after almost five years and more than 250,000 lives lost, the international push for peace in syria takes center stage today. ♪ ♪ hello i am martin dennis, you are with al jazeera live from doha. also to come on the program. the trial of another prominent human rights lawyer in beijing, but is it china's record on civil liberties in the docks? perhaps the shortest term in office ever for a south african finance minister after 48 hours he is out and a new man takes the job.

more signs of trouble for brazil's embattled president, thousands of protesters called for her to step down. ♪ ♪ france is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers as part of preparation for a third round of talks by world powers on syria next week in new york. this is the most significant push yet by the international community to find a solution to the conflict. more than 250,000 people have been killed and over a million injured in this five-year civil war, most of them are civilians. nearly 7.6 million syrians are displaced making it the largest displacement crisis in the entire world. the u.n. says more than 12 million people inside syria are in need of humanitarian assistance. a 12-fold increase since the beginning of the war.

and there have been more casualties reported within the period of time 24 hours, government missiles along with russian jets have targeted a rebel strong hold on the outskirts of damascus, people were killed including women and children. paul reports. >> reporter: in this moment of sheer pan and i can desperation, talk of a truce is irrelevant. bloodied bodies clutter the floor of a temporary basement clinic in d douma. in this rebel strong hold. lifeless infants are checked for vital signed, on another table a doctor tries to save another child who has lost his legs. the streets of douma are littered with debris and charts of glass making it dill to reach toss this need the syrian observatory human rights say at least 28 people were killed and dozens injured on sunday. most of the victims were children and women.

at a market and a school. activists say syrian and russian jets were targeting rebels who she would damascus from the area. syria's state-run news agency says rebels launched mortars in to damascus on sunday killing a young did i recall and injuring three others. this latest exchange of fire between rebels and the government comes as united nations humanitarian chief steven o'brien toured government-held areas, including damascus and homs. o'brien is trying to assess the needs of millions of we hearinged syrians. the u.n. has prosed a ceasefire deal that would allow humanitarian aid in and some civilians to lead. it's also hoping it will lead to a nationwide truce. this follows a saudi-sponsored initiative to iewn ube five th l opposition and hold talks with the regime. the leader of the al-nusra front is criticizing that proposal saying syria's government is no

longer in charge. >> translator: the regime only controls 20% of sear yakker the army has lost power it has term ed in to group of factions now the groups have more weapons than the regime has. >> reporter: the u.n. says at least 220,000 people have been killed since the start of the war in march 2011. and for the millions of syrians living in this devastation, there appears to be no end in sight. paul, al jazeera. yemeni government and houthi representatives are due to meet in switzerland on tuesday for u.n.-brokered peace talks, a ceasefire meanwhile has been agreed that will come in to effect at midnight on monday. but in the run up to that, the fighting has continued. this is a scene in the city of

tays otaiz on sunday. saudi-led airstrikes killed at least 54 rebels and their allies. five pro-government fighters lost their lives during the fighting. >> translator: president hadi sent a letter to the u.n. envoy, estate ed in the message that a ceasefire is to begin on december 15th. houthis said in their media they will start the ceasefire another midnight in houthis stop fighting then the war is over. tear gas and water canyons fired in the mainly kurdish city in turkey. residents have been demonstrating against the curfew which was imposed 11 days ago. it was lift odd friday for four hours. many people left their homes in fear of renewed clashes between security forces and the out loud kurdistan workers party. the march follows the shooting of a prominent kurdish lawyer on saturday. the trial of a leading chinese human rights lawyer in beijing has ended after just

five hours. there were scuffles as police tried to move protesters and the media away from the courthouse. he has spent more than a year and a half in prison already because of comments he posted on line criticizing the ruling party. live now for adrian brown our correspondent in beijing, adrian you were part that have melee weren't you outside the courthouse trying to get access to the trial. tell us a bit more about what happened. >> reporter: well, you know, we had anticipated some opposition from the police to our presence there today, not just us, of course, but also foreign diplomats. and it's fair to say that the police heavily out numbered the media contingent. as we arrived in front of the courthouse at about 8:00 this morning, we were swiftly marched away by the police. not wrestled to the ground which has often happened in the past but simply guided away to an area that was some 30 to

