♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ i'm marriam and live from london and coming up, in the next 60 minutes a damning u.n. report talks about people being burned in sudan. accuse security council members for aiding fuel to the fire in syria by supporting rival sides. desperate scenes in a greek refugee camp and hopes to empty it in two weeks.

♪ in japan marks a moment five years ago when an earthquake triggered a devastating tsunai that killed thousands. will find out if the doping ban will be lifted ahead of the games. ♪ the u.n.'s human rights chief has described the conflict in south sudan as one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world, a damning u.n. reports describes children and disabled burned alive and not being paid. >> reporter: the suffering in the world's newest country defies belief, a report put together by the u.n. human rights office goes into details

of atrocities in south sudan since conflict began in december of 2013 and says both sides are responsible but government forces were most to blame last year. between april and september the u.n. recorded more than 1,300 ports of rape in just one of south sudan's states. the oil rich unity state. the report says credible sources indicate that government forces are being allowed to rape women as a type of payment. one woman told the u.n. team she had been stripped naked, raped by five soldiers in front of her children on the roadside then raped again by more men in the bushes only to return and find her children missing. the report says the gravity of the violence may amount to war crimes and all crimes against humanity. the government has denied the accusations. >> if there are individuals, you know, and soldiers that comes

out to violate a human right then they are doing it at their own perils because the government did not authorize anybody to kill civilians. >> reporter: the conflict began as a dispute between the president and former deputy and it quickly turned into an armed rebellion. and last august we met in the ethiopia capitol during a peace conference and we asked him if he were willing to cooperate with an international investigation. >> anybody who has committed atrocities who would be brought to book. >> reporter: report details evidence of entire towns and villages being destroyed in what it describes as a scorched earth policy and around 2 million people have been forced to flee from their homes and the u.n. says hundreds of children have been recruited as child soldiers. journalists and human rights and aid workers suffer threats, detention and in some cases have been murdered.

last august both sides agree to establish a transitional government of national unity, both sides agreed to stop fighting. that still hasn't happened and the suffering of millions of people continues. charles stratford, al jazeera. daniel lack has been following the story for us, he joins us now from the united nations in new york and daniel what is the word from the u.n. today, can anything be done in the aftermath of this report to find the individual perpetrators and somehow bring them to justice? >> marriam it's no accident this is probably one of the more strong worded human rights reports to come out of the u.n. in a long time. this was undiplomatic language and the anecdotes were too hard to read and that is deliberate and aimed at the organization and security council and aimed at people in this building and

of course around the world with the u.n. to say look what is happening in a country that was born just five years ago, a country that the u.n. helped to get born actually. there was a lot of optimism around that. and the words you were hearing no punches pulled, one of the people involved in coordinating the report david marshall of the office of the commissioner, the u.n. commissioner for human rights said there was no doubt whatsoever about the nature of the atrocities. >> crimes against humanity and war crimes have occurred again. crimes against humanity and war crimes were alleged by the u.n. in 2014 and by the au. we say they are sufficient evidence to suggest they happened again in 2015 in an extreme nature which i will get to in a second but the perpetrator is the government. in 2015 the government decided a unity state which as you may know is the home state of supporters to under take the scorched earth policy to

displace, kill, abduct, rape, destroy civilian objections and civilian property and pillage thousands and thousands of cattle. >> reporter: and daniel the report details that all sides have committed these atrocities but really in this particular time period and the geographical area that the report focuses on it's really the government that bears the greatest responsibility here. >> it does and let's not forget south sudan is a member state of the u.n. and this is an organization that tens to trade carefully in the states as a member of protocol and respect for the country and not doing so in this case and concludes more action needs to be taken and a mission with 12000 personnel and several thousand civilian personnel and perhaps it needs to be increased and an arms embargo or the u.n. security

