more protests and the court injunction. very good tovr you along. i'm david foster here with you on al jazeera. also coming up in the next 30 minutes, the parliament and south africa's president denies that a wealthy family influenced his political appointments. daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation and by ideology and actions.

>> the u.s. said they committed genocide again the jazzdyes and others. how drought is threatening west africa's last giraffes. brazil is facing a political crisis after a judge blocked the appointment of former president lula da ville va. as chief the staff to his successor dilma rousseff. the federal judge issued an injunction on the grounds of the appointment could derail legal proceedings against lula. the prosecutors have charged the former president with money laundering and fraud as part of an investigation into corruption at the state oil company petrobras. opposition politicians accused rousseff of bringing lula into the government to protect him but also to secure his support in blocking impeachment procedures against rousseff herself for alleged financial

mismanagement. thousands of protestors back out on the streets expressing their opposition to rousseff's attempt to put lul la to the cabinet. it's the second day of demonstrations with protests late into the night on wednesday. dilma rousseff says the former president would help to put brazil's faltering economy back on track. we have this update from rio de janeiro. >> reporter: this has many brazilians frus traiteded and angry. they no longer knowing what to think they say, but one thing for sure is the call for president dilma rousseff is only getting louder. over 3 million people took to the streets across the country on sunday calling for her ouster, and they hoped that would be the last time. president rousseff is determined to hold onto her seat, and she sees all the demonstrations as just part of a healthy

democracy. the protestors are exercising they are rights and she's doing what she believes is best for brazil as the elected president, including appointing her predecessor lula to a cabinet position, a move seen by many as a sign of desperation to keep lula out of jail and to try to raise support for president rousseff's very unpopular leadership. >> translator: welcome dear companion minister lula. for the sake of brazil, all this noise, which is not the voice from the streets but garble from prejudgments must end for the sake of bra glil. >> lula is credited for economic boom whether he was president and lifts many out of poverty. recent allegations of corruption against him frustrate brazilians because they see it as indemmink and a deep-rooted problem that

needs to be overhauled. they want the government to be overhauled and this time they say they will take no other answer than for rousseff to step down. they're calling for a judicial inquiry into jacob zuma's friendship and relationship with the guptas. we have more from johannesburg. >> reporter: president zuma returns to parliament to face questions over the latest scandal engulfing his government. he's drowned out by shouts and cries from mps. he's being krut niezed for his relationship with a powerful and influential indian family with massive business interests in south africa. two government officials say the gupta family offered them

ministerial positions in return for preferential treatment. one of them was a deputy minister of finance jonas who says he was offered the top job in the ministry before the previous minister was fired without reason in december. >> i am in charge of the government. i'm in charge and i appoint in terms of the constitution. there is no minister who is here who has ever appointed by the guptas or by anybody else. many of you that are here were appointed by me. >> reporter: the gupta family denied the allegations saying their politically motivated. in a most on social media, one of the officials says she was summoned to the gupta's estate here in johannesburg where the guptas offered her a job as a minister in the cabinet. she says all the while president zuma was in a different room in the mansion, and that he later escorted her out. the president has previously said there's nothing untoward

about his relationship with the gupta family, and there's nothing wrong with his son being their business partner, but it's this latest scandal that has the opposition party determined to see the president removed. >> please leave the house. >> reporter: the top decision-making body of the african national congress is due to meet this weekend. the official line from the rules party is it's deeply concerned by the allegations. >> how do we deal with what's always a perception of safe capture? we're talking about a situation where there are outside interests often capital that seems to exert an undue influence on government. >> the split within the party has never been as wide. >> tension between two big blocs has emefrgeemerged. the one block of a liberal of this, and then there's the nationalists and traditional lists. that very strong block which is

very much in the majority still will hold on. the descent is papable. >> the party's secretary-general says no one is untouchable, including the president. renewing his party's confidence in his leadership may prove to be the president's biggest challenge yet. the pyd declared a federal region unifying the areas it controls in the north of syria. there's three onclaves near the turkish border. the announcement was made in the kurdish conference in syria's northeast. about 200 delegates approve what they call the federal democratic system of rujaba. the move has been rejektsed by the syrian government and the opposition who warn against the partition of the country. at the u.n. peace talks in