40 meters away from the courthouse. at about the same time some supporters turned up, they began chanting. one even said that the president was despicable, that's an extraordinary act of defines dee given the climate in china at the moment. we walked way, as we were walking down a side street we came across a group of three people, including a woman who had come from shanghai and they unfurled two banners which wine ease characters saying that pu was innocent, please set him free. again, another glimpse of defiance, the sort of defiance that was in the air around the court today. now, as you rightly pointed out in your introduction, his trial has now ended. as a decision is made on what sentence he will receive. now, he will almost certainly receive a jail term. it's very unlikely that he will be set free. before the trial the reports in various media outlets was that

he could expect a sentence between five and eight years. he's been accused, martin, of what the chinese call provoking quarrels and inciting hatred. he posted a number of -- he made a number of post on his social media here in china, seven posts in particular which got him in to trouble. one post in particular referred to what was happening in the far western region and pu said that what china was doing there was basically colonialism. in another he said that the communist party from top to bottom lie to the people every day. now, these are very blunt messages and they were designed to goad the communist party and he certainly succeeded. martin, in doing that. >> okay, thank you very much. adrian brown our correspondent there live in beijing. now, patrick is china researcher the amnesty international joining us live from hong kong. adrian was referring to the climate, the current climate in china. what is the current climate?

we understand that the president is making a high-profile crack down on corruption. >> you can see the trial is politically motivated trial. silencing these people you can see the lack of transparency in the court proceeders and lots of irregular at this in the proceeders that led to this morning's trial and also the crack down on the supporters outside the court, you can see how, you know, the severe situation is increasing in china on cracking down dissidents. >> so your complaint would be then, that due process hasn't been followed in terms of the judicial system and the way that mr. pu has been treated? >> we haven't seen due process being followed. in this case and also in some

other cases on disdid he wants. we can see the lack of legal transparency leads to the lack of fair trail triol to these people and crack down on the freedom of speech in china. >> we have seen what appears to be something of a crack down this year alone, witness we on human rights activists, particularly on lawyers, why is that? >> you can see it because the increase reference in these lawyers in having [ inaudible ] and the privilege. the government is very concerned about whether these lawyers will be coming influential force in the seed that will lead to the fear affecting stability in china. but it's not grounded because what we can see from these lawyers, even in pu case he only posted on his social media count which cannot be seems a threat to the government at all. >> okay, patrick, thank you very much indeed for talking to us

live from hong kong, thank you. now to south africa where tremendous jacob zuma has replaced the country's finance minister just days after appointing him. david took on the job on wednesday. but president zuma was hugely criticized for the move. let's go live now to johannesburg. am i right in saying we have had three finance ministers in almost as many days? >> reporter: that's exactly right, martine. it's been quite a chaotic week in south africa, related to the economy. president jacob zuma first replaced one last week on wednesday, with david, a little known municipal manager as finance minister. as you mentioned there was massive criticism and outcry from opposition commentators, analysts against jacob assume's decision, at that points he didn't say why he was replacing

him. only after that massive criticism did he say that he was -- that [ inaudible ] was possibly standing for a position in a regional position with the bank here in southern africa. since then after david was appointed and was sworn in on thursday last week, over the weekend, there has been reports of the alliance meet, the congress of south african trade unions as well as the south african communist party. they are meeting with president zuma very unhappy with this decision and, of course, late on sunday we saw david removed from the position and replaced by former finance minister gordon, he was minister between 2009 and 2014. that move, welcomed, but of course martine, still great concern about this reshuffling of the cabinet and three ministers in just a few days. >> absolutely. >> reporter: destabilizing the

economy. >> i was going to say, not only was there a lot of concern about president zuma's, what seemed to be fairly erratic action but the markets and business didn't like it at all. as you mentioned. south africa the rand taking a big hit. >> reporter: a massive tumble for the rand, we saw record lows towards the end of last week. the randy going to 16 rand to a dollar. we haven't seen anything like that before. but as soon as the announcement was made that gordon would return to the finance ministry the rand did gain some strength. but commentators here said much more is need today restore confidence in south africa's economy going forward. at least some understanding about who gone gordon is. he was a finance minuter and has that background and heading the revenue service before that. so a far better choice than david. analysts commentators here are

hoping it will bode well for the economy even if the decision made by president zuma was one that was very doubtful last week. >> all right. okay, thank you very much. a lot more coming up here at al jazeera, including world leaders calling on libya's warring factions but putting a peace deal in place woke be easy. plus a peace accord brought an tint to the war in bosnia, but how secure is the future, 20 years on? the only way to get better is to challenge yourself,

