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tv   News  Al Jazeera  April 21, 2015 3:00pm-3:31pm EDT

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p soddy led coalition has now launch add new operation. this one called renewal of hope. you are watching al jazeera live. also coming up. >> 20 years in prison. the manage known as the account at that particular time of auschwitz goes on trial at the age of 93.
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and the people behind the bullet train have come up with a new mode of transport, one that floats on air. >> hello, in two hours the coalition says it will end it's bombing campaign against houthis fighters. after a 27 day aerial assault. the military says it is achieved it's objectives of destroying all heavy weapons. renewal of hope will now be launched focusing on security aid and a political solution. they still continue to target the movement up side yemen. >> today the coalition has completed the decisive storm campaign over the quest of
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the government and the president, the campaign has been achieved and sovereignty has been protected. the yemen citizen is no longer subject to danger from houthis militias and they have lost a large part of their capabilities p we are able toen co firm they are no long ear threat to yemen citizens over neighboring countries. the government will now undertake all of races. they will continue until mid fight. and then the operation of returning home will begin with a government rebuilding yemen in a safe and secure manner we will continue to target the houthis but also continue to support and help in evacuationsuations and humanitarian support. the evacuations will continue, but they could be smallner scale. there will be some military actions whenever the command
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deems it necessary. >> so what does all this mean? we will have reaction from all sides oif story let's start with mohamed. he is monitoring developments close to the border. mohamed, the. bolling campaign we know is going to end in two hours but this won't be the end of this operation? >> yes. that's what the spokesman of the military coalition has just explained to the media actually hen numerate add few points here, i can tell you one of them is that the military action will continue when and if needed. and the coalition air jets whenever necessary. it is not the end of the fighting also the coalition will continue to prevent the houthis from moving around
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against the troops and the loyalist he also said that the control of the air space will continue so what we will see a low intensity version continuing in yemen a political operation is launched. if you look at the last few days there have been signs of what happened today. we have seen that the deputy foreign minister saying there is an expectation that a cease fire will be announced. we have seen navy ships moving to the region, and contacts and phone calls between the american president by the coe limit, everything was explained as a request he
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initially requested as part of this operation on the twenty-fourth of march and now he has requested the end of the operation. and now we should move further with hope can be restoried. it is very likely there's a political process. iran was aware of this, they have talked about it before it happened. it is unmanageable to afounds the end of these operations when they were just today returning the fact that they were last up -- one main objective has been achieved. the houthis should withdraw from the city.
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is there a deal we don't know of if they stop the air strikes will immediately move away and allow the president who is now in saudi arabia to move and then start negotiations the next few days will show that it is going to be interesting to see when we do finally hear from the president, because it had. rumored he would speak today. >> yeah, ewith have earlier reports that he is going to speak, but what we have heard tonight is a letter from the president that let ever was addressed to saudi arabia yesterday, we don't know whether this letser what was expecting or whether the president is going to speak after this announcement tonight. >> they are able to deploy
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fighters in different parts of the country and their strong hold the province, this raises questions about what we are going to see in the near future are we going to see a political settlement, where parties in yemen offer major confessions so we can move forward, are we going to see them provide forces loyal to the president with weapons
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these are questions that need to be answered in the near few churr. definitely, it is a delicate situation. >> yes and politically, one wonders what will happen with the president now effectively compiled as we know out of the country broadly across yemen may take over from him. >> absolutely, hadi is someone who has been battered, humiliated put under house arrest. so this is someone -- that is not seen as a rallying force now. this is exactly why he was appointed he was someone who will take over. he is someone who is likely to
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coordinate with the houthis. they have said they would like to work with him but now they have to wait and see what happens in the near future, on his own he cannot control yemen. he does not have the charisma that the former president has. we need to have the backing sunni tribesman political parties we have to wait and see if former presidents are willing to join the political forces and to join the legis matsy. so in fact, in a situation where we cannot predict what happened because the situation remains quite uncertain. >> how much talking is actually do you think going on behind the scenes in with all the vail yous parties involved in this complex situation? can you still hear me? >> clearly having a few
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problems with our link to the headquarters in doha, we might try to get back later in the perhap as i say great expertise on what is happening having reported from there many times before. in the moon time, the former u.s. assistant secretary of defense, and joins us as you can see from washington, d.c. i am interesting in these thoughts why they have decided it is the right time to stop the bombing campaign. >> i think that it is evidence that they were under pressure both from the united states, and in the the united states obviously is talking to iran, the international community wants to put this behind us the wrights and iran have other issues they are concerned about for isis or isil in iraq, the situation in syria, the nuclear accord that they are going on, so i they there was a lot of pressure on
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them. and the bombing alone is not going to do -- would never achieve it's objectives and with the civilian casualty and everything i think the saudis realize they have done everything they can, and the best thing now you can have is a negotiated solution, and this was a face saving way out for them, because they can say well the president wants us to do this and so therefore we are going to do it. so it wasn't specifically aiming at intercepting anything in particular, but it was going to be there.
