26/01/2014 Reporters

has turned down the post of PM, offered by the PM in an attempt to

end the violence. Now, this week's edition of

Reporters. Welcome to Reporters. From here in

the newsroom we send out reporters to bring you the best information

from the rest of the world. 13 people were killed inside this

hospital when rebel forces swept through, executing people inside

their beds. El Salvador's war on gang violence. We speak to gang

leaders about whether their fragile truce can and the bloodshed. Andrew

Mark asks the Russian leader with the visitors to the Winter Olympics

in Sochi will be safe. If we allow ourselves to display weakness, or to

show our fear, and we will be helping the terrorists to achieve

their aims. The probe comes out of hibernation to try to catch a

comment that is speeding through space.

First of all, an internal alarm clock goes off... And, tributes to

the BBC reporter who died this week. If there is a cool factor, it

doesn't hurt. It is now thought that up to 10,000

people have been killed in the conflict in South Sudan, and half a

million displaced. This week marked a turning point. Troops loyal to the

government have recaptured all the major towns that were controlled by

the rebels. It led to the historic signing of a peace deal between the

government and rebels, but will it lead to a lasting peace? In a

moment, we report from one of the last rebel strongholds in the

north-east of South Sudan. First, this report from the town of four.

A month ago, there was live here. Four, we got a glimpse into the

nightmare see. -- Bor. It was a fierce battle. This is an important

victory? It was very important to us because we want the people to return

to the city. The most horrific scenes are at the hospital. It is

still standing, just. It was ransacked twice by rebel forces, who

murdered those in their wake. 13 people were killed inside this

hospital when rebel forces swept through, executing people in their

beds. It is too distressing to show you exactly what is over there, but

underneath a bundle of sheets there is a woman's body. Lady who was

killed while she was in this hospital to recover. Outside the

main entrance, we have just seen two charred, rotting bodies, decaying in

the afternoon sun. The stench of death and rotting material is

overwhelming. As people return, they speak of the horrors they witnessed.

Shot everyone they see. Shot everyone in the town, it is a ghost

town. Cowering in the corner, the three who survived. This was

originally a political conflict, not an ethnic ones, but reprisals

between tribes have taken over, of claiming mass atrocities against

each other. TRANSLATION: The rebels shot me for money. They tried to

rape me, but said I was too old and were going to kill me instead. If

they return here, I will die. In the centre, what is, all was, the

thriving market, now mangled and collapsed, it is as though a huge

inferno has swept through, devastating everything. Lives put on

hold. In 1991, Bor saw a massacre of 2000. The new conflict has now

ripped apart this country, and how can these two communities ever

together again? A youth militia calls the shots here. A youth

militia calls the shots here. The White Army, originally cattle

raiders, now some of those fighting government troops. We arrived in

their stronghold as peace talks were under way between their leaders.

Tonight, a ceasefire was struck, but we found a rebel movement still

baying for blood. We got our guns from government soldiers who were

killed, this man says. We got them because they were murdering our

elders, women and children, and we will use the guns. This has become

an ethnic war, both sides allege murder, rape and mutilation.

Forgiveness will take long, and a ceasefire may not hold their

ultimate goal. These men say that their aim is to go to Juba, the

capital of South Sudan, and overthrow the president, who they

accuse of mass atrocities against their women and children. They say

they will not stop until they get to the capital and overthrow Salva Kiir

and reinstall Riek Machar, the former vice president. Fighting

could resume. The deal signed tonight could take time to roll out.