geneva, talk turned to the number of detainees held in syria. the u.s. special envoy says both sides in the war are holding detainees, but the numbers are way higher on the government side. syrian activists say tens of thousands are held in government jails. our diplomatic editor james bay sends us this report from geneva. >> reporter: near the top of the agenda, the release of dean detainees. they detail the conditions. her brother was jailed and then executed. >> they put him in prison for two years and two months and killed him there. >> reporter: when you listen to the whole story, you realize the appalling brutality and suffering involved. her brother was a military judge who was arrested after he came to visit her in jail.

a peaceful activist, she was imprisoned and tortured in 2012. she told me things were so bad she began to envy fellow prisoners who had lost their minds. >> i saw a lot of men get crazy. they don't know what's going on. i saw men die, and they just put them in the dirty water to throw them out. >> reporter: the issue of detainees has been added to the work of the task force on humanitarian issues led by jan egeland. nothing is more important than to get out groups, women and children and sick and wounded among the detainees.

yes, we're hopeful we can make progress on the issue. >> reporter: the international committee of the red cross and red crescent, the guardian of the geneva conventions, say they're willing to help arrange prisoner releases and exchanges if a deal is done. >> they have expertise and can play its role of neutral intermediary should the parties to the conflict reach an agreement on exchange of deta detainees or unilateral releases, which can occur. >> reporter: the detainee issue put the government delegation under pressure. opposition fighters have far fewer prisoners. the u.n. is also calling out the government on the humanitarian issue saying it's not doing enough to help get aid into six areas besieged by government forces. what's more the u.n. special envoy says he wants to get down quickly to the substantive issue of political transition. diplomats, however, tell me they believe the government

delegation is stalling and wants only to talk about procedure. james bays, al jazeera at the united nations. the u.s. secretary of state john kerry is accusing isil and the islamic state of iraq and the levant of genocide. he said they're committing war crimes against several religious minorities in iraq and syria, and highlighting the act is an important step towards stopping them. >> daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including yazidis and their genocidal by self-proclamation by its actions and what it says and what it believes and what it does. daesh is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at the same groups and in some cases also against sunni muslims, kurds, and other minorities.

>> jordan joins us now from the u.s. state department. i'm not entirely sure how he thinks talking about is going to stop members of isil from committing acts of brutality, but there is a league side to this, the choice of words is important. >> well, it is an important legal distinction, david, and officials here at the u.s. state department say that the determining was made not just because there was a congressional requirement that the secretary of state decide whether or not isil has been committing acts of genocide, but that there's also a real sense that in the ongoing coalition's efforts to try to destroy isil that making this declaration is going to be very important. for one thing, it is a way of trying to push other countries, non-governmental organizations and others to collect the evidence that could possibly be used for either state trials or international tribunals against

members of isil, should that moment actually arrive. so it's better now to try to get the evidence while it's possible to get it. the administration also notes that it doesn't really mean a change in the way that it's going after isil. certainly the u.s. military-led campaign still continues. certainly, the other efforts to try to stop isil's financing to try to counter its message in social need media and dewith the flows of foreigners trying to join isil and take up arms on its behalf, those efforts still continue. but this does send a signal that the u.s. considers the threat on a moral level from isil serious enough to actually try to implore others to do more to do more to stop this group. >> thank you, rosalynn jordan there at the state department. you're watching al jazeera. still to come in this program, nowhere to go. the refugees on the

greek/macedonian border as eu leaders debate a deal to see some of them return to turkey. and this as turkey's prime minister calms for all mps facing criminal investigation to be stripped of immunity.