council taking more action and certainly something being done to end the violence, get some sort of justice on the ground and possibly if nothing else is available send some charges to the international criminal court in the hague. >> u.n. thank you very much. breaking news coming to us now government forces in yemen say they have taken control of a key city from houthi fighters. at least 60 people were killed in fighting in the southern city of thai, forces local to president abd rabbuh mansur hadi say the victory will allow humanitarian aid into the city for the first time. this is a key victory, would be a key victory potentially for government forces and it opens up the route to the capitol sanaa which is still under houthi control so just to recap, pro-government forces, local resistance units making progress in the city of thai. important to remember this is a

city that has been besieged. it has been very difficult to get ahold of anything, the most basic supplies civilians have not been able to get hold of and it has really seen some of the fiercest fighting between pro-government forces and houthi rebels and we will keep on top of the story for you and move to iraq where the prime minister called for experts and not politicians to be nominated for his new cabinet according to state t.v., earlier the influential issueed an altimatum giving a body 45 days to form a new government and start tackling corruption and bernard smith has more. >> reporter: demonstrations by supporters are a regular sight on the streets of baghdad and followers of the powerful cleric are demanding reforms to tackle indemeanoric corruption and wants prime minister abadi to press on with plans with government patronage and

encourages corruption on ethical and sectarian lines. >> translator: we hope these reforms and promises of reforms will be true. i urge iraqi prime minister abadi to press on with plans to form an independent cabinet of technocrate despite political pressure and i want the prime minister to continue his reform plan with no fear of political pressure. >> corruption is eating into drindingly government finances in iraq suffering from the fall in the price of oil and the cost of the war against i.s.i.l. and gave the prime minister 45 days to appoint the technocrats or face a no confidence boat vote. hezbollah a tear group in the bagging of the war and all 22 members supported the decision of lebanon of iraq expressing reservations and the gulf cooperation council also

took the same action last week. 11 in hezbollah is a major political player hit hard by the dispute and farmers there are worried about the affect on livelihoods and in the valley we report. >> reporter: harvesting green onion is not easy and they need to loosen the earth round the delicate crop so it's not damaged and what makes the becca valley is time consuming and he owns the farm and says growing crops like green onion destined for gulf countries is worth the extra care because they are usually profitable but not any more. >> translator: our industry has been badly affected by the war in neighboring syria, we can no longer track our produce through syria and jordan and on to the gulf because the crossings are now closed. more than 30% of our income is

gone because of this. >> reporter: the only way now for lebanese farmers to send their produce to the gulf is by sea but the costs are typically high and cut deep into profits. losing the third of all revenue because of the war in neighboring syria has hit farmers here hard but a growing concern is the escalating diplomatic dispute between political leaders here in lebanon and gulf countries. more than three quarters of all agricultural exports from lebanon are sent to gulf states which is why a series of resent decisions by saudi arabia and gulf allies over the past month have farmers worried and last month the saudi government call cancelled billions it gives to security and the south counsel said they were a terrorist organization and is the most powerful arm and political and social movements but farmers say they fear now their industry could be targeted next.

>> translator: lebanese exports are band it would be a disaster to our agricultural sector and no one can estimate how destructive it would be on farmers and economy and lebanon generally. >> reporter: the obama administration is pressuring saudi arabia and its gulf allies not to take further steps to punish lebanon economically and farmers say all they can do is to continue to care for their craps, al jazeera, at the becca valley eastern lebanon. police and demonstrators in istanbul on a key anniversary for the city and threw fireworks and tear gas and to years since a teen died from injuries sustained in a protest in 2013 that sparked worldwide demonstrations. an earthquake and tsunami killed 18,000 in japan and a minute of silence was held on friday at the moept the quake hit and

harry faucet reports on one of the worst hit areas. >> reporter: this is the closest thing to high ground a mound built 96 years ago so people of the town could look out to sea and five years on from the tsunami it's a place of remembrance and it's footage broadcast live they showed the scale of the disaster unfolding in japan. 950 people died here, nearly 18 1/2 thousand across the country. all that is left of those densely packed houses of these few remaining foundation walls, the waves simply came through this neighborhood scrubbing it out entirely and at its height it was about two meters above that manmade mound. it was there at 2:46 precisely that they gathered to mark the moment the earthquake struck. [horn sounding]

