and there was reknowned ghanian poet, kofi awooner, whose body was returned home today. jeffrey brown gets a personal recollection. >> brown: kofi awooner was a poet and novelist, author of numerous volumes influenced by both his native traditions and western literature. a scholar-- teaching in ghana and the u.s.-- and a politically-engaged statesman, serving as his country's ambassador to the u.n. and serving time in prison for his political beliefs. he was in nairobi to attend a literary festival. with him and with us now, was his nephew and fellow poet, kwame dawes, professor at the university of nebraska and editor of the journal, "prairie schooner". kwame, welcome back to our program, let me offer condolences for the death of your uncle. >> it's good to be back, jeff, and thank you so much. appreciate it. >> brown: tell us who he was and why he was such an important figure in ghana and throughout africa? >> kofi belonged to that generation of african poets and african writers that emerged in the late '50s and early '60s who saw a vista of possibility in independence

this delegation in moscow, it's clear he handed it over to special bams ambassadors, kofi annan is a political animal and can't forget it. he takes care there's less wars sp and more stability in the world. that was his concern, worry about it personally. he asked me to tell me how to see the situation and how to manage to agree with john. it was yesterday in the evening, but it was clear that it was -- we were towards an agreement, we were moving towards an agreement, which has to be to get some legal obligations at the hague and new york. i told them honestly we're very concerned about the attempts to undermine any efforts which are directed to pacify the situation to remove some aspects, including what you have mentioned. we try to talk about that with john. i told him that in our negotiations the most critical moment of negotiations, we suddenly saw on the tv screens information that ban ki-moon from the u.n. had the report of the incident will be presented on monday. that he cannot disclose the content, but it will say clearly in this report that the chemical weapons were used,

kofi - he has written several thesis which are quilt coucial for -- quite crucial. he portrayed tribal culture in his writings and played a key role in making sure the sentiment of the culture and traditions were portrayed in the books. >> a big poet, influential poet on the continent and a top diplomat for ghana. >> yes, some time in 1982 he wrote a book called "ghana revolution" part of the basis that underpinned the revolution in 1981. he became popular with the pmdc/mgc governments. as a result... >> michael, we are just going to interrupt. i apologise. we are going to go to nairobi, kenya, where we are waiting for the kenyan president, uhuru kenyetta, to speak at a press conference in nairobi. this is not uhuru kenyetta, but hopefully we'll hear from the president soon. this will be his second appearance since the siege at the mall began yesterday, 24 hours ago, the siege at westgate mall. we heard from uhuru kenyetta yesterday evening, and he said that the security forces would do everything in their power to rescue the remaining hostages from the mall. >> we

kofi belong to that generation of african poets and writers that emerged in the late '50s and early '60s who saw

kofi belong to that generation of african poets and writers that emerged in the late '50s and early '60s who saw a a vista of independence and a new vision of africa. >> woodruff: those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: our lead story tonight: a bill to fund government operations beyond the end of the month cleared its first procedural hurdle today. it was a rare unanimous vote. "newshour" congressional correspondent kwame holman begins our coverage. >> on this vote, the yays are 100, the nays are zero, three- fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the

. >> we've got kofi anen and he's weighing in now. >> he's leader of a group called the elders. it's a group of elder statesmen, if you like who spend their time working towards peace and human rights. kofi annan said every effort must be made to revent further blood shed and put an end to the conflict that has brutalized syria. and they are no nouri nouri ali said the hasty actions part response will be held accountable. >> it may start out to be a pinpoint cruise missiles strike, but it could escalate. now we are the former foreign secretary unfortunate unite unid kingdom, david owen said what starts small ends up large. and finally, john, it's worth noting the vast majority of the american people are against the strike on syria. of ten people asked six people say no, do not go ahead. >> john thank you for putting things in perspective for us tonight. thank you very much. >>> another congressional hearing on syria again. code pink is asking the congress not to take action. they interrupted a senate hearing yesterday. >>> medea benjamin is the founder of code pink and she joins

