only on al jazeera america >> welcome back to this news hour in doha. >> this will be the beginning of the end of terror in nigeria. >> nigeria's president welcomes international help to fight the armed group boc boko haram. >> dozens of syrian government

soldiers are reportedly killed by rebels in aleppo. >> i'm in louisiana, at a different kind of rodeo, this one at a state prison and the inmates are cowboys. >> nigeria's president said his country will win a war on terror, despite another attack by armed fighters in the northeast. boca has ram rebels are excused of killing 300 people in the an area where over 270 school girls were abducted last month. speaking of the word's economic forum, foreign nations were thanked for their support. >> as a nation, we are facing attack of terrorists. let me appreciate individually

an collectively for your support for us, your sentiments. you have supported us to win the war against terror. i believe this will be the beginning of the end of terror in nigeria. >> there is growing international pressure on nigeria's government to find the missing girls. the united states, britain, france and china are now helping in the search. aljazeera was the first international media organization to visit the area the girls were abducted. we have this report. >> a traumatized mother, esther hasn't come to terms with the abduction of her 15-year-old

daughter. she still thinks it's a bad dream she'll awake from. her daughter is among the over 270 girls taken by boko haram fighters. more than three weeks on, they remain missing. >> i prefer that you go into my house, burn my house, break everything inside of my house, that would be better for me than taking my daughter, even taking my life, at that moment, i think i'm satisfied more than taking my daughter away. i'm not happy at all. i just feel like killing myself. >> most of the families in this once vibrant community, for them, life will never be the same. homes and government offices were set on fire by the attackers, but the sharpest pain inflicted on the people was here, at the girls' secondary school. >> a month ago, this school was full of life, hundreds of girls here were looking forward to fulfilling their dreams, and now

it lies in ruins and the girls all gone. >> their attackers came before midnight and bundled more than 300 girls on trucks before taking them into the forest. 53 of them escaped. among them, this girl, who's father insists we hide her identity, fearing she might be targeted especially after the arrest of protestors in the nigerian capitol. >> after they attacked the town, they then took us to their camp. i and three other girls lied to them, saying that we needed to use the toilet. that is how we ran away. they chased us, but we kept running. >> there is a sense of fear in the community, but people are outraged at the suggestion that the abduction never took place. >> this is not only baffling and amazing, but heartbreaking that the initial tragedy, a global calamity is being politicized.

>> the news that help from some foreign powers is underway is comforting, but the tragedy long lasting. >> there is anger and fear within the community. the government and security forces have failed to rescue the girls. when aljazeera traveled to speak to parents looking for their daughters, the pain is evident to see in this once vibrant community. on the road, it's easy to see the impact of this five years of violence has had on the once vibrant state. entire communities have been rooted and people have to go to areas where they feel safe to live. crops and farmland of unattended

to, schools burned and commercial activities ground to a halt in some communities. the governor of this state told aljazeera that the impact is beyond imagination. this was once a vibrant commercial center in the northeast, a very, very important trade center within nigeria, cameroon and chad. now everything is unraveling and communities are getting more and more fearful of boko haram attacks. meanwhile attacks have abated. boko haram are focusing on isolated communities where it can take time to help such

communities. >> >> the abduction of these girls marks a turning point fighting boko haram with world powers joining the search for the girls. do you think that's the case? >> it is a significant statement in that actually boko haram hasn't received this much national attention since it reemerged in 2010 as a far more vital organization, nor has the nigerian federal government come under so much national scrutiny in terms of responds to the boko haram crisis. >> just how do you think the united kingdom, the u.s., china, just how are they going to be involved? >> so far, promises of support include assistance through sending expert teams, small expert teams, you are looking at

logistical communication experts, technical equipment, the expertise to use the equipment. the expert team sent by the u.s., france, china and also canada and australia are interested in supporting this effort. the point of this is that thisrs particular event. these abductions, not necessarily about the wider boko haram cries, which has been involving over a long period of time. >> do you think it will open the doors for more international involvement as a whole? >> it might do, however, i think all of nigeria's international partners are aware that this crisis has been growing over a long period. this is not simply a narrow