150 kilometers north another community marked the same moment the same way, sounding the tsunami sirens. >> translator: the reality is that we still feel the scars here and there are still many who are struggling to restart their lives. ♪ at the national memorial in tokyo a similar sentiment came from japan's emperor from those forced from their homes from the triple meltdown in fukushima. >> efforts being made to improve the situation but my heartaches at the thought there are still people who cannot return home. >> reporter: for all the reconstruction elsewhere and the prime minister is promising a five year effort to get it finished exclusion zones in fukushima changed little and at the plant itself workers battle to store and treat 400 tons of newly contaminated water each

day. and auto supplies workers as a subcontractor and says the efforts are hampered by a shortage of people willing to do the job. even if conditions are better than what he faced in the weeks after the meltdowns. >> translator: i think what i felt most was anxiety. when i got there i thought my experience would be useful but all the rules i used to abide by became completely irrelevant and it was like a war zone and astonished me. >> reporter: a slow moving sense of renewal with seawalls and construction to minimize damage of future waves but scars still remain. a day of commemoration and coming together can bring some comfort and is a reminder of just how much has been lost. harry faucet, al jazeera, japan. more to come for you on the news hour. unlikely backer gives his support to donald trump presidential campaign, we will have that story and pakistan

finally on their way to india for the world t20. ♪ with days to go the syrian opposition has finally agreed to attend peace talks in geneva on monday but it's down playing the chances of reaching any agreement to end the five-year war. the u.n. spesh envoy for syria dref dref says -- staffan de mistura and he says he doubts there will be a presidential election in 18 months and members of the council are accused of adding fuel to the fire in syrian conflict and aid groups say russia, france and uk and u.s. are under mining, their own commitments to syria by supporting opposite sides in the war. it says the last year has been the worst of the conflict so far, 50,000 people have lost their lives and almost a million

forced to flee and report adds that air strikes by russia and western coalition forces have increased the damage and the suffering. of course there is fighting on the ground continues in syria the ability to treat those injured is becoming more and more difficult. even in neighboring turkey medical centers are feeling the strain and doctors say they are at breaking point as they struggle to help those coming from across the border. from the turkish town here lawrence lee sent us this report. >> reporter: the syrian government and russian allies claim fighters hide in hospitals but surely not this one, it's a children's unit and the bombardment has rendered betz and cots unusable. such a condition in towns like here close to syria's northern border with turkey and the firefighter says they have no water to douse the flames. there is no choice but to watch it burn. increasing disruption of places like maternity units not only

puts the lives of civilians under threat the few hospitals remain and fewer doctors and medicine to treat people and combines to create a crisis in the few places the injured can look to. >> translator: because there are so many refugees now, there is enormous pressure on the medical facilities that are left and means it is no longer possible for us to treat some lesser injuries. >> reporter: all this means turkey has had no choice but to move badly injured people from the border to its nearby small town of kalis with a constant flow of ambulances in and out. this hospital was itself evacuated this week when it was shelled by i.s.i.l. fighters and it's hardly safe here either but it's certainly better than the alternative. on the morning we were filming they already received three patients who would need amputations and it's like this all the time now and attacks on hospitals put a huge amount of strain on the union the turkish side of the border and had to bring in translators, double the

