08/10/2016 Reporters

Now on BBC News, Reporters.

Welcome to Reporters.

I'm Philippa Thomas.

From here in the BBC newsroom we send out correspondents to bring

you the best stories from across the globe.

In this week's programme: The children of Aleppo.

As the Syrian conflict escalates, Fergal Keane reports

on the desperate plight and suffering of young people

in the city.

And meet some who have managed to escape but still

carry lasting scars.

...Crossed the mountains

and Syria behind me

and have arrived in Lebanon

and they find themselves carrying the trauma of war in a world

where they are hemmed in by poverty.

Hurricane Matthew's mayhem, we tracked the biggest Caribbean

storm for nine years as it battered the coast of Haiti.

The conditions here are absolutely atrocious,

to step outside is to become drenched within seconds.

A comic book with a difference, Tom Brook reports on how technology

is helping victims of acid attacks.

And a holiday hotspot, or an endless source of power?

We report from Uganda on plans to turn the adventure capital

of East Africa into a dam.

We are now heading for part of the rapids, a small stretch

of water that professional kayakers come for from all over the world

because it is consistent.

It is a war with no respect for age or innocence,

in a city that was once a national treasure,

and is now a living hell.

More than 100 children have been killed in rebel held areas

of the Syrian city of Aleppo in just over one week following the collapse

of the recent ceasefire.

The United Nations has called for an immediate end

to the bombing of eastern Aleppo by Syrian and Russian forces,

but the killing continues.

Fergal Keane reports on the growing tragedy of Aleppo's children,

his report contains some distressing images from the start.

Tenderness.

From a father who has watched the slow wasting

of his child's body.

Aged 11, he was wounded in an air strike.

His stomach was ripped open.

He is trapped by the siege, a child starving

because of the damage to his bowl and the absence of proper nutrition.

because of the damage to his bowel and the absence of proper nutrition.

And constantly wary of new bombing.

Hospitals have come under sustained attack, with only basic

facilities, doctors struggle.

This seven-year-old suffers.

Good boy, we are almost finished, the doctor says.

He is taken home.

His grandmother wants to get into Turkey.

Listen to the sound of rockets landing, before she speaks.

SHELLFIRE WHISTLING

TRANSLATION: There is

still an irrepressible longing for normality.

This boy on the right is risking the walk to school with his friends.

The children are now taught in the basement.

In the hope they might be safer from falling bombs.

Aleppo's agony began four years ago.

But it has escalated dramatically.

The city's East is a claustrophobic hell from which there

is now no escape.

Before the latest encirclement many fled, children losing

their homes, and country.

We met some of them in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley.

The siege represents just the first encirclement

because even if they manage to escape Aleppo, the children

face a new problem.

Those who have crossed the mountains arrive in Lebanon to find themselves

carrying the trauma of war in a world where they are

hemmed in by poverty.

This man arrived from Aleppo three days ago, crossing the mountains

by night on a mule with a severe heart condition and now exhausted.

She has joined her grandchildren who arrived with her son two

and a half years ago.

This is a cousin, her father was killed by a sniper in Aleppo.

This is the paradox of memory.

It offers comfort and pain.

The old Aleppo family where parents were strong has been upended.

He cannot work because of injury.

So his 14-year-old daughter works in the fields all day,

every day to support the family.

Cluster bombs, bunker busters, barrel bombs, phosphorus bombs.

They have all been dropped here.

By the Syrian government and its Russian allies.

106 children have been killed in just over a week.

The Kremlin says that rebels are deliberately using populated

areas and rejects claims that Russia is carrying out war crimes.

We are taking, as I said, most strict precautions to make sure

that we don't hit civilians by any chance.

If this happens, well, we are very sorry, but we need to investigate

each and every accusation.

I have never seen anything so blatant as the kind

of attacks upon children.

Everyone knows that as long as these kind of attacks with these massive

explosive weapons take place, children will be killed.

It cannot be denied that this will be the result.

So these attacks should stop immediately.

There are enough treaties, laws and promises to

protect these children.

The trouble is that nobody with power cares

to obey or enforce them.

That is the tragedy of the children of Aleppo.

Fergal Keane, BBC News.

STUDIO: It is one of the most powerful Hurricanes to hit

the Caribbean in recent years.

Hurricane Matthew hit parts of Cuba,

Jamaica and the Bahamas as it headed towards the coast of Florida.

But possibly worst hit, was Haiti where it left a brutal

trail of destruction as it swept across the island.

Torrential rain and storm winds of more than 200 kilometres

an hour forced many people to abandon their homes.

Nick Bryant sent us this report, from the Haitian capital,

Port-au-Prince, as Matthew hit land.

Haiti has taken a brutal pounding from the worst storm to rip

through the Caribbean in almost a decade.

Hurricane Matthew has brought sustained winds

of 145 miles an hour.

And torrential, unrelenting rain.