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they won't be as effective as you wanted and don't forget everybody there is concerned with a.q.a.p., because as long as this conflict goes on, they are going to get more and more influence. >> all right joining us there from washington, d.c., appreciate your thoughts thank you so much. >> and also in washington d.c. our correspondent, he is monitoring events out there the american reaction to that breaking news in the last hour that they are going to end the bombing campaign against the houthis in about two hours time, and tom what reaction has there been so far? >> so far actually there hasn't been any at all, at least publicly, secretary of state john kerry just include add joint appearance with the turkish foreign minister in which the subject of yemen was conspicuously missing from there. points of discussion, at the same time we do know that the
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pent gone today as you said, dismissed the report that the u.s., i carrier but the administration basically is trying without saying as much, to indicate that they are probably happy that the air offensive is over yesterday the central command spokesman said that their efforts were to mitigate civilian casualties so obviously they are sensitive to the fact of the reports of civilian casualties at the hands of the saudi air strikes and also that the spokesman said we do
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not approve targets by any nations so that again an effort to try to keep a distance from identifying with the saudi led attack at the same time, it's clear that the administration is trying to show that it is not -- it is pacicly trying to hold the saudis hand for fear that the saudis might see that the iran nuclear negotiations are a factor in the whole equation. and the administration and the pentagon keeps saying that they are continuing to engang in cooperation in the realm of intelligence gathering surveillance drones, and logistical help to the saudis. >> tom acker mapp reporting live, many thanks, tom. adam barron is a fellow at the european council on foreign relations and at a yemen specialist you can see he is
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with me in studio right now your thoughts on why the saudis should decide now, two hours after the u.s. sent the aircraft carrier, why the saudis should decide it is the right time to end this? >> to be honest, we are look at far more questions than answers. a question of why this is happening what is next and there's a question of what is going on behind the scenes that we don't even know about. i think we have seen a combination of building trust races from the allies west we have also seen that pakistan, egypt, and others have counted on have shown reluctance in enganging in a drowned offensive. so i think the combination of these two things may very well have pushed saudi to do this. the fact is there has been a tremendous amount of casualties there's also. a decent amount of success in terms of taking care of the houthis, air and ballistic capabilities.
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so i think the saudis saw an opportunity where they can declare victory and move on on to a new stage. >> very difficult to know just exactly how successful the saudi air strikes have been in removing the houthis capability, presumably they have small arms on the drowned, put we don't know how many have been targeted and have how many have been taken out. >> exactly. and it is important to remember when we are talking about the houthis what we are really talking about is the capabilities of parts of the military that have backed the houthis. sos thisn't just a rebel group being taken out this means that the army has lost the vast majority of the capabilities. do you think that the saudis were almost taken aback by the reaction to the huge number of civilians that died in these? do they expect to get more?
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do you think they have been quite surprised by the scandalous reaction. >> i think it is hard to tell. >> do they take notice? >> i am not sure, to be honest i think if you look at the statements from other speakers they haven't emphasized it. so it is suggested it is not something that is effecting them. i think the real thing is that -- you know, they fail to sort of catch on, they failed to really get the houthis out of their strong hold, they did manage to stop them from areas in the south. but most importantly these strikes have really -- i think punished in terms of his popularity rather than paying the way for him to return to legitimacy. that's why when we look at who the hope is, all eyes are on baher. >> yeah, he is the newly appointed vice president.