number of plastic surgeons who can deal with severe burns and bring in trauma experts as well, staff told us there are more syrian patients inside here than there are medical personnel. once they have been treated in turkey they face a choice whether to go home. this man had returned to the border with his bags of medicines and was hobbling his way back to his little village inside syria and paid $100 for his drugs. >> translator: they brought my by ambulance because i was very sick he said and need medicine for my heart, i was going to die. >> reporter: the only bit of good news in this is no hospitals have been attacked since is cessation of hostilities but those still injured in the fighting the best they can now hope is someone can get them to another country for treatment. lawrence lee, al jazeera, southern turkey. let's get more on the story now with daniel g the oxfan campaign manager for the syrian crisis and thank you very much for speaking to us, what does it

say about the humanitarian situation in syria when you don't just have hospitals within the country that are unable to treat the severely injured but actually the country next door, the neighboring country turkey is now struggling as well? >> yeah, just a correct, i'm representing the norwegian refugee counsel and what we are facing right now and we have been facing over the last year has been the worst in the last five years of conflict in syria. it has made the country's neighboring syria impossible beyond breaking point now and refugees who are living in the neighboring countries are finding that ever more impossible to live there and it

is now at a point where the world leaders have a chance to make a turning point in this crisis and to live up to their commitments, to stop the violence in syria and also to make sure that there is a comprehensive peace plan that is agreed politically while there is a cessation of violence. it's a very fragile moment in the history of the last five years and we are all clinging to this hope to see a long-term, long standing solution to the crisis. >> but as you say more comprehensive agreement could take some time. we know that the main body representing the syrian opposition has agreed to attend talks, that is achievement in itself and this could be the beginning of a long and complicated process, what needs to happen in the meantime in the

short term future to relieve the suffering of civilians inside syria and you know those near the border with turkey and in other places? >> well, the most important and immediate relief that can happen to the millions of refugees scattered both on the side of syria is first of all for them to receive the aid that they require and the protection. we've seen borders being closed in the region and also in europe and also the aid funding has been dwindling and hasn't been stepped up to rise to the occasion, to the scale of need out there. but the longer term what is especially important is for there to be peace for these people to be able to return back

to their homes and peace and security and to make sure that this crisis doesn't protract any longer. what we are saying is that the men in suits around the talking, the discussion table have to stop the man with the guns out there on the streets of syria. >> how do they do that? >> well, first of all, that is their own, the very country represented on the u.n. security council which have been passing security council resolutions over the last five years. they are the ones who have to follow-up on their very own commitment and promises. secondly they have to stop fueling the flames. they have been also arming and in varying degrees and engaging in military action that has led to more displacement and

suffering inside syria and has to stop. this is a double game they have to stop. it's a very dangerous fragile game which innocence civilians have been displaced and killed and are suffering to this day and suffering from starvation. thirdly, they are the ones around the negotiating table with the power and the influence and the modern duty to make sure that this, that there is cessation of violence and the political process that leads to peace and once again it is their own declaration that the only way out of this crisis is through a political process. there is no military solution and there is no humanitarian solution to this syrian crisis. >> thank you very much. it was really good to get your thoughts on this, what is obviously very complicated situation and thank you very much from the norwegian council. now 90 people who deemed to have sought refuge in greece

illegally returned to turkey and most from afghanistan and morocco and eu are working on a deal and thousands of so called irregular migrants back to turkey in terms of eu resettling an equal number of refugees from turkey. greece says it hopes to empty the over crowded refugee camp in two weeks and currently 14,000 refugees being held there on their on ward journey through macedonia is blocked and scuffles over food occur regular and many are ill and medicine and blankets and firewood are all in supply. >> we are in europe from 20 days ago in europe but i cannot find even a safe place. now i'm fighting. in syria we are fighting i.s.i.s. now we are fighting the issue. i.s.i.s. has a limit but they have no limit. >> translator: it's difficult with five children.