This category four storm has compounded the problems of a country

still reeling from the 2010 earthquake and a Cholera epidemic

that these conditions are sure to exacerbate.

The interim president said that the storm has

already cost lives.

TRANLSTION: We have already seen deaths, people out

at sea, people missing

and people who did not respect the alerts have lost their lives.

This is one of the world's poorest nations, many of the country's

11 million people live in shantytowns that offer little

protection from the high winds and rains.

Many refused to evacuate, fearing the few possessions

that they have left will be stolen.

This is the main route into the capital, Port-au-Prince,

almost impassable as the floodwaters began to rise.

And the fear is of catastrophic mudslides in a landscape badly

denuded of trees.

Hurricane Matthew could drop as much as three feet of rain

and we are seeing evidence of flash flooding already, the conditions

here are absolutely atrocious.

To step outside is to become drenched within seconds.

These are the people made homeless, these are the children whose futures

seem to be continually blighted by tragedy.

The epicentre of the 2010 earthquake is a short drive away, so it is not

just sorrow that they are feeling but a sense of unfairness.

The children have just started school, and their new uniforms

were washed away.

These children were evacuated from coastal communities before

the storm hit and given shelter in the capital,

now they are stranded.

They don't know when they will be able to get home or what they will

find when they get there.

With the storm barrelling towards America, this first world

emergency is in the making but here, hurricane Matthew has left a trail

of third world destruction.

And this impoverished country is struggling to cope.

STUDIO: President of the European Council Donald Tusk has

said that migrant flows across the so-called Balkan route

to Europe has come to an end but new evidence seen by the BBC

suggests a distinctive different picture, latest figures show that

at least 1000 refugees and migrants are still attempting to reach

the EU through Serbia and the Balkans every week.

We travelled along the route, finding many refugees arriving

in Serbia, helped by a network of people smugglers.

This is how they are getting into Europe now.

Afghan refugees, clinging to the bottom of a train.

Heading towards Austria.

We were five people under a train.

20 hours they spend there, among them, Hamid.

How much did you spend?

1500 euros per person.

To go from Greece to Austria?

Caught by police, he is now in Serbia, he spent months trapped

in Greece, spending months teaching other refugees English,

determined not to go back to Afghanistan, too

afraid after the Taliban murdered his friend.

He was beheaded in front of my eyes.

So when I was inside the bus, the Taliban took one of my friends,

they searched his pocket and they found the ID card

of an American translator...

Europe's refugee crisis has not gone away, instead

smugglers have taken over.

So Serbia along with Greece is now becoming the new staging

post for refugees.

The Army has been sent to try and secure Serbia's borders but up

to 200 refugees a day are being discovered.

Smuggling is now so lucrative, we were told, that other forms

of crime are falling in Serbia.

TRANSLATION: Our information is that refugees pay from 800

to 1300 euros per person.

It is very good business, good money for smugglers.

And this is the reason why: In Greece, thousands

are stuck in grim conditions, their claims to Asylum stall.

So they are finding new routes.

Several hundred refugees have disappeared from this camp

in recent months.

The children and their mother, are from Damascus.

Anyone who can afford it uses a smuggler she says.

If you have money, you go to the Mafia.

So some people are going?

Yes.

But we don't have money.

We stay here.

This is the route the refugees have been taking from Greece:

to Macedonia, over the mountains, to Austria and Germany.

Government say that closing the borders has stopped the flows

but it seems that refugees are still making it through,

evading police, escaping detection.

Further north in Serbia, they are starting to back up.

Borders may be tightening, but the dream of Europe isn't fading.

Just turning into an organised underground racket.

STUDIO: There were such high hopes for Colombia but after the people's

rejection of a landmark peace deal, work has already started

to try to save the agreement between the government

and the Farc rebels.

A senior adviser has told the BBC that the resumption of violence

is not an option and the rebels say that they are prepared to review

the terms of the deal which would end more than half

a century of conflict.

We examine what is next for Colombia after the peace deal.

SINGING

He loves singing

with his daughters but he has never

physically seen them.

The 37 year old former policeman was blinded when he stepped

on a landmine 11 years ago.

But his anger is not for the guerillas who killed

and maimed, it is for those fellow Columbians who he says have passed

up on the chance for a lasting peace.

TRANSLATION: If I and other victims of violence can find

the strength to forgive, then these people sitting

behind their desks in the cities should be able to do the same.

So it happened to me.

But this is what war does, and we as a country have to move on.

Like many in Colombia and abroad, he was shocked when voters nearly

rejected a peace deal, between the Colombian government

and Farc guerillas in the referendum.

The deal which had been prematurely signed by both sides now

has to be renegotiated, the Colombian President Santos has

set up a multiparty commission to do that.

One adviser to the original talks says that it is a dangerous

moment for Colombia.

We cannot allow again child soldiers, we cannot

allow again atrocities against civilian populations.

We are not prepared to live again in such violence.

I think that we have to think how to work on this, and how to really

sign again a peace agreement.