security threat, it is political and economic in terms of how this organization has developed. any attempt to address the crisis is not going to be simple or short. i think nigeria's international partners will be very cautious in how they approach this. furthermore, the federal government of nigeria has not actively south assistance in the past to respond to the crisis. nigeria does have professionally armed forces and should be able to respond to this organization effectively. >> ok. elizabeth, thank you very much for joining us. >> accept are a activities in eastern you a crane say they will go ahead with plans to hold a referendum on independence from kiev despite a request from russia's president vladimir putin to postpone the vote set may 11. accept are a activities leaders in donetsk say pressure from

kiev is only adding to the need for a wrench did you mean, ballots printed and they've set up 1,000 polling stations. the ukrainian government said it will disregard the results and anti terror operations will continue. >> interesting that the accept are a activities in east ukraine are joining putin's suggestion to postpone the referendum. what does that say about the extent or lack of control that the kremlin has over them? >> i think that of course russia has influence over the in surgeons in eastern ukraine, but i don't think this is absolute. i would say it's about the same as the influence pakistan has over in is your generalities, most inside kashmir. these insurgents are now dying

during this so-called anti terrorist, it's not mr. putin dying there, so they don't want to die for nothing. the problem is that they only put one question to the people, do you want the regions to be declared sovereign states, to become sovereign. i'm not sure that this is fees i'll for these two regions to become sovereign states. the best solution is for them sooner or later to get some sort of yo autonomy from kiev to elet their own governors. they can't now, they get them from kiev. in order for this to become feasible, there should be compromise. >> how interested is russia in seeing these areas becoming

sovereign states? >> i think russia is not interested in turmoil and killing on its borders, because if refugees start coming, right now, there are very few, but they may come in greater numbers if fighting continues. russia will be the first to suffer. russia has been animately opposed to the military operation with the use of army. i think russia will stay opposed to it, but the problem is that the west does not criticize kiev for using the army, although just two months ago, when mr. yanukovych was preparing probably to use force, the west said that the use of army in kiev under similar circumstances would be crossing the red line. >> one of the issues that really hasn't been cleared up, we've got two sides saying very different things is the extent of the russian involvement in the rebel movement, separatist

movement in the east in terms of perhaps personnel, even just in terms of logistics, weapons, uniforms, just how much presence is there from russia in eastern ukraine? >> well, i think that there may be some help from russia, but in general, i think the amount of this assistance is exaggerated by the western media and the western politicians. what happened in ukraine is a tragedy, which was a consequence of a huge miscalculation, you know, when the western powers supported the coup in kiev, they didn't expect that the consequences would be so dramatic. now, they blame all the violence in the east of ukraine on russia, and i'm not is that your this is exactly fair, because the border between the two states is closed. the ukrainian government said that russian males between 16-60 are not recommended to cross the border unless they have a dying

relative or special business in ukraine. i'm not sure that russia would be physically able to put up such a formidable resistance movement on its own. there is some grievance, local grievance in the over the of ukraine and some people there ready to fight. >> ok, thanks very much for joining us on aljazeera. >> thank you. >> still ahead here on this news hour, millions of south africans have cast their ballots in general elections. stay with us for the latest results on that. >> reports a prominent chinese activists confessed to leaking documents before the anniversary of the tiananmen square. >> sports most valuable player earning his crown. details later in the program.

>> part of a truce brokered between government and rebels, in syria. we're joined from lebanon. there was a huge explosion at this aleppo hotel. how was this blast detonated? >> the islamic front claiming responsibility said they had bombs planted underneath the hotel in tunnels, and they showed pictures as the explosion takes place. you can tell it's a huge explosion that leveled the hotel and many buildings around it. it's at the edge of a neighborhood that is in the old city and some of the people in aleppo, residents have been

complaining that the explosion has also damaged some of the historical buildings in that part of town. according to the islamic front, front, they say at least 50 oh pro government soldiers had been killed in this attack and that's why they targeted the hotel, because the government was using it as a base. 14 pro government fighters were killed in the attack. >> another day evacuating from homs, how is that going? >> well, it seems that operation is going to conclude today. it's amajor operation. it's a deal that was brokered by the iranian ambassador in jair with the help of the united nations, going on for two days. there are only 200 fighters left in the old city and they will be evacuated by the end of this day. when that happens, the syrian government fores will be in full control of syria's third largest