yesterday when it rained my children were all soaked. the blankets were soaked and i dry my children and put them to bed and have not slept since. it's hard. i was a house wife before and my husband was everything to me and now i'm both mother and father at the same time. it's very hard. >> reporter: a high profile danish rights campaigner and husband have been fined more than $6,000 for helping a family of syrians after they were found guilty of people trafficking and they gave the family a lift in her car. the husband was prosecuted for driving them to the station and buying them tickets to sweden. hundreds of them face trial for helping refugees passing through the country and they described the ruling as criminalizing decency. there is more to come on the program and speaking to the head of the u.n. team which documented systematic human rights violations in south sudan, a shocking report. also going to tell you why president barack obama is visiting one of the united

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♪ welcome back and watching the news hour and update you on the stop stories a u.n. report accuses both sides in south sudan's civil war of deliberately targeting civilians in killings, rape and pillage and government support is responsible for most atrocities last year. aid groups accused members of u.n. security council adding fuel to the fire in syria and russia, france and uk and u.s. are under mining, commitments by supporting opposite sides in the war. pro-government forces in yemen have taken control of the city of thai and the city has been under siege by houthi rebels for ten months and its fall opened up a route to the capitol sanaa. joining us now from sanaa is hussein a yemen activist and

pro-houthi supporter and thank you very much for speaking to us and have been reports about gains, significant gains by anti-houthi forces around the city of thai. what is behind that progress? >> the area again inside the city is west of the city and they have sieged the 55 brigade army base and by the old airport and this only could be only true area wide and they have sieged the city and actually this just shows who is actually controlling and after controlling the area and there

was a mass public execution and parties were behind the car. they have different people in that area and they are looking in this area at this point. and it shows the amount of support these forces are getting from saudi arabia and it just shows the story about the be seige for the international community and if they get all the weapons into thai. >> i have to ask you because on the one hand that if you are saying that anti-houthi forces are not the ones in control of the city of thai can you then blame, can you therefore put all the blame on them for the situation, for the siege? and say that the houthis had no

responsibility in that? >> it's their responsibility, the life of the people. responsibility and saudi responsibility because they are getting weapons from the same source and involved in this public execution or the responsibility and seeing the latest report from the bbc that shows al-qaeda is working side by side with the saudi backed forces and this is what is happening now in aiden. they must be celebrating this latest but as we got the news about one hour agree go -- ago they have been pushed back and main checkpoints they have set up in the area and have been taken by the houthi with the yemen army. >> well, appreciate you taking the time to speak to us and

shedding what you know on the situation there and thanks very much on a little bit of ambiguity there on what is happening in the city of thai, report suggesting that anti-houthi forces are taking control of the city though as we were speaking to one source there suggesting that actually they are in control of an area that spans no more than two to three kilometers but they do seem to be gaining a foot hold in the city which would be a significant move for the anti-houthi forces there. let's move on, we will stay across yemen but want to bring you more on our top story tonight the u.n. dahmning report on the human rights record and joined with david marshal from the commission of human rights and coordinated the team that produced that report, thank you very much for speaking to us. where do you begin with this report? in terms of the scale of the atrocities we are talking about

torture, murder, rape, how do you begin, what needs to happen now in bringing the perpetrator to justice? >> so let me begin by saying how shocking the findings are. so despite the international scrutiny that has been looking at south sudan since 2013 and the security and human rights council looking and the african union are looking and the unmiss and u.n. said crimes against humanity and war crimes had taken place. now those are two of the three elements of atrocity crimes the only one missing is genocide and we arrived in 2015 and the government knew we were coming and despite all the scrutiny, the killings, the rapes, the pillaging and massive destruction continued throughout 2015 to the end of 2015. and that is probably the most shocking thing for me.

