officials from russia the u.s. and other countries come together to discuss a possible ceasefire in syria. hello. welcome you're watching al jazeera live from doha with me peter dobbie. the other top stories. arrests and allegations of vote rigging. u.n. violence at a camp for displaced people in south sudan is a war crime.

we will see what's taking off at the singapore air show. officials from russia, the u.s. and other countries are meeting in geneva to discuss how a ceasefire might be implemented in syria. military experts and diplomats are to sdes the practicalities of a pause in fighting in line with last week's agreement in munich. russia has reacted to comments from syrian president bashar al-assad that his army will continue fighting until all rebels are defeated. the difficult situation could arise if bashar al-assad does not follow the russian lead. the u.n. is planning humanitarian air drops to the besieged syrian city of der azzor. people are in desperate need of food and medicine >> reporter: convoys of badly

needed food and medicine began rolling into five cities. officials say there will be deliveries by road to others soon. grounds access isn't possible to der azzor. the u.n. says the only way this is by air. >> we will also hope, then, to have progress in reaching the poor people inside of the city of der azzor which is besieged by islamic state. that can only be done by air drops and the program has a concrete plan of doing so. it is complicated and would be the first of its kinds ever >> reporter: in south sudan the

world food program has dropped supplies from the air. they're expensive and difficult to organise. >> even if in aleppo, even in the eastern border, many other places are places where people are in need of help. >> reporter: planes will have to fly high above the fighting to avoid coming up fire. >> if there were any air drop i think involved, any air drop in syria, it would be a high altitude air drop which would

demand some very specific skills and experience in terms of doing these kinds of air drops. so that's why they are considering using one of their contractors which has worked with them in south sudan. >> reporter: u.n. officials stress that only a ceasefire and work towards a political settlement will begin to ease the huge humanitarian crisis in syria, but with peace talks making little if any progress kon voice and air drops may be the only way to get help to the people in desperate need meanwhile turkey continues to shell kurdish positions in northern syria in response to wednesday's blast in ankara. our correspondent joins us from the turkey-syrian border. there is this line rung around this hour that the turkish

government wants the people involved in the fighting labelled. is that a measure of how the temperature here is increasing? >> reporter: yes. the turkish foreign minister asking the states to make clear of its stance on terrorism. they have been asking for some time. we heard the president erdogan a few days is the obama administration clearly, are you with us-- ask the obama administration are you with us or are you not. yesterday officials asking the western allies to stand by turkey in its fight against terrorism. the foreign ministry summoning the ambassadors of the u.n. security council, providing members with evidence that they have linking the y.p.g. with the bombing, but the state department and the white house saying that the outcome of the

investigations are still open to question and that they still have not determined themselves the link between the ay.p.g. and that attack. so relations deteriorating, the united states making it clear that the y.p.g. and its allies on the ground "the strongest forces fighting i.s.i.l. inside syria". so the u.s. not changing its stance. i can tell you that at the moment there is major offensive underway inside syria against i.s.i.l. in the province of hazaki. it is being led by the y.p.g. and its allies with u.s. air power there is the problem with u.s. and ankara because in that part of syria the people who would say we are kurdish fighters have been the best bar none at taking on i.s.i.l. and defeating them. >> reporter: the northern

corridor of syria, that is in the northern aleppo province close to the turkish border, turkey does not want to see the y.p.g. expands. it has been taking territory from opposition groups supported by turkey. like you mentioned earlier, there have been intense bombing, turkish military targeting positions of the y.p.g. inside syria. they want to stop that advance. they don't want the y.p.g. to link territories that controls in the west of syria. already they control half of the syria border area with turkey. like i mentioned, turkey considers this group a terrorist organization and turkey has been trying to press its allies for ground operations saying that this is the only way to end the war. the west has no appetite for such an invasion and they say lead to full fledged war you mentioned the russian.

the modalitys of the plan for a ceasefire, the implementation of that and talking to the relevant people surely that's going to be very difficult bordering on almost impossible. >> reporter: yes. we understand that the task force charged with implementing a ceasefire in syria will be holding the first meeting today. u.s. officials as well as officials from countries stakeholders in the syrian conflict, but this is a very divisive issue. the question is you - there needs to be an international consensus on who is a terrorist group and who is the legitimate opposition. you need clear boundaries. for saudi arabia and its allies, it's groups are part of the main opposition body involved in the political process. you have to get this agreement or else, for example, if there's acisation of hostilities, any group can use the excuse of the