>> "inside story" takes you beyond the headlines, beyond the quick cuts, beyond the soundbites. we're giving you a deeper dive into the stories that are making our world what it is. the brazilian judge issued an injunction to prevent the president's appointment of lula da silva as the chief of staff. there have been nationwide protests against the decision by the current president dilma

rousseff to bring her fred sesor into the cabinet. south african president zuma denies claims that a wealthy family close to him influence political appointments. the syrian kurdish group, the democratic union party, declare aid federal region in areas it controls in the north of syria. the countries from the european union and turkey are meeting in brussels to finalize a deal to stem the flow of refugees into the european union. it's to send new migrants arriving in greece back to turkey. for each migrant return, one syrian asylum seeker in turkey will be resettled in the eu. in return turkey asked for the eu to double the amount of aid for refugees in the country to $6.7 billion. turkey wants visa-free travel for its citizens in the european

union to be brought in sooner than currently planned, and it also wanted negotiations for its own membership of the eu to be restarted. the european parliament criticized countries in the balkans on route taken by my refugees for making the problem worse he believes by closing borders. >> we're facing 20 to 22 member states refusing to stick to what they agreed, the relocation scheme. 160,000. we mentioned we would distribute now 160,000 refugees. we have no problem, and i find this relatively hypocrite that some of the member states do not stick to the own agreements criticize the commission for the negotiation with turkey. >> live to brussels, al jazeera lee barker is there. it's fair to say that the scale of the problem faced by the european union with the millions of refugees and migrants coming

in is only equal by the scale of the difficulty in sorting it out in this way. >> that's right, david. what's is not achieved in brussels is likely to have a direct impact on the lives and fate of tens of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers and migrants living in limbo in camps like places in turkey. it's a massive test in a sense of cohesion among all 28 eu members. they're very much divided on what to do next. some states believe now is the time to close europe's doors. others believe that there's a moral imperative for the eu to continue resellingsing people that arrive on europe's shores in need. of course, many states cannot agree on some of the points mentioned in that draft

statement that was drawn up back on march 7th when the eu and turkey met for the first time. no final agreement was, of course, reached at that point which is the reason they're doing it again. perhaps some of the thorniest points on that proposal were the demands from turkey that the visa restrictions on turkish nationals should be relaxed to allow them to travel. also pressure from turkey to be able to speed up talks that could potentially pave the way in the future for turkey joining the eu. of course, not everybody is happy, and there are some deep concerns across the board about what the details of this proposed plan could mean. >> neve, i wondered if you talked about turkey's arm twisting, it's bribery saying we'll do this but only if. are there countries who are saying we will block this unless asking for concessions for them?

>> yes, we're in a dangerous situation. there isn't as i said before a sense of absolute cocoa heegs against the states. that's absolutely vital for any form of agreement goes forward, focusing on cypress that threatens to derail negotiations altogether. they're long-standing agreement between cypress and turkey. they don't recognize the government, the turkish government and also france and the czech republic raised concerns about turkey being in a position to somewhat blackmail the rest of the european union into getting what it notes when it comes especially to the easing of visa requirements. concerns also from the likes of spain about the humanitarian record, the human rights record in turkey as well, which raises big questions about the ethics

of really sending refugees, people have arrived in europe in need back to turkey when questions are remaining. >> many more will be asked. thank you. turkey's prime minister is calling for all mps that face criminal investigations to be stripped of their immunity from prosecution. there have been accusations that pro-kurdish mps are supporting the ban pkk separatist armed group. on system the pm went to the site of a suicide car bombing attack in kanning ankara a kurdish group said they carried out in revenge for military operations against kurdish rebels. we have that story. >> reporter: the aftermath of sunday's bomb blast in ankara continues to be felt at least politically. on thursday turkey's prime minister vowed to mish the masterminds of the attack who he

accused of supporting terrorism. >> the issue is openly supporting terrorism, the issue is not that somebody talked to the parliament. they talked about everything in the parliament. it's not the problem. the problem is if you actively support the underground and collaborate with terrorists and using the immunity, this is not democracy. >> reporter: the kurdish separatist group tak claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing that killed 37 people. tak is an offshoot of the pkk, the kurdistan workers party at war with turkey for decades. most are considered terrorist organizations by turkey. although they were in peace negotiations with the pkk in recent years, those talks broke down last july after pkk fighters killed two policemen. since then the army has atablged pkk locations inside the country as well as across the border in iraq. meanwhile, kurdish separatist fighters have stepped up attacks

across turkey including in istanbul and the capital of ankara. on february 17th, a suicide car bomb targeted a bus carrying army personnel that killed dozens of people. the bomber of that atam as well as the most recent one have been accused of receiving training inside syria by the ypg. that's the kurdish armed group linked to the pkk. it's why countries like the united states should not support the ypg, even though it's part of the fight against isil in syria. germany announced on thursday it was closing its embassy, consulate and one school in istanbul as a precaution. the government had been praised for stopping violence through the peace process with the pkk. now many will be scrutinizing how it will deal with the increasing number of attacks that continue to rock turkey's cities.