we know that over the past few minutes, kofi annan, the former united nations secretary- general, was involved in the talks as he has just left. bear in mind, if there's a deal done, the americans would like to stitch it into the text of the united nations resolution. what they like to keep on the table because of oars in the event of the rio noncompliance with the deal? if that were the case, that would be a huge stone they've dropped. but on the positive front, they are still in geneva, and they are still talking. >> thank you very much for that update. the war in syria is already having a knock on effect in neighboring countries. jordan and lebanon are taking in thousands of refugees every day. >> many fear the conflict could have implications for their national security. our correspondent sent us this report. >> the syrian crisis is the story that has been making all the headlines in israel for weeks. public opinion in jerusalem is split between those who favor a diplomatic solution and those calling for military intervention in serbia -- syria. >> i oppose the way obama is handli

been successful because the regime has not complied with any of the tenets put forth by people like kofi annan or locked up brahimi or soda and. also they don't want somebody here qatar what we're seeing what we are saying and i'm here here i'm here to represent the local coordination committees and the syrian people not saudi arabia not qatar not russia not the united states was here and then against him he's against we just against the war that's what i'm just again you are against war and so i would like to hear i would like to hear your views about dust pot who launches chemical weapons and scud missiles. what is your ingenious when you think i'm going to. wear and say anything and i add what you're going to get my go ahead. jump in who so you're going to question what i'm going to let you go there and speak. gareth. ok i'd like to just pose this this problem that we are looking at in syria in light of historical precedents i'm old enough to remember vietnam no vietnam is a case where. or you had a regime you know that was in power supported by foreign foreign forces i.e. the united

. >> reporter: the renowned poet, kofi awoonor. and a recent public health grad, elif yavuz, eight months pregnant. >> she was hilariously funny. she was unique. she really brought laughter and light to people's lives. >> reporter: the al qaeda-linked extremist group, al shabaab, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retaliation for kenyan forces in somalia. al shabaab has been one of the most effective terror groups in attracting young, american men. >> i think it's surprising when you find out middle america has become a hot bed for terrorist recruiting. >> reporter: u.s. officials estimate as many as 50 americans have been recruited to the group over the last 6 years. with more than half traced back to minnesota's growing somali community. tahman bradley, abc news, washington. >>> the situation there still incredibly fluid. >> abc's kirit radia joining us now, this morning, from nairobi. the security forces say they are in charge. you're still hearing gunfire. i know we've had lots of reports of that. what is goin

chemical weapons inspectors will return to syria on wednesday read kofi once again strides the chapter seven of the u.n. charter which permits the use of force should only be considered if there is a violation of the chemical arsenal agreement that the u.s. and russia agreed to the design meant of syria's chemical weapons to differences than a match and russia's foreign minister said moscow was being blackmailed by the u.s. which was trying to find a pretext for military action in syria. six minutes since i confirmed government troops as storms this shopping mall in nairobi as a deadly siege ended its fourth day the country's interior ministry announced that security forces have taken control of the center releasing all the captives but the al shabaab militant group denies that saying they're still holding hostages inside meanwhile kenya's foreign minister says three americans and a british citizen or. among the al qaeda linked insurgents that are tox the shopping mall and there are reports that a british a woman some on foot leave wait may have been they must a mind of that time she c

framework for example like the bright he mean or kofi annan supply so is it really the americans you know is it in their capability to push them for going to geneva talks we don't know i think this will have to be done through the major regional players or atoms like the saudis and like the turks and those people actually control more of the forces on the ground because they are the ones who are supplying them with fund with intelligence and with military equipment much more than the americans are doing but is it in the interest of the saudis and the turks to actually go one with such an agreement and having to live with the syrian government for decades to come or the current sitting government for years to come i don't think so so the americans have a fair bit of you know playing to do in order to convince the regional parties are playing a. political analyst are not walk out thank you very much indeed thank you very much larry. program accusations its army and all treated a group of european diplomats and human rights activists in the west bank on friday they were accompanying an