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look at the top stories here at al jazeera. france is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers as part of preparation for a third round of talks by world powers on syria next week in new york. syrian regime forces and russian jets have pounded rebel held strong holds in the outskirts of the capital damascus, at least 45 people were killed. a ceasefire has been agreed between the government and the rudy rebels in gem en, it's due to start at midnight on monday. ahead of the u.n. brokered talks in switzerland on tuesday. scuffles between police and protesters outside a court in beijing where a trial has been held for a leading chinese human rights lawyer. he faces a maximum eight-year jail sentence to comments he posted on line criticizing the communist party. now, world leader leaders immediateing in roam have called on libya to accept a ceasefire urging them to support a unity

government under a u.n.-backed peace deal. the rival groups are due to sign an agreement in ma rook owe on wednesday, zeina khodr reports. >> reporter: rome is from where the international community spoke with the strong and united voice. expressing its support of a u.n. deal to bring about a government of national accord in libya. it was also in rome where some of libya's rival factions showed their support for the international community's plan. they are now expected to sign the deal on wednesday. but there is still opposition to the plan, u.s. secretary of state john kerry addressed not concerns. >> there are still in inside and outside of libya for their own selfish purposes who are uninterested in reconciliation, unwilling to compromise, and who actually want this process to fail. those responsible for violence and those who obstruct and undermine libya's democratic transition need to be held strongly accountable.

>> reporter: libya has two governments, the general national congress in the west and the house of representatives in the east. there are splits within the rival administrations over the u.n. deal. but the delegates who came to rome represent powerful groups from both sides. among them, a delegation from the city of inning libya has many armed groups but their armed forces are among the most powerful and can guarantee the security of a new arely-installed government in tripoli. >> the consensus was to address the problem of security. security in tripoli. to bring the government which must be based at the end of the day in tripoli back to the capital. the seat of its institutions and the future seats of the government of national unity. >> reporter: there were encouraging statements by leaders here. but they also warned that problems still need to be resolved and it could be a long road ahead. the u.n. envoy is warning that libya is in a race against time.

the conflict has taken a toll on the civilian population, lawlessness is worsen, but it's not just that. world leaders gathered here amid mounting concerns that isil's growing strength in libya will give it a gateway to europe. that's why the international community is pressuring libya's rival to come together to stop fighting each other and instead focus on defeating isil. under the u.n. plan, the new government would be able to request international military assistance in the fight against the armed group. the military option is on the table and the world is in agreement to prevent libya from becoming another base to isil. >> translator: the threat that isil poses is significant. it's especially concentrated in the area around sert. the international community will tackle this threat in the next few months. the same way we are tackling it in other countries. >> reporter: for now this is a victory. libyans seem to be on the road to peace. in the words of the u.n. envoy,

the train has left the station. but years of power struggles and divisions mean that the road ahead could still lead to a turn for the worse. zeina khodr, al jazeera, rome. it has been 20 years since the official signing of a deal that restored peace in bosnia and hertz go convenient arm the so-called dayton agreement was ratified on this day in paris. it ended one of modern europe's bloodiest conflict the bosnian war in over 100,000 people were killed. bosnia was preserved as a single state but was split in to two parts a muslim crow at federation and i serb republic, the deal did bring peace but at the same time, many say it reinforced the ethnic divisions let's go live now david chater who is in sarajevo, you'll remember, won't you, exactly what the situation was 20 years ago, i know you covered it.

>> reporter: yes, mar fine last time i was in this steering the beautiful city it was, was back in 1993 at the height of the seesiege. they were causing casualties and deaths every single day, children, well, men and their defenders were all the casualties. now 20 years later i have been trying to gauge the mood here to talk to the people what those 20 years have meant for them. has there been any progress? here is what they have been saying. sarajevo was the iconic heart of the brutal ethnic conflicts that marked the disintegration of yugoslavia. the siege of the bie serbian forces lasted for 44 months the longest record ed in mod were warfare. shells and sniper fire rained down on civilians and defenders alike. killing more than 11,000 of its people. monday is the 20th anniversary

of the signing of the dayton peace accords in paris, that brought peace to sarajevo and ended a war that had forced more than 2 million people from their homes and killed an estimated 100,000 across the former communist state. with such a painful past the question is, can sarajevo's future ever be truly secure? the conflict may now be frozen, but many liberal politicians in the city fear that the past could come back to haunt them. >> the presence of the past is eating the every day lives of people away. we are going back to the politicization of the ethnic divisions that are still -- that still exist in the country that are a byproduct of the war and in a way they were cemented by the peace accords. >> reporter: cemented too in the streets of the city reminders of where savill civilians were cutn during the siege, the so-called