city, homs was deemed os the capitol of the revolution and pullout from the fighters, the loft strong hold that the rebels had there is a major setback for the syrian opposition. the government was animate to regain control over these areas,s specially homs because of its symbolism, also to make sure to give an impression that things are stable enough in the country ahead of presidential elections scheduled for june 3. it's a major goal for the government to give credibility to the elections. many expect a win. >> many thanks for that update from beirut. >> anti-government groups in egypt say they've formed a coalition to bring an end to what they describe as the military coup. self prescribed politicians, including members of the muslim brotherhood have been missing in brussels. they say they will launch a council on the third of july to

commemorate the removal of the first affairs of the removele of a former president mohamed morsi. >> the muslim brotherhood and freedom and justice party agree and have signed this document as a result of intense discussion and consultation. this has been the case for two months. the council to be formed and regulations laid down will bring revolutionary and opposition forces together. >> three aljazeera journalists have been held in an egyptian prison for 131 days. they are falsely accused of conspiring to the outlawed muslim brotherhood, the group declared a terrorist organization by egypt. one journalist has been on hunger strike for 108 days. aljazeera demands their immediate release. >> gross violations of human rights and serious violations of

humanitarian law is how the u.n. mission in south sudan is describing thdescribing the cri. >> towns burned to the ground. the fighting and destruction has displaced more than a million people. in every place affected by the fighting, the bodies of the dead have been left out in the open. fighting in gulfed on the 16 of december and spread around the country. civilians became targets because of their tribe. peter has to live under the protection of the u.n. at a camp for the displaced. he's so afraid of retribution, we couldn't identify him. he was taken there after surviving the massacre of 300 men from his new air tribe. he was locked in a room with hundred was others on the outskirts of the city without explanation. >> after it got dark, an armed soldier appeared in each window and doorway of the room, firing

at us from outside. when everything was quiet, they came inside to look for survivors. they went around the room with a torch, looking for moving people and when they found them, shot them dead. i hid under corpses and pretended to be dead and they never found me. >> of the 200 or 300 men inside the room, a dozen survived. most of the tribe now either live at the u.n. camp or fled the city. >> what began as a political contest between the president who's from the dinka tribe and his former deputy soon spiraled into full blown ethnic conflict. there were attempts to suppress the ethnic nature of the violence, but it was so widespread over time it just simply wasn't possible. the destruction continued at territory changed hands from government to rebels and back again. in some cases, five or six times. >> with each exchange, violence

escalated with civilians targeted. in the town, aid workers found patients shot in their beds by rebel forces taking the down back from the government army. by april, other places of sanctuary were attacked and others took place in a town at a mosque. they were perceived as loyal to government forces. days later, there was a reprisal attack at a base. another mess kerr, 46 people killed, this time in sight of u.n. peace keepers. >> what is happening really, all of them have committed atrocities, each side have to be accountable. >> each attack brings reprisals and an escalation as to the

violence. the political leaders agreed to meet for peace talks, but the divulges so entrenched there are concern a political solution won't stop the killings. aljazeera, south sudan. >> the head of the u.n. mission in south sudan said the cycle of violence is showing little signs of abating. >> the report calls for an end to the violence, because it shows the gravity of what has been going on in south sudan since december 15. a crisis has been really of major proportions. we have seen in the report serious violation of international law, gross violations of human rights, atrocities committed on both sides. we have also found reasonable grounds for war crimes having been committed on both sides.