the meeting with kofi annan i think john met it with even a swell coffee. was not then figure he doesn't have fists per se but he's their respective politician he's a member of the so-called wise men he participates in the foundation set up by dead turner and recently lost his wife is a dead moscow as part of this foundation's activities and we had a meeting with him of course since he is dead as a special. representative for syria and with mr brahimi got this position. which political animal speak and he carries a very a much. wars around the world he wants peace and stability and he's met is. concerned him very much and when he had a meeting with me here to me about our vision and progress in our talks with john this was late night it was clear that we were very clear to reaching an agreement which we. announced today a little later we put on paper in new york in the hague i told him that we are very much concerned by attempts to undermine any efforts. taken to calm down the situation. and remove certain problems related to the syrian crisis including tho

been successful because the regime has not complied with any of the tenets put forth by people like kofi annan or locked up brahimi or sodium. ok also they don't want somebody here qatar what we're seeing what we are saying and i'm here here i'm here to represent the local coordination committees and the syrian people not saudi arabia not qatar not russia not the united states was here and then against him he's against we are going to guess. what ok i'm just again you are against war and so i would like to hear i would like to hear your views about dust pot who launches chemical weapons and scud missiles. what is your is making of this when you think i'm going to syria. where in ca i mean so i added what you're going to get my go ahead. do you jump in who so you're going to question what time i'm going to let you go there and speak. here. ok i'd like to just pose this this problem that we are looking at in syria in light of historical precedents i'm old enough to remember vietnam no vietnam is a case where. you had a regime you know that was in power supported by foreign foreign forces i

there is in fact a possible process already in existence it's been there for a long time there's the kofi annan plan and the suggestions for a geneva conference world has been preventing that process from going forward is the intransigent demand of the rebels that mr resign as a precondition for talks and the support that intransigent position gets from scientists powerful outsiders including certain members of the u.s. administration now who we have got to move beyond that point to proper negotiations what needs to happen is three things chemical design and there's a process already underway hopefully that will now happen second a proper investigation of what actually happened on the twenty first of august and who's been using these weapons and third and most important of all a proper negotiation over the sort that has already been discussed many times which russia supports which mr ass out has agreed to and which the rebels should be asked to come around to ok mark a very good point there but the rebels are furious ok i can't use the kind of language on television the way they feel righ

kofi akuna. delogies. ross and his wife. graduated from harvard. they were expecting their first child in two weeks. there were other pregnant women and children included in the death toll which now stands at 62. i americans were injured including one child. said u.s.obama officials are aiding the kenyan government in their efforts to bring members of the radical to justice forb their role in the killing. >> thank you. we will continue to follow the developments out of kenya. tonight, more on the terrorist in what is being done -- t errosists in what is being done. theolice say they believe 15-year-old stole a car in southeast d.c. and an hour later a state trooper spotted the car and fairfax county. the driver sponsor a red light and hit another vehicle. a passenger in a stolen car died. he is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter. the driver of the other car has a broken arm and injured shoulder. >> we want to turn to the weather. there is no denying that it is finally fall. a it looks like we'll have week just like our chief meteorologist,

i interviewed a number of people he has collaborated with over the years, gorbachev, kofi aman. >> tell us about the environment -- environmentalists that influenced you as mentors, as friends, people you worked with and people you looked up to. the environmentalists that meant something to you in your life that you have worked -- like -- others. >> jack and jane good al, i think, she's a fancy young lady. those are two that -- obviously [inaudible] katherine's son is very, very leadership position in this area. >> there's a story you have told me. it was about you going down the amazon, and i think things were looking desolate in the environmental world, and he shared a conversation with you. do you remember that? >> sure. tell me the story. >> i was a little discouraged, and back when reagan was president. [laughter] he had just called russia the evil empire, and that's not the way you get -- it's not the way you make friends. i'm -- i'm having a hard time keeping from getting discouraged, you know, to getting rid of nuclear weapons and having peace in the world. and they said, ted, e

previously, to nelson mandela and kofi annan. they said snowden needs to be honored for shedding light on the systemic infringements by u.s. and european secret services. and the award will be handed out next month. >>> and there's michael from last night's fight. >> every fight has controversy in the ring and out of it. four days of heavy criticism. 64-year-old veteran boxing judge, ross, is stepping down. saying that she will not score any fights in the immediate future, and has not made a decision whether to quit permanently. >>> in the nfl, bad news for one of the earlier contingents for the super doppler. he suffered an injury it his left foot. and it required season ending surgery >> reporter:. >> in baseball, a new baltimore ooriole record last night. during the peak of the baseball steroid era in the 1990s. we'll have more sports news coming up in 20 minutes. >> michael, appreciate it. for decades, republicans had had it their own way in texas. but a massive grassroots campaign is hoping to change that. group called battl