presence of one of these forces to bomb another group. this is very difficult. at the end of the day the opposition believes that what has been happening on the ground, the strategic gains, the advances made by the government with the help of russian air power, is they want to create the de facto situation on the ground whereby the opposition will be in a very weak position and have no strengths on the negotiating table initial results show ewe taliban day's president is ahead in the presidential elections. he has nearly 62% of the votes. social media has been closed down briefly amid allegations of vote rigging and the arrest of the main opposition leader. he was trying to show reporters what he claimed was an operation to rig the votes. >> reporter: all over the country people came early to vote. across the country polling in most stations proceeded

peacefully. opposition leader and his supporters took journalist toz a house that they said was a vote rigging center >> the kind of activity we've seen here in terms of delivering materials right now we've seen boxes being thrown over the fence as we demanded to see them. when knocked on the gate people jumped. opposition found guns on them. the police later said the access was barred because it is an intelligence property. the ruling part said he was trying to prevent pollution. the president has been in power for 30 years and wants five more voted in his home area.

>> there will be no violence. >> reporter: back in the city at this polling station opposition agents say they were thrown out by police for complaining about names being added to the voters' register. the agents from the ruling nr m party said the police were just keeping order. >> it is the nr m calling the shots. it is nr m agents from the poming stations, not the presiding officers, they tell them what to do with the help of the police. >> reporter: at many polling stations polling materials arrived six or more hours late. at least three locations police fired tear gas at angry crowds.

tear gas was fired here as voting materials came seven hours later. nobody voted in the end. the crowd has been left here and they're still angry. in 15 stations polling will happen friday instead. as people wait for the results, many opposition supporters are sceptical about the polls the supreme court in india has deferred the case of student activist for march 2. he faces charges of sedition after anti india slogans were charted at the university event. demonstrator accused the governmented of restricting free speech. here still to come, a legal battle about race relations in

south africa. angela merkel says kipg brittain in the e.u. will not be easy-- keeping.

welcome back. the top stories are. official officially officials are in discussions in relation to ceasefire negotiations. provisional results show the ewe

began dan president is ahead. -- uganda. the supreme court has referred a case of kumar back the united nations says fighting in one camp in south sudan may constitute a war crime. 18 people were killed including two members from doctors without borders. the camp is offering shelter to civilians in a north-eastern town. >> reporter: this is one of eight u.n. bases in south sudan meant to provide a safe haven for displaced people since the conflict began in 2013. an outbreak of violence between rival groups has left at least

18 people dead and more than 40 people injured, including two staff members of doctors without borders. >> it started between the youth groups fighting each other. >> reporter: fighting broke out in the base in the north-east upper region with clashes continuing into thursday. >> the violence did involve machetes, small arms and was controlled. however the situation remained tense and volatile. >> reporter: over 47,000 people live inside this base with 6,000 u.n. peacekeepers deployed solely to protect the civilians >> i had to remind all the warring parties that the u.n. installations are to be respected. committing an attack against united nation may constitute a

war crime >> reporter: both the government and rebel sides have been accused of carrying out ethnic massacres. more than 2.8 million people remain in need of aid in the world's newest country. in 2011 a political rift between south sudan's president and his deputy sparked violence among ethnic lines. tens of thousands of people were killed and over two million forced from their homes. a peace deal was reached six months ago and earlier this month hopes were raised when the vice president was reappointed. with him yet to return to take up the post, there is doubt over whether any efforts will be made to implement the fragile peace deal between the two sides an over loaded bus has collided with a truck in ghana killing 71 people.

it happened over night in a northern town. one of the passengers told the police the bus had problems with its brakes. the governing party in south africa has caused issues. our correspondent joins us. what is the significance of this march? >> reporter: at this march you would be forgiven for thinking this was an election rally. local elections will be held later this year. people are wearing 100% zumat shirts. it is in reference to the president and a criticism he has been facing of late. the anc says this is a rally against racism be and in support of democracy.

they're urging people to come together standing against racism. it has come under the spotlight in recent weeks. we've had a look at why that's the case. >> reporter: this civil society group says it's seeking justice. the anti racism action forum has laid charges against south africa's last apartheid president. dozens of people were killed. >> justice starts with acknowledging that we cannot allow racism to continue. we are forced to celebrate peop people. >> reporter: this man was attending a public horse racing event when he said racist slurs were hurled at him and his friends. he has opened a case against a

woman who caused a dehumanizing incident >> i have experienced racism in the past, but 22 into democracy, this racism is unacceptable. it is sickening to be quite frank >> reporter: he has also lodged a hate speech complaint with the human rights commission which has the responsibility of looking into cases of alleged discrimination >> reporter: the commission has received an average of 30 cases a month of unfair discrimination based on race. the ruling party, the african national congress says it can't be tolerated and wants to criminalise acts of racism >> reporter: this began after a woman used social media to compare black people to monkeys. one called for the ex-termation of all white people and has been suspended from his job as a

result. this party insists that people in south africa cannot be said to be guilty of racism. any legislation must take that into account >> it is a natural response to hate those who oppress you and to want to do something about it. from our point of view that is the danger which is there. if you criminalise racism in this case, you have to make sure that if you react, you will be in jail. >> reporter: as the country heads to elections, it is likely that the political parties will continue to use anti racism campaigns as a rallying point for support more than 20 years on, why is it still, this idea of reconciliation, still pretty much a one-sided concept?