the report calls for further investigations to substantiate and document the latter and it calls for accountability. justice must happen. the victims are deserving this. >> thailand's former prime minister is facing further legal troubles a day after forced from office. the anti corruption minister accused her of a rice scheme. >> it was part of an election pledge, buying rice from farmers above market prices. critics called it a form of vote buying and said it was rife with corruption, costing the government billions of dollars. now the anti corruption agency charged former prime minister with negligence for starting the scheme. the agency recommends she be

impeached, which could see her banned from politics for five years. it's the latest development in the countries ongoing political turmoil, the streets rocked by demonstrations for six months. here a group of riot police stand guard, ready to head off trouble. this small band of pro government supporters plan to head to a building occupied by anti-government protestors. after some negotiations, they decide to turn around. a potential clash averted, but such rallies and the continued occupation of parts of bangkok is having a negative impact. >> the political gridlock and protests are affecting the economy. government project improving infra structure is a long run. >> thailand prospects for growth have been downgraded, business and consumer confidence also

down. people say it's getting hard tore cope with rising prices. she is getting tired of the political crisis. >> it was all right at first, but it's gone on for too long now, getting tiresome and it doesn't seem its going to end soon. >> both pro and anti-government protestors plan to hold major rallies over the coming days. plans from both sides to hold talks to resolve the cries, and implement reforms have amounted to nothing. many want the country to move on. >> i want it to end peacefully. we are all the same country, we are all thais. >> how to move forward when both sides seem so deeply polarized is the difficult part. aljazeera, bangkok. >> the prominent chinese activist has reportedly confessed to leaking state secrets. the state media said the

journalist is charged, the arrest coming days before marking the 21st anniversary on the crack down of protests in tiananmen square. she joins others rounded up in recent days. >> 70 years old, while not particularly well known among ordinary chinese, she is within dissident circles a prominent figure. she was paraded on state t.v. thursday morning like a common criminal. it was classic state t.v. propaganda. she was shown admitting her guilt and confessing to leaking state secrets to a foreign broadcaster. the scenes were reminiscent after the crackdown in 1989 when night after night, so-called counter revolutionaries and thugs were paraded on television. she knows what it's like to spend time in detention, defind

june 4, 1989 and held for 450 days and then in 1993, she was jailed for six years, so this is a committed and in many ways unrepentant dissident. several days ago, several others including a prominent human rights lawyer were also detained. what we are seeing is the government not toll lap of the streitest flicker of dissent, perhaps a reflection of government nervousness as the anniversary of tiananmen approaches. >> rather unusual weather in this region. >> that's right, we've been talking about the rain in afghanistan, but there's a fair amount of wet weather along the east, as well. behind me, you can see the clouds there, giving us very heavy rain, which is fairly unusual this time of year. it's not unheard of, but not a run of the norm thing. we are seeing showers out of

there and some of those quite heavy. here's the road to pet are a, where it's clearly made rather impossible thanks to all that wet weather. enjerusalem, gray and wet. the rain was worse in the desert, here we had 70 tourists evacuated as the flooding took hold. this weather is moving toward the north, improving through the next few days. jerusalem should have a fine day for us on friday, but a fair amount of clouds in beirut and showers around, as well. all of that does gradually work its way northward heading through saturday. looks like mostly, it's just going to be parts of turkey where we see the wet weather. heading further north, it means rather unusual weather over parts of europe. in moscow. this is actually snow. remember, we're in may now. we'll get up to 20 today. >> thank you very much.

>> still to come here on aljazeera, heading back to nigeria as it hosts the world economic forum on africa. i'm in sue pal low brazil, families camped out with nowhere else to go. ♪

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>> you are watching aljazeera, a reminder of our top stories, anyery. >>'s president said his country will win a war on terrorists after another attack by boko haram rebels, accused of killing 300 people in a town on the border with cameroon. >> accept are activities in eastern ukraine plan to go ahead with a wrench did you mean on independence from kiev despite russian president calling on them to postpone the vote set for may 11. >> dozens of syrian soldiers killed by rebels in aleppo. opposition fighters decimate add bomb in the hotel used as an army barracks by government forces. >> the african national congress has taken a lead in south

african elections with 60% of the vote with half the ballots counted. we have more from pretoria. >> we are at the nerve center of the election center where all the collecting and counting is going on. the people sitting there are counting. the party is seen as helping to end apartheid. imagine you live in a country where you're treated badly for the color of your skin by the majority. you won't let your children forget that, and you'll stay with the party that helped end apartheid. across the border, many people support their leading party. that could change if these liberation parties don't address