Towns like these will not give up easily, and a disparate rebel

movement will be hard to control. The local governor, speaking before

news of the ceasefire, says his men will not be swayed. Do you believe

you can win this fight? Yes, we will win it. At any cost? By all means,

we will win it. And to count the human cost here. Patients in the

local clinic, set up by Medicins Sans Frontieres, have piled up. This

man was shot several times, his leg severed by bullets. I feel pain in

my heart when I think of the women and children killed by government

troops, he says. Even now, I would fight to kill the man who did this

to me. Only if the president goes will this end, and we can be one

people again. A battle cry from the rebels. South Sudan was born in

great hope from decades of conflict. Now, this new country craves an end

to its darkest hour. For years, El Salvador was notorious

for having the highest murder rate in the world, has gang warfare ruled

the streets. But, two years ago, gang leaders agreed a ceasefire, and

the murder rate halved within a year. Now, that is rising again. We

have been speaking exclusively to the leaders of one of those main

gangs. In the dead of night, a rude

awakening. In a series of co-ordinated raids, the police

seized drugs, guns, and make dozens of arrests of suspected gang

members. The suspects say they are being unjustly targeted under a

controversial antigang law. The two main gangs in El Salvador declared a

truce almost two years ago. Initially, the murder rate dropped

by almost half, as gang members began to work in the community to

end the decades of violence. Now, there are signs that the murder rate

is creeping up again. In this gang controlled neighbourhood, the BBC

gained exclusive access to the local leaders. They told me they were

being blamed for murders they did not commit, jeopardising the

ceasefire. TRANSLATION: Everybody says we don't want this, we don't

want to see lots of unemployed people causing problems, making

chaos, they are not giving these an opportunity for lending a hand,

eating opportunities to work, study or reintegrated into society. The

gang leaders who control this neighbourhood insist they are

committed to ending the violence. Today, just a few blocks from here,

there has been a killing, which suggests that this is a shaky

ceasefire at best. At worst, it is falling apart. This woman's

son-in-law was not a gang member, but he and two others disappeared

weeks ago. Later, their bodies turned up in a roadside.

TRANSLATION: The ceasefire isn't doing anything, nothing at all.

There is more violence now than before. They say their

neighbourhoods that are now free of violence, but that is where most of

the killings happen. Corinda authorities are saying gangs are

finding ever more inventive ways to dispose of their victims --

forensic. TRANSLATION: These people know how to hide their criminal

acts, so we need to be just as intelligent. With elections in El

Salvador just weeks away, whoever wins faces a huge challenge.

The countdown has begun to next month's Winter Olympics in Sochi,

and the Russian authorities face possibly their biggest security

challenge ever. President Putin has reassured people they will be safe,

but his comments come after a series of bombings just a few hundred

kilometres from Sochi. Mr Putin has been talking to the BBC's Andrew

Marr. It's two weeks until the Winter Olympics and the Russian

Black Sea city of Sochi, scene of the world's blood just construction

site, is almost open for business. The Russian President Vladimir Putin

very rarely get interviews to foreign journalists. -- gives

interviews. But this is such a big moment that today he is making an

exception. He told me that this was a turning point in the story of

Russia itself. TRANSLATION: After the collapse of

the Soviet Union and after the tough and bloody events in the Caucasus,

our society was in a state of depression. We need to shake that

off. We need to understand and feel that we can do great things. ?WHITE

But after recent terrorist attacks, security remains the number one

concern in Russia. Mr Putin confirmed to us that he has had help

from Western security agencies in throwing an iron ring around Sochi.

TRANSLATION: If we allow ourselves to display weakness or to show our

fear then we will help the terrorists to achieve their aims.

The Sochi Games are a huge moment of national pride and prestige

involving huge investment in a new roads, new railways, effectively an

entire new winter resort. The rest of the world has been looking on and

seeing controversy over corruption, the release of political prisoners

and, above all, a bitter, bitter row between the West and Russia over gay

rights. That remains a philosophical divide on a day when Mr Putin said

gays were welcome at the Olympics but they should leave the kids in

peace. So, was all the money, the risk, the controversy, really worth

it? It's a huge project and a huge gamble but already one that Mr Putin

thinks he is winning. Scientists were a great sleeping

giant in space this week. The Rosetta spacecraft has been in

hibernation, orbiting around the earth for two years. It's on a

mission to catch up with the comet speeding through space. It is hoped

it will help form an idea of how the solar system looked before the

pundits were formed. A giant mass of ice and rock

hurtling through space. It hails from the dawn of the solar system

and is the target for one of the riskiest missions ever attempted.