>> reporter: it would appear that following 1994 when there was the first democratic elections, there was a sense of euphoria. people across the area were optimistic. in 2003, a survey indicated that around 72% of africans desired a united country. 10 years later that figure has dropped to 55%. that would indicate that the idea that south africa would be united and there would be proper reconciliation, it is diminished in the minds of many south africas. there are black south africans who believe it is one sided in that they have had to make concessions around uniting the country and a push for south africans to move forward and forget about apartheid and many say it can't be forgotten

thank you for that. the police in zimbabwe's capital has used tear gas to disburse protest yoers. many of the protesters support the country's vice president who is himself a veteran. the e.u. leaders meeting in brussels today. the u.k. were set to top the agenda. angela merkel has wanders a deal to keep britain in the e.u. won't be easy for some member states to accept. david cameron has said there will be a referendum later that year. >> reporter: the president says some progress had been made during these long hours of the negotiations but a lot more needs to be done.

he long with the european commission president and david cameron taking part in a series of bilateral meetings with the french president, the belgium prime minister and also the czech prime minister. he is a leader of eastern block countries which has been resistant to measures that david cameron has put forward specifically on proposed cuts to migrant benefits. david cameron, of course, wants to go home with a deal that he feels he can paracel to the british public. he wants to stay in europe so he wants to get people on side before that planned referendum. another issue was being discussed here earlier, at a working dinner, that of migration. the turkish prime minister was expected to attend this summit, but was unable to do so because of what happened in ankara just a few days ago. turkey will be involved in a meeting at the beginning of

march crowds have protested outside the police headquarters in cairo after a police officer shot and killed a taxi driver. the officer fired a bullet by mistake. the u.s. presidential hopeful donald trump is changing his response to comments from pope francis. the pope suggested donald trump is not a christian because of his policy on immigration. donald trump first called the comments disgraceful then later said he had great respect for the pontiff who donald trump believes he only heard one side of the story. the pope suggested that women could use contraception in relation to the zika virus. getting on a plane is popular across the asia-pacific region. passenger numbers are at a five-year high. as that demand soars, carriers

are struggling to find well-trained pilots to fly aircraft. >> reporter: one out of every three airline passengers in the world last year took off or landed in the asia-pacific region. growing middle-classes in new markets are pushing industry numbers up. last year the number of passengers here fwru 8% more than nirlts in the world. a soaring demand for more flights see the needs for more services. the regulator in december downgraded thailand's safety rating that is in focus more than ever >> there are wake-up calls around the region where the u.s. faa has done some issues and

others where they have to step up to the plate >> reporter: new airlines have taken to the air which causes established airlines to rethink how they operate. in financial trouble thai airways is restructuring. >> we are reinstruct youring which means our cost base is high. our competitor because of the price, keep dropping the price as well. >> reporter: the growth of the airline industry here in asia-pacific has been so rapid over the last 10 years there are concerns that the infrastructure is not keeping pace and that airlines are scrambling for experienced pilots and proper training. years ago most pilots came from the military. not any more. >> it has to keep pace with the

growth and demand. airlines can find pilots but they don't like what they have to pay them >> reporter: that means shortages of pilots you drives up salaries. there are challenges for the airlines, to expand carefully in this era of thinning profit margins. for the governments to make sure that safety standards do not slide as the industry expands and demands new busier airports. the last five years have been safer than the previous five. this is a trend airlines and governments will want to maintain something that is taking place right now. various dignoraties are gathering to remember the people who lost their lives, 28 people were killed, 61 were injured because of that large explosion in the turkish capital. it was a vehicle packed with

explosives. it was detonated just as several military buses were passing by. that's according to the governor's office in ankara. it happened significantly in an area close to the parliament building and turkey's military headquarters. you can get more on that story and all our developing stories, of course, on our website aljazeera.com this week on talk to al jazeera grammy winning cassandra wilson >> singing it from the heart, telling a story she was in a home filled with jazz, she played the piano followed by the guitar and was working by the mid 70s >> there was something that was