the needs of the poor. >> the first people charged under a new anti gay law in uganda appeared in court, accused of homosexuality which is a criminal offense, a law which was passed in february increased penalties, including life in prison. critics say the legislation undermines civil liberties. >> a road side bomb killed at least nine pakistani soldiers. the military said the blast happened near the border with afghanistan. no group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the area is considered a strong hold of the pakistanie taliban. >> pakistan's government denies claims that its intelligence service has detained relatives of a senior afghan leader. the head of the afghan taliban political office, the group told aljazeera that his brother was

taken last month and pakistan was trying to stop them from negotiating with foreign governments. for more, let's go live to islamabad. any role is denied in the abduction of these family members. to what extent do they know what's going on in the spy agency? >> first of all, no spy agency will ever admit that it has taken somebody, however the report said we have been gathering from our sources, saying the two brothers were arrested at different locations. both brothers were arrested. one was with his father, an old and ailing man. he was arrested. the other brother was said to have been arrested elsewhere. there is no confirmation as to

who arrested them. there was speculation that this was an attempt by pakistan to sabotage the on going peace talks. there were question marks about some of the other negotiators. we are told they may not be seeing eye to eye on crucial issues because of refusing to talk with the afghan government. as far as the brothers are confirmed, there is no confirmation. the ministry said these reports were totally baseless. >> what is the role of the pakistani government in efforts to reconcile the afghan government with the taliban there in that country? >> well, first of all, you have to see despite the fact that pakistan said it will do whatever is possible to facilitate the talks, it said that those talks have to be

afghan led. interestingly, he has always said he is not willing to talk to the karzai government. karzai that the foreign minister and ambassador to pakistan, he has tried on several occasions to tell those two extaliban leaders to contact directly. it appears that the military commanders are not willing to carry forward with those negotiations, particularly after what happened in doha, where the taliban office was flying its flag and then the afghan government objected, so that incident, of course, has a

deadlock. >> thanks very much. yemen forces have captured a major al-qaeda strong hold in the southern province. the last goal in a military fight over the past days. we've government out ting all these gains in the offense. is it doing quite as well as it's saying? >> a particular goal, particularly that hazan has been held by al-qaeda since 2011 and they established what they call an islamic state, and some of the top leaders of al-qaeda and the arabian peninsula are believed to be operating there. just a few days ago, they lost --

>> there are huge concerns here about attacks by al-qaeda. they've made it quite clear that they would hit and -- they would target government officials --

>> 40,000 thrown out of their country by their own government because of a border dispute between black african and arabs, 25,000 years later, refer gees still live in senegal afraid to go back because of racism. we report from the senegal mothertainian border.

>> the u.n. provides identity cards allowing them to travel to country except make yourtain i can't. >> we believe the conditions are appropriate for the return and integration of these refugees to their home country. >> thousands of them marched 300 kilometers, arriving in the capitol on sunday. they demanded the return of property seized by the state. they were not welcomed. the racial divide is simply too difficult to overcome. many black mauritanians believe they are better off as refugees

in senegal than as citizens in their own country. >> the government in mauritania agreed to repatriot on a case by case basis. people believe it's too dangerous to go back. most of these refugees were born in senegal. they believe their future is here. >> sport coming up, including the city of belfast turning pink for the sport of cycling. we'll explain why.

>> the penguins extend their series lead 2-1 and are one win away advancing to the eastern

conference semifinals. >> the houston texan will pick first at the nfl draft. johnny manziel is expected to be a top five pick. all eyes will be on michael sam, the university of missouri standout. if drafted, he will become the nfl's first openly gay player. >> for more, we're joined by john henry smith, who's live from new york. john henry, i mentioned some of the top picks. is there a science behind making the right pick? >> i think certainly evaluators look at talent, production and desire. they measure the talent by how was you can run, how much you can lift, how high you can jump. if you don't meet certain baseline levels, you're not even

considered for the most part. production, they look at your college career and see how much did you produce on the field, did you do well as a football player. then the desire, do you have what they call a high motor and desire to get better, which is really testing when you're making a lot of money. it's one thing when you have no money as a college student playing football, it's another when they give you millions of dollars, do you still have that same desire to be the best that you can be. >> michael sam, a lot of talk about him becoming the first openly gay player, but is he likely to be drafted this w >> that's a very good question. he certainly won't be drafted today. this is the first round. they hold that on thursday. he won't be drafted tomorrow, because tomorrow's the second round, so his best chance is day three, saturday, which will be rounds 3-7. there are seven rounds in the draft, and the question as to whether or not he will get picked in the seventh round was