roses of sarajevo. at an art gallery in the historic heart of the city. she told me about the explosion of color that has come back to her are her work since the siege ended a siege that strangled any desire in her to paint. >> translator: we were all exposed to dealing shelling our lives were so simple and we didn't know whether we would wake up the next morning alive. >> reporter: hope for the future is hard to find in this city. a city still besieged by eights past. martine, i have been trying to find out exactly why that hope is lacking. why 20 years afterwards there is still no sort of prospect of a real secure peace. perhaps it's because the dayton accord actually froze the ethnic divisions. so to get a wider perspective on what is happening here i have with me an independent political analyst.

adnan. perhaps you could answer that question for me, adnan, why is it that there has been so little progress after two decades? >> well, i guess the best way to describe bosnia today is to say it's a captured state. what happened after the period of heavy international involvement up until 2006, is the period of gradual transfer of ownership to a local political elites and what happened meanwhile is the same local political elite plagued with nepotism, corruption, are basically making the situation even worse. starting with 2006 bos bosnia in first a stagnate state and then a regression in every possible way, we are a country which is plagued with socioeconomic problems. and the best way to address this issue is to basically see whether we can -- or whether it's possible actually to organize or to mobilize people across ethic lines for something that seems to be the most

salient issue which apparently didn't work. so i guess the new approach by the european union which is now the principle actor in bosnia to try to compel our political elites to deal with the socioeconomic issues and this is play been going on for the past year. >> reporter: ahead man, perhaps you could tell me is there a feeling in this city, which i have very much felt during the siege that the international community has more or less abandoned the city? >> i guess it's pretty clear right now. there was during the war and after the war there was a heavy international involvement in boss knee a it went as far as to the left of micro managing affairs. whether it was protector at or what was it. the true nature of the countries we was not clear. after 2006 it's not an issue i. so, yes, we are left to our own

devices right now and i have to say we are not stellar performers for the time being. i guess it will take her on time and perhaps a different way of international involvement to help us actually overcome these problems. >> reporter: adnan, thanks very much for that analysis. so not a pretty picture here from sarajevo. one whereas i said before, a hope seems to be in short supply in this city. now back to you, martine. >> david chater live in sarajevo, thank you. now calls for the impeach think of brazil's president are getting louder. protest across the country have been venting their from us straying at dilma rousseff who was elected less than a year ago. that that are a ga fine report from sao paulo. >> reporter: protesters fill the main avenue wearing green and yellow he, the colors of the brazilian flag, this is the heart of brazilian finance, sao paulo state is also where president dilma rousseff's

worker's party was established. one of the founders is 93-year-old el yo, disgusted with corruption, he left the party a decade ago. he filed a petition calling for the impeachment of the preside president. the crowd roared when he said dill mark the country is not yours or the worker's party, it's our country. one of the themes of this protest is this duck. it's a play on a popular brazilian phrase we won't pay the ducks, meaning brazilians are fed up paying for the mistakes of others. a reference to the wise spread corruption in government and the economic crisis in the country. youth leader has become a celebrity of sorts in brazil. he says young people who are facing 19% unemployment are mobilized, both for and against impeachment. >> translator: i believe the majority is against the government. it's a generation that wants a political change, we don't believe in political parties or

even the politicians that are now in power. >> reporter: this retiree says she's been waiting for change for 30 years. she calls rousseff a puppet. she says she knows that the president is -- if the president is impeached the next one who replaces her may not be better but she feels it would send a message. >> if we implement impeachment with her this will be the beginning of the biggest change we need here in my country. >> reporter: organizers wanted 100,000 people to turn out on sunday, president rousseff supporters are planning protest says of their own next week. natasha ghoneim, sao paulo brazil. france's far right party has been defeat ed in the second round of regional elections the national front failed to win a single region despite leading in six of 13 regions in the first round of voting which was just over a week ago. the ruling social assists of

president francois hollande won in five regions while the center right party of former president nicholas czar cozy took president to find out more about the election and the rest of the day's news you can go to the al jazeera website. aljazeera.com. the n.r.a. this is third. >> americans fear fresh attacks from i.s.i.l. after the massacre in san bernardino. republicans say efforts by democrats to restrict gun sales will not make the country safer. >> not one of the proposals of