. >> bob, i think back to a year ago when kofi annan was there and they made a cease-fire deal and thatly broke apart even though the regime made various promises and continued their attack on holmes. someone that used to work in intelligence, bob, how reliable do you know is our intelligence on where syria's chemical weapons are and how much they have? i've heard estimates all over the map. >> anderson, i can answer that question and tell you what we know. their stuff is very good. vx and sarin, very sophisticated. we reached a high level, but we were never able to monitor the actual quantity produced. if they should produce records now, we would have no way to verify those are correct. >> that's what we would have to rely on, correct? the syrian regime's -- >> not really. >> no? >> the interesting thing about records of production, it's very hard to fake. there is inputs, there is production, there is intermediate products and we proved in the case of iraq that tried to lie about production, that if you get the numbers you can detect that. it's like a complex accounting effort. it rea

secretary kofi annan attended that reception. soros is best known for the british pound in 1992. one trade netted him $1 billion. he has been divorced twice. maybe he's in love? >> our best luck to that couple. i think they are going to make it. >> i want to see more video. >> i want to see the prenup. >> always interesting with a billionaire. >> third marriage, right? >> third, yeah. >> good luck. >> third time is a charm. >>> coming up. >> the next thing we know, we heard some shots and people rushing. ak-47. >> terrorists storm a kenyan mall. dozens murders and nearly 200 injured. the standoff with terrorists continuing this morning with hostages still being held inside. arwa damin' on is live with us the latest after the break. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! it's lots of things. all waking up. connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. we're going to wake the world up. and watch, with eye

this conflict began, but from the beginning, they have been lying and, you know, using when secretary kofian was there, negotiating with him on the one hand and intensifying attacks on the other hand. >> yeah, i think that is eventually going to work against assad. if he continues to play that kind of game, he'll find himself in the position where milosevic was in, where nobody trusted anything he said including when the russians acted as guarantors for his word. and if that is the case, if we were to move toward military action again, there would be a much broader consensus behind it. >> when we hear about them moving these chemicals, before we'd talked about how dangerous it can be to move chemical weapons to make them leave the country in order to destroy them. what is so dangerous about the idea of moving them around? and does that raise a concern for you? >> it does raise a concern, anderson because, in fact, the road network and while you're moving these weapons, they're the most vulnerable to ambush an attack. the syrian road network is not secure. it's neither secure physically bec

secretary-general and enjoy for syria kofi annan after he met today. >> it's constructive, positive and i hope we get something really constructive out of it. the stakes are high and everybody realizes that. >>> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in geneva where secretary of state meets with foreign minister on the syrian crisis trying to get past the tension that erupted on the first day of talks. as taliban attacked u.s. consulate in iraq, afghanistan, a lot happening on the foreign front p joining me "washington post" diplomatic correspondent ann gearen, terrorism expert michael leiter. first of all these talks did not start on a happy note. a lot of tension. why? >> it started yesterday and it's really because the two sides, u.s. and russia are coming at it from a different standpoint. russia wants this to be about stopping any chance of u.s. military action. secretary kerry is here on orders from president obama to make it really mean something by which they think they have to keep up the pressure on military axe. right from the get go they were at a bit of a loggerheads. you sensed tha

you know, at that time the secretary-general of the u.n., kofi annan was critical of the fact that countries went around the security council. he was equally critical of the security council for being paralyzed. >> this secretary-general said yesterday he highlighted the fact that under the u.n. convention, which obviously we are a party to, there are two legitimate bases under the legitimate convention for act of force. one is in self-defense, the other is through the u.n. security council resolution. neither applies here, is he wrong? >> chris, what we have here is something that in our judgment is very legitimate, because we have, as i said, a norm that's been around for nearly 100 years. against the use of chemical weapons, if we don't stand up for it, if other countries don't stand up for it, the norm will be gutted. and we will see two things happen. we'll see assad continue to use these weapons with impunity, and we'll see other countries in the region and beyond who have such weapons or aspire to get them, come to the conclusion that it's okay to use them. and nothing will happen. >>