This country and its institutions were ravaged by 50 years of civil

conflict, a war that this peace deal was meant to end.

There was no plan B, said the government.

That is exactly what is needed now, with thousands of Columbians

on either side stuck in limbo.

Guerrilla fighters have been gathering in jungle camps preparing

to hand over their weapons and demobilise and to return

to society with a promise of salaries and limited

immunity to prosecution.

All of that is gone for now.

Many Columbians concluded that the government had made too

many concessions to Farc, although there is widespread

consensus that a new deal has to be reached.

I think this situation is terrible because our next generations,

we will suffer the effects of this decision.

There must be a coalition between those two segments.

And we need an answer as a civil society now.

And with a government warning that a mutually agreed ceasefire runs out

at the end of the month, these are ominous days in Colombia.

BBC News, Bogota.

STUDIO: Interactive technologies are being used these

days for everything, from video games to the workplace.

And it is raising awareness about acid attacks.

Every year, thousands of women in South Asia, Africa

and Latin America are victims of such assaults.

Tom Brook reports from the New York Film Festival

where an interactive film about acid attacks is having

its world premiere.

Amid the ever expanding world of immersive storytelling of virtual

reality and other technologies comes this downloadable comic book

which uses what is termed augmented reality technology,

to bring together animation videos and real-life stories

including testimonies from acid attack survivors.

You lose all of your passion towards life and confidence

and you think you have no one left.

This animated comic book has been made possible by way of a new app

enabling different pop-up elements to be accessed when specific

pop-up images are scanned by a phone or a tablet.

It uses a device like a phone or a tablet, to literally make

the images come to life, or to bring material

out of the comic book.

So it actually exists if you pardon the expression, in a 4D space.

The comic book images can be scanned anywhere,

even on an outside wall.

We are actually creating street art and mural art all over India,

where people can scan the art on the side of walls and we will see

through the technology and the nation it popping out

of the wall.

This is another way of engaging with other people.

Woven into the comic book narrative is a story featuring Monica Singh,

who told me how a group of men threw a bucket of acid

over her when she was 19, she has had 46 reconstructive

surgeries on her face.

When people read this comic book, they will know, that I'm a girl that

had dreams in her life before the acid attack but she wants to

continue to live like a normal girl.

We can advocate to the young generation and the youth of every

country to understand about this issue and get together

and work on it.

This is a comic book funded by the World Bank,

it is an interactive endeavour to tackle a global problem.

But just how effective is it going to be in terms of raising

awareness and reducing acid attacks?

The creators clearly see it as more than a gimmick,

they think that the technology has the ability to engage authorities

they think that the technology has the ability to engage audiences

quite differently to different campaigns aimed at

reducing acid attack.

Reading a comic can be potentially a solitary endeavour

and potentially working with our interactive technologies,

and potentially working with our interactive technologies

allows multiple kids or readers to play together and discuss it.

And that is the challenge, to make sure that this

new technology does reach its target audience of young males,

to chip away at entrenched attitudes that every year leave so many

women scarred for life.

STUDIO: Now to a place known as the adventure

capital of East Africa.

The rapids at Uganda's Kabalega Falls are considered some

of the best in the world.

But it is now in a hotspot at the centre of the debate

as to how it should use its natural resources to boost its economy.

We took a ride along the falls to find out more.

White water like this can only be found in a few

countries across the world.

This stretch of the River Nile is a town in eastern Uganda that has

earned the title the venture capital of East Africa.

Whitewater rafting is one of the most popular activities

bringing in 20,000 tourists a year.

We are now headed to a part of the rapids called special wave,

the small stretch of the water that the professional kayakers come

to from all over the world because it is consistent

all the year round.

This adrenaline rush won't be available here much longer.

This man says he will lose the job he has had for 20 years,

when the power project is complete.

The power is going to benefit more people than me just doing

the rafting, but that, I'm not sure.

Because I haven't seen it.

But with the rafting and how much I have done for my community and how

much rafting has done for Uganda.

Further down the river, the dam is already under

construction, its large reservoir will flood the famed

Kabalega rapids.

People have already had another dam shorten the rafting rout which led

to a drop in visitor numbers.

People have already had another dam shorten the rafting route, which led

to a drop in visitor numbers.

Before the dam you could make big money and the

business was really big.

These days, you come here and stay for morning

after evening without even seeing a single customer.

This was once the industrial hub until an economic slump caused

by political turmoil in the 1970s.

For the government, providing cheap energy that will revive industries

here and around the country is the first priority for the area's

biggest natural resource.

There is always a trade-off.

Some people may lose jobs, especially around the site but also

it comes with other programmes which also help

better the community.

The tourism industry in Uganda will sacrifice one of its greatest

attractions for the sake of producing more energy

to drive development.

Those whose livelihoods have depended on these rapids

can only hope that this upset will be worth it in the end.

That is all from Reporters for this week.

From me, Philippa Thomas, goodbye for now.