Search Ramped Up For 100 Schoolgirls Kidnapped In Nigeria; Court Rules Cities Can Ban Diesel Cars
GORANI: Well, it`s a nightmare in Nigeria hoped it would never see again. The country is desperately searching for dozens of kidnapped schoolgirls. They were taken last week when armed men stormed their school in the northern village of Dapchi. You`ll remember almost 300 girls were abducted in Chibok back in 2014 kidnapped right from there dormitories by Boko Haram. Armed militants from that terrorist group also are suspected to be behind this adduction. Nigeria`s president has promised the girls` families they`ll be found, but keep in mind, the government still doesn`t know where more than one third of the Chibok girls are four years after the fact. CNN`s David McKenzie is covering the story and he`s live in Cano, Northern Nigeria. Any leads as to where the girls might be? This is happening again, and people must be, you know, justifiably angry that these girls are still vulnerable four years after the Chibok abductions?</s>DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that`s right. It`s not just being the Chibok girls or these girls, Hala. There have been many thousands of young women and girls that have been abducted over the years, but this case is really shocking to many Nigerians and should be shocking to the world. More than a hundred, a 110 to be exact girls ranging from age of 11 to 19 taken almost exactly a week ago from this village of Northeast Nigeria and as you said that the nightmares happening all over. To answer your question, they don`t know where these girls are. The president of Nigeria saying that they will find them and get them out of the abduction, but, you know, the parents are certainly extremely worried this will just be happening again. And we`ve spoken a young survivor, 13-year-old (inaudible), she was with her 11-year-old sister, who are both school. They got separated in the melee as these Boko Haram affiliated attackers we believe descended on that school and took all of these girls into captivity. Days of confusion from the government and just from ordinary citizens exactly what happened now it`s appearing they are all missing and it`s a terrible scenario for this part of Nigeria.</s>GORANI: And of course, I imagine that many parents now are just reluctant to send their daughters to school, which is probably one of the effects that Boko Haram wants. How much is that hurting girls` education in that part of Nigeria?</s>MCKENZIE: Well, many millions of people in fact have been affected by Boko Haram and there are, you know, more than a million (inaudible) people in places like Cano, and other major centers in the Northeast. At that school where they were attacked by these militants, they are too afraid, of course, to go back to school. Girls` education has suffered through years of conflict in this part of Nigeria and though the Nigerian government had said it had technically defeated Boko Haram some years ago, Hala, it really appears that since November there`s been an upsurge of violent attacks in the region. And now this devastating kidnapping or abduction at the school that is rattling this nation all over again -- Hala.</s>GORANI: But back to the government response here, it does appear from the outside looking in that they are just not able to protect these girls. This keeps getting over and over. You mentioned it`s not just Chibok, it`s not just now. This is just that it`s a bigger number so it`s attracting more attention. What is going on there?</s>MCKENZIE: Well, there is a huge issue with security in this region, but it`s also the case that there appeared to be military in that village, Hala, and then at some points pretty soon before that attack, the military left that town and left it undefended as it were. So. there`s a lot of questions right now about why is that and if there had been a sense that it could be attack as they often are in these regions, why remove that security? So, the parents are angry. Nigerians asking questions of what exactly happened and again, it`s so eerily similar to the Chibok situation some four years ago where the initial reaction appeared confused and clear, and in that lag-time makes it that much more difficult to try and recover these girls in any form of safety given the porous nature of the border and the insecurity in the scrubland surrounding cities like where I`m standing now.</s>GORANI: David McKenzie, thanks very much. He is in Cano in Northern Nigeria. By the way, quick note, March 14th is "My Freedom Day," a daylong global event to raise awareness of modern-day slavery. We asked the Moroccan musician, RedOne, what freedom means to him.</s>REDONE, MUSICIAN: Freedom is life and it`s very individual to different people, you know, and if we can help people to be free and feel freedom, we should. I mean, it`s not (inaudible), it`s everybody`s effort to meet someone that you love and is in jail within himself doesn`t have freedom.</s>GORANI: So, the question we can turn back to you, what is freedom means you, post a photo or video using the #myfreedomday. Now for a completely different story, many of you own and drive diesel cars, but imagine if you were banned from driving into certain cities for that very reason. Across Europe that could become a reality. Some people will welcome it saying finally we can breathe some fresh air. Germany`s top court has ruled that Stuttgart and Dusseldorf, which have some of the most polluted air in Europe can implement limited bans to keep diesel cars off their streets, and that ruling may start a domino effect across the continent. The European Commission believes that more than 400,000 people die each year in the E.U. because of air pollution and obviously diesel fumes are terrible for that. Atika Shubert is in Hamburg, Germany with more. So, potentially what are we talking here in terms of millions of people or vehicles impacted here?</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I mean, almost every other car here is a diesel car. So, if you have city Stuttgart to Dusseldorf banning cars from their city center, what you have is drivers not being able to drive through there, but perhaps being able to go into other cities. And this is why local mayors have been so reluctant to impose a diesel ban. Not to mention the fact, of course, it is a huge part of the economy, 15 percent of the GDP is the automobile industry here. So, cities have been very reluctant to impose this ban, but the E.U. has said, listen, you`ve got at least 26 different cities and towns that are clearly in violation of diesel exhaust laws, limits. You know, specifically nitrous oxides and fine particles are responsible for those hundreds of thousands of premature deaths as you pointed out. So, as a as a result, the court has now said at least for Stuttgart and Dusseldorf that it is the city`s responsibility. And this could very well set as a precedent for Munich, Hamburg and any other city that in violation of E.U. limits.</s>GORANI: But you talk about what percentage of GDP diesel cars and the diesel car industry represent, and no European country has jobs to spare. I wonder the way the economic impact versus the environmental benefits of doing this.</s>SHUBERT: This is the position that mayors and city governments really do not want to be in because they realize that not only is it the economic factor 800,000 people employed in the automobile industry alone, but the knock-on effects from that. I mean, when we were in Stuttgart last week, you know, almost everyone we met had some connection to the automobile industry because that`s the headquarters of Dimler (ph), which makes Mercedes-Benz. So, it would have a tremendous impact not just that, but of course, people who drive cars here, about 50 percent of the cars here are diesel cars. So, it would have a dramatic impact and that`s what we are not likely to see diesel cars being pulled off the roads tomorrow. But if we don`t see some sort of a solution then it could mean, you know, congestion charges increasing, and in some cities, yes, a ban on older diesel cars from approaching the city center.</s>GORANI: All right. Atika Shubert, thanks very much live in Hamburg. Still to come tonight, the fate of change could be very, very young indeed. Teenagers are hoping to succeed where adults have failed so miserably and get tougher gun laws passed. That`s just ahead. I`ll be speaking to the executive editor of "Teen Vogue." And we have been freezing. Out here Europe freezing over freakishly warm weather in the artic is sending freezing conditions south and we are all bundled up. We`ll be right back.