now. Since they turned their back on
:32:57. > :33:03.this EU partnership agreement, President Yanukovych. What happened
:33:04. > :33:06.was you had this central protest, an independent Europe, Midan and
:33:07. > :33:12.satellite occupations and all sorts of things. They have mopped those up
:33:13. > :33:16.today, the riot police have gone in and dismantled and driven away the
:33:17. > :33:18.protesters and put some through the courts, they have started doing
:33:19. > :33:24.that. That has brought a sharp increase in pension. They have not
:33:25. > :33:27.gone into the central square yet. Baroness Ashton due there tomorrow
:33:28. > :33:31.has issued a statement before we came on air, urging caution on the
:33:32. > :33:34.Government for Mr Yanukovych to try to contain the situation. These
:33:35. > :33:41.pictures we can see today were from one of today's raids on a party
:33:42. > :33:45.headquarters of the Fatherland party. This party is led by the
:33:46. > :33:49.country's most charismatic and if you like significant opposition
:33:50. > :33:57.leader, but someone who is in jail on a seven-year sentence, Yulia
:33:58. > :34:02.Tymoshenko. She is revealed by many protestors but reviled by many other
:34:03. > :34:08.Ukrainians. I have been on a journey to find out if she's a hero or
:34:09. > :34:12.villain. It is before dawn and we are heading to eastern Ukraine, it
:34:13. > :34:23.is there that the country's most celebrated prisoner is being held in
:34:24. > :34:27.a secure hospital. Yulia Tymoshenko was one of the heros of the orange
:34:28. > :34:36.revolution nine years ago, now there is a campaign for her freedom. The
:34:37. > :34:43.night before we had been in Kiev's independent square to hear Yulia's
:34:44. > :34:52.daughter read a message from detention from her mother. The crowd
:34:53. > :34:56.hung on her every word. Even the rather extravagant comparisons of
:34:57. > :35:02.the country's current leader with Stalin, who murdered millions,
:35:03. > :35:07.seemed to win their approval. In the forefront team Yulia, the older
:35:08. > :35:12.ladies for whom Ukraine's imprisoned former Prime Minister is an idol.
:35:13. > :35:19.TRANSLATION: She's a symbol of endurance, the smiling face of the
:35:20. > :35:26.revolution of 2004. And in the final analysis Yulia is a symbol of
:35:27. > :35:35.feminity. Well it is obvious that there are millions of Ukrainians for
:35:36. > :35:46.whom Yulia Tymoshenko is a martyr, a political prisoner, a kind of Ang
:35:47. > :35:52.Sang Sukyi. And other foreigners have bought that image, talk more to
:35:53. > :35:57.people here and you start to hear a very different picture as well.
:35:58. > :36:02.Yulia went into politics during the 1990s after making a fortune in a
:36:03. > :36:05.notoriously corrupt oil and gas building. Certificating gay, a harsh
:36:06. > :36:14.critic of the current Government shared some unflattering light on
:36:15. > :36:30.Yulia's entry to politics too. She decided to be a politician in 1996,
:36:31. > :36:34.she was arrested one year beforeician in 1996, she was
:36:35. > :36:39.arrested one year before. For drug smuggling to Russia, she wanted
:36:40. > :36:47.immunity that is why she declared.. She was on charges of embezzlement
:36:48. > :36:52.and other charges. Members of Team Yulia are on hand along with body
:36:53. > :36:57.guards. Tymoshenko's lawyer turns up too, fresh from a paint-throwing
:36:58. > :37:04.attack at a court hearing that morning. That was the forth time of
:37:05. > :37:07.an attack of the defence team against Mrs Tymoshenko. That is the
:37:08. > :37:11.business card of the attitude towards what is going on.