number two is the rhetoric around accountability. we have an a annex two to the report and shows the head of state constantly saying in the public sphere they will stop the killings and rapes and punish perpetrators and that is empty and no attempt at all, not even a bit of an attempt to stop the killings and the rapes since december 2013. so in essence it seems they get away with it and is most shocking. >> what needs to happen now because from what you are saying the people responsible for the atrocities are still in power and they are denying that many of these crimes have taken place, is there any hope for accountability then, what can the international community and the u.n. do? >> right, so i think number one what has to happen is the dismantling of the apparatus in violence and the government and political and military leadership have to be dismantled

and investigated and prosecuted and punished and the recommendations in the report you see from the high commissioner it seems inconceivable that the transitional government of national unity and transitional government could consist of the leadership that is orchestrated the violence to include the commander-in-chief. so that has to happen. so no moving forward. no political leadership can form part of the tgnu and needs to be a commitment of the new government to ending the violence, a commitment to accountability and the neighbors, the region and the u.s. have to step up and use the leverage that they have i hope to ensure that happens. that is stopping the killings and ensuring for once in south sudan they see what hey have not in decades and accountability and end to this and other than that the cycle of violence will continue forever >> can i ask you about the violence itself, the type of sexual violence that has been documented, some really

unimaginable accounts of things that have happened in this report. can i ask you what it reveals about the nature of this conflict and about the relationships between these different people, these different communities for there to be this kind of disregard for human life and suffering? >> yeah, i think that i have to say for any one who has read the long report i think the extremity of the sexual violence we were told by victims and survivors that 2013 and 14 saw the rape of women and girls. 2015 saw the rape of women. the disabled. the elderly and blind, everybody was vulnerable. so and the extremity of the killings. we have one old man and his goats stuffed into a hut and burned alive. and i wonder if it's because this deficit in accountability and anything goes, anything goes and the narrative is not really

aware, there is many moving parts to the ethnic story and you have noir and killing and raping others so there are many complexities to that narrative but the extremity of the violence is outrageous and surely this should cause the security council and others the african union and others to act. >> well, let's hope something happens, thank you very much. it is a very important report and people really should take the time to read it, david marshall from the u.n. high commissioner of human rights. donald trump received more backing in his bid to become president of the united states with an endorsement from a former rival and ben carson who dropped out of the race for the republican nomination a week ago appeared together with trump in florida to show his support despite their often bitter clashes during the early stages of the nomination campaign. >> there are two different donald trumps there is one you

see on the stage and there is the one who is very serebral and sits there and considers things very carefully and you can have a very good conversation with him and that is the donald trump that you're going to start seeing more and more of. >> reporter: now u.s. president barack obama has addressed the south by southwest festival in texas, the first time a president has appeared at the festival in its 13 year history, over the next ten days the event in austin will showcase the latest music, films and technology and our rob reynolds is at the south by southwest festival and he is there, rob, there you are, what is president obama doing there and what has he been saying? >> it's interesting the president is here at an interest time and of course his term is drawing to a close, he has been known as a technologically savvy

president. he ran for president originally and made pioneering use of the internet to get donations and attract voters in 2008 and so this kind of sort of valid victory of address is focused on the president asking the technologically savvy community gathered in austin for this interactive expo of south by southwest how technology can help to reshape government and society in better ways and he said that i am here to recruit you as the technological community to work across different platforms and in different disciplines with your ideas to help confront some of the big questions and problems that society faces and he mentioned in particular voter participation which is quite low in the united states and especially low here in the state

of texas. he said it is now easier to order a pizza online or to book a holiday or a trip on a website than it is to register to vote and then to exercise the right to vote and that has to change he said. also a little bit of self deprecating human with obama noting that his signature accomplishment of his first term the affordable healthcare act known as obamacare came to a crashing halt in his second term when the website completely failed, preventing people from signing up for that government supported healthcare but he said he was able to then bring in a sort of swat team of experts from private industry to fix the website and he said that actually turned out to be a good thing because it could be a template for dealing with those kinds of problems going forward in the government making the government more responsive and making people less, feel less animosity towards government by