put to 21 general managers by the milwaukee journal sentinel this week and of the 21 general managers polled, 15 said they would consider picking him but only in the seventh round and seven of those general managers said that they might not draft him, they might not draft him at all. they might wait to pick him up as a free agent. i think he's slow for his position, and he's a little bit small to play closer to the line of scrimmage. easy seen as a high effort guy, that works in his favor, but his speed, strength, ability to jump very high, they're not what nfl vaulters are looking for what it comes to the prototypical nfl player. >> all right, so we'll see what happens. john henry smith reporting live for us from new york. thank you so much. >> march chester city took a big step toward winning this season's english premier title,

going two points clear at the top ahead of the final round of games. twenty-second half goals got city going. further strikes followed. it's a victory that moves city within site of a second title in three years. >> i think that we score many goals, we are always thinking score more goals and as for me of the same importance. in the way we played the whole season so far, and i hope we will play the next game in the same way, very happy to manage this team that way. >> in spain, real madrid said title ambition have suffered a huge setback after a 1-1 draw. substituted after eight minutes with a suspected hamstring injury, real were ahead before half time. scoring for a fourth consecutive game, ramos.

humberto secured share of the points. >> the tour of italy will make its grand start in belfast on friday in the city still shaking off its troubled past has gone cycling mad in anticipation. it paid more than $5 million to secure the first three days of the giro de italia. >> the pink is plastered almost every building, including churches. it's an event they never thought they'd see here. last week, adams was detained and reds in a reminder of the troubles. >> belfast pink blush has softened the hearts of hardened politicians, agreeing to take down all election posters for the forthcoming european and local polls along the race route, so there are no distractions for the millions of

t.v. viewers worldwide. >> the professionals will be battling it out across the province. the opening 21.7-kilometer nine man time team trial around belfast includes a short, sharp climb. next day, it's a 218-kilometer scenic loop, including the north coast and glees. before day three and a slightly shorter stage across the border to dublin. irish cycling hero steven roach's son, nicholas, could make the podium. >> the riders know to race here, it is a giant causeway. >> the pink shows it is a welcoming event. >> there was a minor row over

the time trial route when announced, not enough of catholic west belfast. most people are concentrating on the racing. >> we never thought a ground tour would turn up certainly not in belfast. i've seen the vuelta and tour de france, it is going to be special for everybody. everybody in belfast is excited. >> everyone is hoping to the rain will hold off here. the riders fly back to sunny italy from dublin to continue the race, which ends in three weeks' time. >> filinger woods recovers from back surgery, at risk of losing his number one ranking. four players are capable of unseating him at the players' championship starting thursday. scott is ranked second and needs to finish 16th or better to

overtake woods. scott said while he'd love to get to number one, he's more interested in winning big tournaments. >> i've had a couple good chances this year already and haven't been able to pull it off, i just wasn't sharp enough playing the last couple rounds at a few events, so i think the work since the masters has gone good and hopefully it's going to hold up this week. >> there's much more sport on our website. for all the latest, check out aljazeera.com/sport. there's details there on how to get in touch with our team using twitter and facebook. that's it for me for now, laura, back to you. >> we'll see you later. do stay with us here on aljazeera, if you can. i'll be right back with another full bulletin of news.

>> i'm joe berlinger this is the system i'd like to think of this show as a watch dog about the system... to make sure justice is being served. taken away from us, it better be done the right way. is justice really for all?

>> i'm ali velshi, the news has become this thing where you talk to experts about people, and al jazeera has really tried to talk to people, about their stories. we are not meant to be your first choice for entertainment. we are ment to be your first choice for the news. the undocumented immigrant experien. a pulitzer prize winning journalist tells us why he risked everything to go public with his story. plus the war in nigeria, and the war on drugs, is it a waste of government, plus the first undocumented immigrant . >> boko haram, the words mean,