there was that kofi annan plan th that called for the regime to withdraw from certain areas.idn't live up to that either. so no belief the syrian government will allow the international community full control over its chemical weapons. they say this is a stall tactic which the united states and other countries should not fall for. >> joining me now is florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. great to have you here. a lot of fast moving parts. you have come out publicly supporting any strikes on syria. what do you make of the, now, proposal of syria saying it will agree to russia's idea to put their chemical weapons under international control? >> well, as the expression goes, trust but verify. we have to make sure we reverse it and say let's verify, then trust. then what president obama has always said throughout this conflict is that our first priority and our strong preference is to make sure we facilitate a diplomatic solution. the credible threat of a limited military strike has brought syria and russia to the point where they for the first time have, one, acknowle

syrian regime, a regime which has lied repeatedly, which had said there would be a peace deal with kofi, a regime that said there would be referendums and open protests allowed and was repeatedly lied over the last two years, do you believe they would actually be willing to give up chemical weapons? >> not at all. they are just playing with time. they are just buying time. this is a regime that if it says good morning, believe me, it is evening. it has been lying even over the weather news. it cannot be true by any means no way. >> so what do you think they're doing? >> the only thing that they just wanted, they are just buying time. just believe me. think of that. how can just inspectors go in? how would they move their equipment when there is a war inside? when will the regime agree? the regime has been lying about chemical weapons for the past four or five decades saying it never had them. only a few months ago they were just denying we don't have chemical weapons. now we have them and they have the biggest stockpile in the world. now they admit that. >> so now they're not lying abou

syrian regime, a regime which has lied repeatedly, which had said there would be a peace deal with kofime that said there would be referendums and had said there would be open protests allowed and was repeatedly lied over the last two years, do you believe they would actually be willing to give up chemical weapons? >> not at all. they are just playing with time. they are just buying time. this is a regime that if it says good morning, believe me, it is evening. it has been lying even over the weather news. it cannot be true by any means no way. >> so what do you think they're doing? >> the only thing that they just wanted, they are just buying time. just believe me. think of that. how can just inspectors go in? how would they move their equipment when there is a war inside? when will the regime agree? the regime has been lying about chemical weapons for the past four or five decades saying it never had them. only a few months ago they were just denying we don't have chemical weapons. now we have them and they have the biggest stockpile in the world. now they admit that. >> so now they'r

in addition, the kenyan's president own nephew and neff eye's fianceÉ were killed along with kofi anuna ambassador to the united nations. the attackers also came from all over the world, including the united states. >> we have an idea who these people are and they are clearly a national coalition. we go out, we have an idea, and we also have an idea that this is not clear a local event. we have fighting in here. >> after making a condolence call to the president before leaving the white house this morning, president obama met with nigerian president at the united nation and pledged u.s. support. >> the international community has to stand against the excellence e. senseless violence that these kind of moves represent. >> back in kenya family members of the victims mourned their losses. as night fell, the site remained a crime scene. >> we will we'll have much more on the situation in kenya right after the other news of this day. in pakistan, the death toll rose to 85, with more than 140 wounded, one day after a taliban attack on a christian church. it happened in peshawar, where a pair

you recall back to iraq and saddam, we literally were single minutes away from launching lams when kofind -- >> same ole same ole? >> same old. >> how would the military respond if, for example, congress did not authorize the use of force and the commander in chief said, go? >> well, the constitution says the president -- >> they'll go -- >> -- commander in chief. >> i know that. but what effect does that have? >> obviously, the military wants to be sure the american people are behind any action they take and that's voiced through their representatives. and that could create a morale problem if we have that split. we like to make sure the american people are behind everything we do. we've learned that from vietnam. >> let me go to you, jeremy. you've been on the hill, top job in the pentagon. top job at the cia. if the president couldn't make his case before, can he possibly make it now? >> well, actually, gloria, he's been making the case all week. it's been a couple of days. it took a little while to get the intelligence declassified and put out. it took a while for international cons