letting government serve them in a better more efficient way through technology. >> perhaps one thing that won't be getting any laughs obama's justice department in a fierce battle with apple over privacy and something that is of interest to many people there given technology features pretty heavily in this festival. >> now, he just got a question on that. i'm not able to hear the entire answer because i'm here and not listening to the post but a member of the audience did ask him about the case and he said he cannot speak specifically about this case and what it is about very briefly is that in the san bernardino shooting last year a phone was recovered that had been used by one of the shooters. the f.b.i. wanted to investigate that phone to see what kind of information was on it. they asked apple to open it for them, appeared said no we can't do that and they went to court to try and force apple to create a code that would weaken the

encryption on this phone and allow the f.b.i., justice department to examine its contents, that case is still going through the court system but the people here that i talked to in the tech community here at the south by southwest said they think this is a very bad precedent there and against the pressure that is being applied to apple by the justice department and they use the analogy of pandora's box saying once a single phone has been cracked and its contents opened up to the government even no matter how important the case may be then no one's day data is really secure and, in fact, a lot of the tech people i spoke to here say really you should never assume that any online or over your smartphone conversation or interaction that you have is ever not being monitored and the only way that you really can be sure that you are speaking to someone privately is face-to-face. >> yeah, good point and thanks very much rob reynolds and

promises to be a good festival in austin, texas. now the funeral has been taking place in the united states for nancy reagan first lady to ronald reagan between 1981 and 1981 and attendees at the ceremony in california is current first lady michelle obama, george w bush and current presidential candidate hillary clinton as well as actor mr. t and he will work with nancy reagan on a high profile antidrugs campaign in the 80s and she died last sunday at the age of 94. now cuba signed an agreement with the ue paving the way for full economic cooperation and signed in havana took two years to negotiate and overturned the policy by europe 20 years ago that pushed for changes to their one party political system. >> this agreement allows us to

proceed to overcome and to end the common position. this means practically that i will put forward a proposal to the european council to end the common position, then the council will have to make a decision on this. >> reporter: brazil's president dilma rousseff says there is no basis and wanted on money laundering at a beach front apartment and says they are split politically motivated and he was investigated of the state oil company. now in india the organizers of a major cultural festival are fined for causing environmental damage and officials say a huge stage built on the banks of the river has caused irreparable damage to the river's flood plains and also acknowledge it's too late to cancel the event

which 3 1/2 million people are expected and the organizer says he has done nothing wrong and prepared to go to jail than paying the fine. more to come for you on the news hour. south africa and why south africa art could be the next big thing for collectors. and in sport bonitas returning to the english premier league and andy will be here with that story. ♪ ((úz@úxóxkxñ($9

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welcome back. interest in african art is growing in the u.s. and europe and auctioners says it's 200% increase but not all are making money. >> reporter: the international auctioneers sold 12 million in art over the past nine years and contemporary art is sold between 7-70,000 one of the best known painting the black arab by emma stern sold close to 1.5 million and william sold a contemporary artwork for 400,000. >> the contemporary art market is a time bit fickle and the decline of the chinese market the investors moved on to find the next big area and at the moment africa is very much the area they are focusing on. >> reporter: the value of african art continues to rise as more pieces from south africa,

senegal and ghanna are seen on the international market and only 5% of artists produce work that is commercially viable. south africa art has dominated international sales providing an opportunity for the larger african market and andrew has been taking documentary photos for 20 years and some exhibited here in the johannesburg art gallery and inspired by the south africa artist who was able to support himself entirely through the artwork and struggles with his own photography and documents communities and environments as art making it difficult for him to survive on his art alone. >> i think more can be done in a sense in south africa we are fortunate that issues like this one and you have other spaces as well and i think in other african countries not say the

continent but most of the african countries there is more that needs to be done to improve. >> reporter: the fundraising groups friends of the johannesburg art gallery it's up to artists to do this. >> given a hand up and when things come too easily that is where we have a problem so many artists in the world that never get to the top. >> reporter: new buyers and growing interest means africa's art market is likely to continue expanding for artists such as andrew it remains an exclusive club, miller al jazeera johannesburg. >> andy is here with all your sport. >> thank you so much marriam and russia will find out in may if they can send an olympic team to the olympic and they are ban add a state sponsored doping program and the iaaf is meeting to

