more refugees arrive in greece, even as a deal to ease the crisis takes effect. also coming up, tension in the republic of congo where a long-term ruler is looking to stay in power. plus the country in crisis. we speak to rural brazilians who have lost hope and faith in their warring politicians. we explore the u.s. and cuba's

past ahead of obama's historic visit. preparations have begun on lesbos to send refugees back to turkey. our correspondent reports. >> reporter: these refugees have just arrived on the greek island of lesbos, but they're already on the move. buses are taking them to northern greece where they will be housed in refugee centers. it is part of a plan to evacuate the island so-called hot spot registration centers to make space for new arrivals. from sunday any refugee arriving in greece will be deported back to turkey. some refugees say they know nothing about the deal >> translation: no. from where we were we couldn't

watch television. we were out in the wilderness waiting to come here. >> reporter: there are more than 4,000 refugees on lesbos. the situation will be made even worse >> the deal is only going to lead to more disorder, more lack of dignity, more chaos for the people who are already here in greece and the idea that you can base resettlement on conditions that you are return people back to turkey is unethical. >> reporter: the route will be closed. thousands of syrians will be taken by the e.u. directly from turkey. amnesty international has accused european leaders of what it calls double speak. >> if you unpack the deal, the essence of it is you introduce a system that discourages to 0 the numbers of people arriving and by extension, therefore, to 0 the number of people that the

e.u. would be rerelatesing from turkey. so the end game of this strategy is to resettle no-one. >> reporter: any refugee deported from greece to turkey will be placed at the back of a waiting list to seek asylum in europe. there are questions over whether this plan will work and if it's actually legal 18 egyptian policemen have been killed during an attack on the sinai peninsula. it was hit by mortar rounds. i.s.i.l. says its fighters were behind the ambush and that a suicide car bomber was involved. at least 43 people have been killed by a series of air strikes in the northern syria province of ramadi. the victims include five children and seven women. the area is an i.s.i.l. stronghold and the target of syrian government and russian

attacks. activists say there were nine operate strikes in the area. i.s.i.l. is not part of the shaky limited truce which took effect three weeks ago. russian planes have bombed the ancient set of palmyra. syria's state news agency says government forces are advancing west of the city. i.s.i.l. captured that area last may. elections are taking place across africa on sunday. it's a tense situation in the republic of can go where there will be a prolonged time in office for the current president. in niger the first presidential run off with the opposition boycotting the vote. incumbent is more than likely to get a second term. people here are heading back to

the poms as well for a controversial rerun of presidential elections there. in senegal a referendum is being held on constitutional reforms including reducing presidential terms to seven to five years. a closer look at these elections. as we mentioned earlier, its tense in the republic in congo ahead of voting. the government has ordered all communications be blocked for 48 hours. they say to stop illegal publication of the results. the president is seeking to prolong his 32 years of running the country. in october a public referendum removed a two-term limit for the presidency. it left several people dead. our correspondent joins us live. hearing of this telephone and internet blackout, why is that authorities have shut down all communications? >> reporter: officials say they want to manage the situation.

they say in the past some activists, some opposition officials have been tweeting or sundaying out results as they're coming in. they're saying it's illegal to do that. they want to avoid protests across the country. in terms of the voting, i was here for the referendum a few months ago, and this time when polls opened there were not people lining up to vote. people are slowly coming in their numbers. they seem to be frustrated. you can hear the chatting. a lot of people are saying that their names are not on the voting roll, they're staying they're frustrated, they feel that the government wants to try and steel this election. this is an opposition stronghold where during the protest last june several people were shot and killed in this area. the people are tense, people are frustrated. people seem to be getting agitated in the background, but like i said unlike the last time a few, people seem to be coming

up i don't believe that the pom has been open that long-- poll has been open that long. are we expecting a good turn out? >> reporter: it will be interesting to see what happens. some leaders are in prison and have been for months. some say they don't feel it's safe for them to move around. some have been summoned to police stations. they haven't gone. they are urging their supporters to come out and vote. they're saying that they want this to be a statement to the president that the opposition doesn't want to stay in power. it is interesting to see how the day will pan out. the president doesn't want this to go into a second round. he is saying he wants to win in the first one to show that there is a run off showing the criticism to him staying in power. they're waiting to see how this happened. it seems for the moment people seem to be trickling to the

poming stations, particularly in opposition strong holds thank you for that. niger is at the polls for a run-off vote. voters should also boycott because of alleged from youed. >> reporter: a run-off amid controversy after the first round of voting. the incumbent had a 42% in the first round. opposition said the vote was rigged and have decided to quit the race in protest. >> translation: the first round of elections were characterised by irregularities and massive fraud on a scale we've never seen before. >> translation: we ask our militants and sincere democrats to stay at home and not to vote.

>> reporter: there has been virtually no political campaigning, especially not by the opposition. the opposition leader what came second in the first round has not withdrawn his candidacy. he has been in jail. his haelth has been deteriorating before being evacuated to france on friday. a list of demands including the immediate release of ham du and the abrogation of those results as null and void. the decision on the part of opposition parties to boycott the vote and at the same time to keep their candidate in the race, it has been a source of speculation. >> translation: i don't think it's the right attitude to have because they should look at what's important for the nation and not their personal gains.