:37:12. > :37:16.Little wonder that foreign human rights organisations have criticised
:37:17. > :37:22.the trial and subsequent tention as political persecution. We can't film
:37:23. > :37:27.in the hospital where Yulia has been on hunger strike since democracy
:37:28. > :37:33.protests erupted late last month in the capital. There the protestors
:37:34. > :37:38.portray themselves as pro-European and trying to stop a pro-Russian
:37:39. > :37:43.President from getting too close to Vladimir Putin. The protestors
:37:44. > :37:47.complain loudly about Ukraine's deal with Russia for gas. But it was
:37:48. > :37:55.Yulia Tymoshenko, who, as Prime Minister, signed it. TRANSLATION: In
:37:56. > :38:01.2009 an agreement was signed, gas agreement with Russia, coercing
:38:02. > :38:07.Ukraine to join with Russia in union. That is why we are saying
:38:08. > :38:10.that Yulia Tymoshenko had already betrayed the interests of the
:38:11. > :38:16.Ukraine and signed a deal completely against the interests of the
:38:17. > :38:22.country. They emerge to brief the local press, her mother's hungry
:38:23. > :38:25.strike is over, she has bowed to a petition from supporters, the
:38:26. > :38:29.weather has turned and evening fallen. We need to talk but she is
:38:30. > :38:34.in a hurry. We conduct the interview in her Range Rover. I asked first
:38:35. > :38:40.about the gas deal which, some said sold the country to the Russians?
:38:41. > :38:49.She started the way for Ukraine to remove the political aspect from the
:38:50. > :38:53.gas trade and gas negotiations that take place every year and political
:38:54. > :38:58.negotiations that control Ukraine. Now Ukraine has lower gas price than
:38:59. > :39:02.European countries. When she agreed for the contracts, which she didn't
:39:03. > :39:08.sign, by the way, which was signed by the two enterprise heads, the
:39:09. > :39:13.price was much lower than in the neighbouring European countries. It
:39:14. > :39:18.is all alie. Is she an honest woman your mother, did she benefit from
:39:19. > :39:22.public office in a way that was bad and dishonest? If you follow really
:39:23. > :39:27.the committee report that was commissioned by the European Union
:39:28. > :39:32.and they followed every trial, they witnessed, they took witnesses from
:39:33. > :39:39.all the participants in the trial. They looked for the material cases
:39:40. > :39:46.and material files of the case. And nowhere in this file was one word of
:39:47. > :39:51.private gain or corruption. Do you think she will be President of the
:39:52. > :39:56.Country one day? I hope so. These days in Ukraine people tend to
:39:57. > :39:59.assume the worst about their politicians and probity, even if
:40:00. > :40:06.they support them. Did any come through the post-Soviet turmoil,
:40:07. > :40:10.with reputation intact. If you want to earn billions of dollars you
:40:11. > :40:13.can't earn without corruption. It is your choice to he were this money,
:40:14. > :40:19.and the next step you go to politics. If you go to politics
:40:20. > :40:23.after this corrupted ground, be ready to answer the questions, it is
:40:24. > :40:28.a certain obligation to be a businessman in the Ukraine.
:40:29. > :40:34.Journey's end and we are back in Kiev, time to take stock. So did
:40:35. > :40:41.Yulia Tymoshenko come through the business and political upheavals of
:40:42. > :40:46.the last 20 years, with clean hands? I think not. I wonder who really
:40:47. > :40:49.did. The point is now the way that President Yanukovych has treated her
:40:50. > :40:53.has reinvigorated her political credentials and given her a new
:40:54. > :41:02.lease of life. And who knows, one day she could be the President of
:41:03. > :41:08.this country. Now, put that light out! The air raid warden in Dad's
:41:09. > :41:14.Army would be happily at home in an enormous expanse of Northumbria.
:41:15. > :41:18.Nearly 600 square miles of Northumberland have been awarded
:41:19. > :41:22.protected dark sky status, so people can get a better view of the night
:41:23. > :41:27.sky. Just so you know what we are talking about. Let's look at a shot
:41:28. > :41:34.from the camera mounted on the proof across the street here in central
:41:35. > :41:40.London. It is enough to drive Brian Cox and John Culshaw into a suicide
:41:41. > :41:46.pact. Mention the word "nor you will better land" they go all dreamy
:41:47. > :41:55.eyed. From above European Union sparkles,
:41:56. > :42:01.the view from the ground is far from. The area covered is 975 square
:42:02. > :42:06.miles, incorporating the National Park and the Keilder forest park.