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he is also the prime minister, he is far more popular he has some support i gather, among the houthis whose are prepared to have respect for him. >> if you ask anyone, will they think he respected and feel they can work with him i would pet you they would say that yes, he is a man that is very wide he respected from all streams. he has shown his ability to speak to the people in a way that they feel as if someone cares about them, which is a problem that the former president has had issues with. so i think there's a tremendous amount of hope for many not just in baher but that also excuse me, not just because baher will take the presidency but also that he may be the man of the moment, this man that may be able to take yemen into a brighter
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future. >> much more later but for the moment, thank you for your thoughts. >> thank you. >> egypt supposedly mohamed morrissey has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. he was the country's first democratically elected president. but was toppled in a military coupe. tuesday's verdict is the first morrissey has received since his ousting. he still faces several more trials. mohamed. mohamed morrissey escaped the death penalty he has been sentenced to 20 years in prison without the point of parole for what the prosecution says was his role in the arrests and torture of protestors at the presidential palace in 2012. three protestors were killed. he can still appeal this conviction but he also faces
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several other charges including an attempt out of rids break in 2011 where some prison officers were killed a verdict on this is expected next month. spying, he is accused of conspiring to commit terrorist acts in egypt with hamas. leaking state secrets and endangering egypt's national security. fraud in connection with the muslim brotherhood economic and social program. he is also charged with insulting the judiciary. muslim brotherhood leader along with several other defendants were also sentenced to 20 years. it was a long road to egyptian democracy, in 2011 the president was kicked out of office during a revolution against his rule, then in a devicive election in 2012, morrissey became the first democratically elected president. but the celebrations department last long, he angered many by issues an order that prevented any court from overturning his decisions
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that led to violence on the streets with opponents denouncing the president as a dictator and a new pharaoh. morsy sacked the head of the armed forces escaping a power struggle. >> i guess a decision has been taken be i the military, before running this election, the first democratic election. fair election, that at a certain point, the military will intervene and take over. >> on june 30th millions of people rallies calling for his resignation, three days later man he appointed led a coupe that removed him from power although the defends in this first trial were acquitted of intent to murder, an sentence against egypt's first democratically elected president is seen as a big plow to the muslim brotherhood and it's supporters.
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al jazeera. >> more than 400 asylum seekers have been rescued off the coast of italy, it is the late nest a series of disstressing stories of migrants trying to cross the mid trainian. a captain has. arrested in italy on manslaughter charges. after a ship carrying more than 800 people sank off the coast on sunday. on monday, a ship carrying sigh lum seekers smashed into rocks three people died. two syrian men have been charged with trafficking. on the same day the italian and mall these coast guard scrambled to respond to distress calls carrying hundreds of people. also on monday, four children were among 44 african highn't grays rescued by spanish emergency services. and proud to the southern port of montreal. al jazeera has the latest on the southern italian island. >> they were lucky an italian
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boat found them just in time, in sicily, the authorities are helping the few frightened men, who survived the sinking of a overcrowded boat off the libyan coast in the early hours of sunday morning. the initial stories of the scale of that disaster, have turned out to be hear bly accurate. we have interviewed most of the survivor i as cording to them the boat departed from tripoli, in saturday morning it had some 800 fit people on board, many of these were children. among those onboard were some 350 people from syria somalia, zero leon, mali
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senegal, ivory coast and oath those yeah. hay say this man was the captain of the both, he has been taken into custody charged with reckless homicide and causing a ship wreck. another member of the crew has also been arrested. go is from lip yeah i a accused of assisting illegal immigration, and more details are emerging as to how so many died. >> migrants were crushed inside the fishing boat. a few hundred were forced into the hole at the lowest level and they were locked and preventing from coming out. there were another 100 migrants. >> here in sicily and across europe, there's a lot of sympathy for the victims and the widespread outrage at the
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activities of the ruthless smuggling gangs but european governments have disagreed for years on ways to prevent these disasters at sea. and on ways to prevent more people from risking the perilous journey across the mediterranean. and the problem goes far beyond italian waters. further west off the coast of spain, 44 africans rescued by coast guards that come from morocco on a wooden boat. some too exhausted to walk ashore, some so young they may not remember how they arrived here to start a new life in a new con innocent. barnabie phillips al jazeera. >> and still to come on the program. >> the east of australia is
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hit by the biggest storm in a decade.
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♪ ♪ hello again welcome pack. the saudi led coalition says it is ending it's bombing campaign against houthis fighters. the saudi military says it has achieved it's objectives of destroying all heavy weapons held by the houthis. another 400 highn't grays have been rescued off the coast of italy, a captain has been arrested on manslaughter charges after a ship carrying more than 800 people sank on sunday. and egypt's leader has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. he was the country's third democratically elected president that was toppled in a military coupe. inside the coalition is ending the bombing campaign, with me now is the yemen journalist
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thank you for coming in that news broke in the last hour or so yes, of course, as soon as the announcement has been made, everybody turns into social media to express i managed to call the family, and basically they were dancing and crying out of joy i think any sort of -- any sort of referendum at the moment or crease fair, something that everybody is looking for would bit fair to say that most yemen tonight whatever their political affiliation, is pleased that the bombing is to stop. >> yes you can say that it's been really horrible for the entire country what has been happening, yemen has