the saudi-led military operation in yemen may be winding down. the spokesman for the coalition that inteer sp intervened a year they will turn to stabilization and reconstruction. the spokesman didn't specify when the bombing mission targeting the rebels would be over. just this week a coalition air strike hit a market near sanaa. the u.n. official says the number killed in that attack rose to 119, almost double what was reported. the u.n. estimates 6,000 people have lost their lives in air fights and fighting since the operation began. morocco has decided not to withdraw its troops from u.n. peacekeeping missions. it had threatened to pull out after it was angered by comments made by the u.n. secretary-general bank ki-moon. he said morocco was occupying the contested region of western

sahara. more be rocco has asked 84 u.n. civilian staff in morocco or western sahara to leave in three days. this was the reaction from the secretary-general's spokesman. >> this is a unilateral action, which i think is in clear contradiction of morocco's obligations, international obligations, specifically under the status of mission agreement. but it is also a challenge to the security council. the mandate of minorso was not created by the secretary-general but was given to it by the security council. want security council creating peacekeeping missions. what we see is unprecedented. donald trump as president has been called one of the top ten risks anywhere the economic intelligence unit said it would interrupt the international economy and lead to chaos and heightened security risks for the united states. the kremlin is condemning one of mr. trump's videos saying it

demonizes russia. it shows putin slowing someone to the floor. it's about hillary clinton hillary clinton and clips about jihad john killed in november. giraffes were once a common sight on the plains of west africa before drought and poaching decimated them. conservationists are trying to save them, but it's a still a massive thing as we covered. >> reporter: on the lookout for west africa's last giraffes. this is the northern tip of the reserve. some 50 kilometers south of niger's capital. the savannah stretches out as far as the eye see, but soon a herd shows up grazing on their favorite acacia trees. there was a time they roamed across the region from senegal to lake chad.

drought and hunting reduced them to a small group now found only in niger. authorities here are trying to protect what remains of this endangered subspecies. they're proud of their result. >> translator: in 1996 we had just 50 giraffes and now we have 452 giraffes. >> reporter: we tried to get a closer look, but we're told not to disturb them. the giraffe behind me is not the biggest one in the park. the biggest one is called sido. it's very famous and you can spend an entire year looking for him. this is a very large park. actually, more than the size of lebanon. about 11,000 square kilometers. nature here is quiet and beautiful. the giraffes seem to share both qualities. >> translator: the giraffe is a peaceful animal. if you don't make a noise, you can come less than 15 meters away from it. it's also very curious. sometimes it would stare at you as long as you stare at it.

i love them like their my own pets. we have names for them. there was one that carried my name, but unfortunately, he died. >> reporter: some people living in the area hardly share this affection. >> translator: we don't see any use to them. they just destroy our crops and eat the trees. we lived here for a long time before the giraffes, and now they're a problem for us and there's nothing we can do about it. >> reporter: another problem affecting both people and giraffes consisted of two years of drought resulting in meager crops and drier vegetation. tourism has also been on the decline. >> translator: at the beginning we made some income, but now there's a crisis because of insecurity. we used to receive large numbers of visitors, up to nine groups per day, but now it's five or six per week. >> reporter: at the intraens of the reserve, four guides doans have much to do for most of the day. there's concern violence in the area and drought could reverse

the success niger has made in preserving a natural wonder. all of the news all of the time at aljazeera.com. that's aljazeera.com. in pakistan, it's cheaper to buy a hit of heroin than food. the country is infamous as a major transit point for heroin and cannabis from neighboring afghanistan to the rest of the world. but its also fighting it's own battle with addiction. i'm steve chao. on this edition of 101 east, we ask if pakistan can kick it's