The Rosetta spacecraft launched a decade ago was the start of an epic

journey. But for the past few years, it has been in deep hibernation. Its

instruments have been shut down to save energy for the final phase of

its mission. Now, it's time to come back online. Let's use this virtual

reality studio to understand how the spacecraft wakes up. Right now, it's

more than 800 million kilometres away from Earth. First of all, an

internal alarm clock goes off, triggering heaters so it can warm

up. Aircraft then stops spinning by fire in its thrusters. Once

stabilised, it uses navigational instruments to find Earth and angles

towards it. Only then can extend its message back home. For the

scientists who built some of Rosetta's instruments, it's going to

be an anxious wait. Absolutely everything does ride on this

particular stage the mission being successful. Have to get control back

of the satellite, so we can start it, on its journey to actually

rendezvous with the comet. Rosetta should catch up with the comet later

this week -- later this year. It will travel at incredible speeds and

it will have altered itself down on the icy surface, so it doesn't fly.

Nothing like this has ever been attempted before. We are excited

about landing on a comet. They act as a time travel Capshaw from the

start of the solar system and contain the earliest water and

organic material that was there before the planets formed.

Understanding comets could answer some of the biggest questions in

science and could shed light on how our planets came to be and even how

life started here on earth. This week, we here have been

mourning the death of a friend and much valued and highly regarded

colleague, Komla Dumor. Komla was from Ghana and presented programmes

here on the BBC and died of a heart attack at his home in London. He was

just 41. The guy named president described him as his country's lift

to the world. -- the President of Ghana. Nelson Mandela's daughter

called in Africa's shining star. He was a brilliant broadcaster with a

big personality and an even bigger heart. His friend and colleague

looks back at the career of Komla Dumor.

Welcome to Focus on Africa. That rich voice, his huge personality,

put him at the heart of Focus on Africa. Always impeccably dressed

and ever the professional, he changed the way the story of Africa

is told. The most important thing for me is to know what I'm talking

about, though the stories. The cool factor doesn't hurt, does it? In

just a few hours, kick off is just if few hours from now. He was

proudly from Ghana. Here at the World Cup four years ago, he was

born in 1972. He started his career as a traffic reporter before going

on to be named Ghana journalist of the year in 2003. He then came to us

here at the BBC in 2006, working first for radio and then television.

On screen, he was polished and professional. Behind the scenes, he

was a friend to everyone, always finding time for a hug and a halo.

-- hello. This is the BBC's new broadcasting house and this is where

he used to start to dominate his day in the morning. -- start his day.

Here is the editor of Focus on Africa. You worked on radio and

television with Komla. What did he mean to you? Komla personifies our

bond. He is the benchmark, the anchor, the ambition, the model. His

generosity was boundless because he gave a lot. This is where the BBC's

programme presenters sit. Quite often, he would inspire his fellow

colleagues at the start of their workday. You were one of the people

he would say hello to. What will your lasting memory of him be? Two

years ago, when we just started training to be on TV, that's when

the Tanzania family accident happened in Zanzibar and I was asked

to talk about it. I had never been on TV and I said, I can't do it. I

ended up not doing it and then I didn't realise Komla noticed out and

called me later and said, why didn't you do it? I said I have never done

TV before. He said, never say no. Go for it. You will never know until

you do it. That's one thing I will always remember. Never say no.

That's why today I said yes. His legacy living on already. As much as

he meant to do that -- to those of us inside the BBC, grew one's impact

reached far beyond this office. I have been here a few hours and it's

clear something special is happening. He was passionate about

journalism. A combination of sharp intellect and charm that everyone

wanted to talk to him. Is it that sense of responsibility at the time

it happened? You were president at the time. Does that drive the

position you have? Maybe. Perhaps guilt? Not guilt. Whatever guilt I

had run away. Everyone got the same Komla treatment. The former UN

Secretary General Kofi Anand is one of the more recent to pay tribute to

Komla, saying: Earlier, the country's president

said: Folks, that's all from the

programme. A big man who lives behind a big legacy, he influenced a

generation and changed the way the world sees the continent he loved

and was so proud. That's the latest BBC News. He will be remembered as

an exceptional journalist, a dear friend but, above all, a husband, a

son and a father. Komla Dumor or who died this week.

That's all for this week. Goodbye for now.

Schoolies winds causing problems on Saturday. The second half of the