discuss how best to reform their sport and five countries have been placed in critical care due to concerns about their drug testing programs and as for russia well russia is still ban and the task force says coaches who should have been suspended are still working we leet athletics and reinstating the conditions in may and will be decided if those conditions have been met. >> my job is not to get as many to the olympics as possible but make sure those going to the games are clean and in systems that are based on integrity. so we were very happy to hear from the task force today. it is independent. they have been working long and hard in this area. >> they need to really go in to

the findings of the independent commission, they really need to see and look into what these cultures that have been banned, their surroundings and connections and so forth, it's a big job that needs to be done and they are just in the beginning of doing this. >> russia sports minister acted furiously saying the country is doing all it can to comply. >> translator: what should russian athletics do dance on the table or sing a song i don't know what we should do and get new leadership for the athletic and we have done that and not elect the president or anyone who has ever worked there okay we have done that too. >> reporter: returningly to the english premier league as manager of united and they signed a three-year contract and he was sacked in jan after seven

moves in charge at royal and replaces mcclaren and points above the relegation zone and ten games left in their season. pakistan government has the all clear for the cricket team to play at t20 in india and have been given assurances from the indian government their team will be safe and organizers had shifted pakistan's game against india to qatar because of security concerns. >> translator: i would like to give you and cricket lovers the good news that the interior minister has given permission to the pakistan cricket board to send the team to play the t20 in india on the basis of solid assurances received. >> preliminary phase of the competition is well underway and the netherlands and island have just been eliminated, both teams had to went the second games with a chance of reaching the main draw but rain washed out

their matches in bangladesh and ending after 8 overs and they will play amman on sunday and decide which of those two countries are the greatest. now the arctic winter games coming to a close in green land and while the competition has focused on youth, not everyone has agreed it's the best way to improve the country's record at major competition and paul reese reports from the capitol nuk. >> reporter: becoming a top snow boarder demands skills and in green land shovelling snow is one of them. they are used to preparing their own runs and a few ways of speeding it up but there are no shortcuts to the olympics. green land has one athlete to the last winter games in sochi and if these 18-year-olds make it to the top they have to do as the few who came before them and wear denmark and green land is 3

1/2 thousand kilometers away. >> translator: yes, it is strange but we have to participate somehow. it's a bit sad we can't compete for green land if we get to olympics but we fight for denmark, denmark is a nice country too. >> reporter: green land would appear perfectly suited for winter sports and hosting the arctic winter games but the wind here is too strong to build real speed and getting competition on the more sheltered slopes of norway is beyond most budgets. >> translator: i want to travel and meet people who are better than me. of course there are some better than me here but the level is not that high. it's difficult because there is not much you can learn here. >> reporter: with travel to europe so expensive these arctic winter games are a rare chance for young athletes to compete in their own country but there are those who believe too much investment in youth is creating a glass ceiling for older green

land athletes. ex cross country skier wasn't amused at wearing the danish flag but it's not a crisis of identity but cash and money spent on youth events on arctic winter games but not on athletes in their prime. >> they get very good experience but maybe they don't have so much else when they are finished with the winter game in 16-18 year and don't have anything to do so it's difficult for them to stay in the spot. >> reporter: life after sports still a distant sport for them and it's all good to know a friend who has got your back. paul reese, al jazeera, nuk, green land. okay that is your sport and back to marriam in london. >> you can get more on the website al jazeera.com is where you need to go, our top story anti-houthi forces making significant gains around the crucial city of thai more on that after the break.

see you then.

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>> a damning u.n. report describes children being burned alive and fighters allowed to rape in south sudan. hello, i'm maryam nemazee. you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up. [ gunfire ] pro government forces in yemen say they have taken control of key areas of the city. but houthi say they're still in control of