:42:07. > :42:12.The international dark skies association has granted the area
:42:13. > :42:16.gold tier state Turks the highest accolade, making it the largest side
:42:17. > :42:22.of its kind in Europe, it won't be all along in the park. There is
:42:23. > :42:26.another park like it in Galloway which turned its lights out four
:42:27. > :42:30.years ago. The night sky has been given protected status, which means
:42:31. > :42:34.people living locally will have to comply with strict lighting
:42:35. > :42:39.controls. It is hoped the local economy and nocturnal wildlife will
:42:40. > :42:42.benefit. There is a boost to astro tourism at the Keilder Observatory.
:42:43. > :42:46.We are looking forward to working with businesses and communities in
:42:47. > :42:52.the months and years to come, to try to get everyone to be aware of the
:42:53. > :42:56.special quality we have in huge amounts, it is above our head it is
:42:57. > :43:01.a free national quality that we should be very, very proud of and we
:43:02. > :43:07.should do our best to try to keep as dark as possible.
:43:08. > :43:11.But with just 2,000 people living within the park, the bonders of a
:43:12. > :43:20.starry sky will still be can I denied to the vast majority of us.
:43:21. > :43:24.We have the lead astronomer from the Keilder Observatory, joining us from
:43:25. > :43:35.Northumberland now. What are we missing down here? It is phenomenal
:43:36. > :43:40.up here, this award has really been the icing on the cake for a lot of
:43:41. > :43:45.dedicated people working tirelessly at the observatory, it is about
:43:46. > :43:49.making astronomy accessible. To as many people as possible. Get out of
:43:50. > :43:55.your comfort zone and get yourself up north. I don't know if you
:43:56. > :43:59.managed to see it, you could see the pictures from the roof of the
:44:00. > :44:05.building in Broadcasting House, nothing here just grey light. What
:44:06. > :44:09.can you see now? We have got a cornucopia of stars overhead. We
:44:10. > :44:13.have the lights and cameras all going now it is difficult to observe
:44:14. > :44:18.the dark skies. These lights are precisely what we don't want. We
:44:19. > :44:21.want to see the darkness and the dark skies, that is precisely what
:44:22. > :44:29.we have got. This instrument here allows us to see wonderful galaxies
:44:30. > :44:34.like M-33, a pin wheel galaxy. It is over nearly 10 million light years
:44:35. > :44:40.distance, we can see the bonders of our universe by observing these
:44:41. > :44:46.incredible objects. Is that worth depriving people of decent lighting?
:44:47. > :44:51.We're not depriving anybody of anything. This is the thing. The
:44:52. > :44:55.area we have this dark sky park destination in has always been dark,
:44:56. > :44:59.that is why we built the observatory over six years ago now. It has
:45:00. > :45:06.always been dark in this part of the world. One of the great challenges
:45:07. > :45:10.for me as observer, is to make sure people in generations to come can
:45:11. > :45:14.enjoy the dark skies. In a world where our lives can be difficult on
:45:15. > :45:19.day-to-day basis, isn't it a wonderful thing you can access a
:45:20. > :45:35.phenomenal, bluetful, dark sky and wonder what else is out there. Let
:45:36. > :45:39.your self-dream a bit. It is a port of therapy? Self-dream a bit. It is
:45:40. > :45:43.a port of therapy? Absolutely. The universe we come from makes us who
:45:44. > :45:50.we are. Being able to dream about that and to connect in it, in that
:45:51. > :45:56.insay the sense of wonder, as a child you wanted to drive a steam
:45:57. > :46:00.train or rocketship. As adults we will lose all that, it is the wonder
:46:01. > :46:05.of the universe we try to reignite in people. When they come in their
:46:06. > :46:09.droves that is the one since I can get, people can connect with the
:46:10. > :46:14.universe, that is what makes us who we are. It is where it all came from
:46:15. > :46:20.and to be able to connect with that under phenomenal dark skies, that
:46:21. > :46:24.today we got news and to preserve it for generations to come is
:46:25. > :46:33.wonderful. Therapy, absolutely. Thanks a lot. That is about all from
:46:34. > :46:37.us tonight. While the astronomers at the Keilder Observatory were were a
:46:38. > :46:41.little disappointed by cloudy skies. Back in the Newsnight lab the
:46:42. > :46:43.boffins were able to reconstruct what they could see if the skies had
:46:44. > :46:50.been clearer.