>> translation: if they follow through and not participate, then they will not recognise who wins the elections, especially the future president who will be elected on march 20, which is something that may lead us into a political impasse. >> reporter: for the supporters of the ruling party, it is a sign of desperation. >> translation: the opposition has participated in all of the phases so far in a manner that shows we have a free and fair election. now they're leaving only after realising they're going to lose. >> reporter: the country's political life has been marred by coups since 1993. the current election is crucial for stability in a country that faced major poverty, undevelopment, drugs and insecurity there's an opposition boycott of elections in

zansibar. october's ballot was cancelled after the candidate declared himself a winner before official results were released. >> reporter: hundreds of people voted here in oblgt, but today there's very lgt activity. only a small handful have come to vote. that's because this is an opposition stronghold and they've been called to boycott this rerun. they say it is illegal and unconstitutional. it was annulled because of remember regular latters. some people are voting. ruling party supporters are voting. the opposition says the whole purpose is for the ruling party to rig it and keep themselves in power, but the ruling party denies it. they say today's poll will be free and fair

in senegal voting has been to make changes to the constitution. they include reducing the president's term in office from seven it five years and giving more power to the national assembly. more than 3,000 officers have been employed to ensure this runs smoothly do stay with us. we will bring you the latest from istanbul, a city of mourning. we take you to the scene in southern russia where emergency workers are combing through what is left of the flydubai wreckage. wreckage.

important sites in the century. >> proudest moment of my life.

the top stories here. a series of air strikes in the syrian province in raqqa. telecommunications to be blocked in relation to the presidential election. he is seeking to prolong his 32 years of running the country. preparations have begun on the greek island of lesbos to send refugees back to turkey. it is the key part of a deal struck between turkey and the e.u. in an attempt to ease the refugee crisis. our correspondent now from

lesbos. the deadline has passed. the deal has come into force. has the message got through to the refugees are or people still arriving. >> reporter: no. the message hasn't gotten through. people are still arriving. that deal between the european union and turkey went into force midnight. according to that deal, these new arrival $could be returned back to turkey, but we were at the shore of lesbos on the early hours of the morning. at least five boats, each boat carrying, approximately, 40 people, arrived on the shores of greece. what we saw many of them, the majority of them were syrians and a lot were from the war-torn city of aleppo. we asked the people about the deal, whether they had any information about the deal and all of them were very well aware of the fact that they could be returned back to turkey, but they were not faced, but they

were not discouraged. they believe that their asylum, their request for asylum will be episode. according to this deal, these people will be given the chance to apply for asylum and whether or not this is accepted, that's a whole different story because there are no guarantees, but what these people were telling us is we were coming from a country at war. we have come from a country that we will be accepted on humanitarian grounds. if this deal was really aimed to discourage people from trying to reach europe to stop the flow of migrants, it has not happened how difficult to implement this deal, to arrange to actually send people back if they still keep coming? >> reporter: putting it into practice is going to be a very difficult task. even the greek authorities acknowledge that. according to the deal the european union is supposed to provide assistance to the greek administration here in lesbos as well as in other islands.

they're going to send hundreds of experts, translators, judges, because every one of these arrivals are going to be applying for asylum. we understand that people will start being returned as of april 4 because, like i said this will be a long process. human rights organizations already criticizing the deal telling europe that they're turning their back on the humanitarian crisis. this is not legal. they're word about nasty deportations. human rights groups are worried about the fact that sending them back to turkey to be wrong because they consider turkey not a safe country. they're worried that turkey will send asylum seekers back to their countries. at the end of the day this is going to be difficult to implement. human organizations-- humanitarian organizations are worried. these people arrived hoping to reach mainland europe. greece is no longer a transit

country. people are stuck here because of tighter restrictions and that the balkan route has been closed thank you for that. investigators in turkey are trying to determine who is behind a suicide bombing in the heart of istanbul. five people were killed and dozens more wounded. it's the latest in a wave of attacks. gerald tann has the latest. >> reporter: a somber mood hangs over the street. this is the commercial lifeline packed with tourists and locals typically. after a bombing on saturday the crowds are thing. >> translation: we came after the snebt and left red carnations to show our pain. we will not submit to terrorism.

we are not afraid. this country will continue to be the country of peace and brotherhood. >> reporter: security camera footage captured the moment the blast went off. hundreds of people ran for cover when a loud explosion was heard. emergency crews sealed off the area as victims were taken to hospital for treatment. it is still not known who ask behind this attack-- is behind this tack. >> translation: terror showed its horrible fachlts we should act together in our fight against terrorism without buts. >> reporter: turkey has been rocked by bomb attacks. last week a blast in the separa the armed group claimed responsibility. the governor insists the country is safe.

it will have to convince the civilians and tourists our correspondent live for us. an investigation underway. have there been any leads? >> reporter: the government this time kind of slow on reacting on blaming any group in the past they have been quick to blame separatists. this time around they were cautious. what we have from the media reports that authorities have the body of the suspected bomber and they are trying to carry out d.n.a. tests. they think that bomb was was on a list of suspected list with links to i.s.i.l. he was on the police watch. this is not confirmed and it

could be open to any possibility, including links to the p.k.k. hours at the scene a few moments ago. over 50 minutes ago, the scene there was a bit of sadness. you can see people are worried. you can see and read in their faces there is huge uncertainy. one woman told us that istanbul is a huge city, there's a mosaic of people living here and people coming from abroad. she said now anybody could be a suspect and anybody can carry out an attack. clearly people are very, very worried. remember the attacks of been ongoing, not only for the last few months but for the year. move on we have an attack in january, february and twice already in march alone

thank you very much emergency workers in southern russia has resumed the grim task of cleaning up the runway where a plane crashed on saturday. people were laying flowers for all 62 passengers and crew who died. the plane missed the runway during bad weather. two black boxes have been found and sent to moscow for analysis. dilma rousseff has filed a criminal complaint about the senator in response to allegations he made against her. she says she knew about an embezzlement scheme at the petrobras. she has been accused of funding the presidential campaign with the money. the government plans to appeal a supreme court ruling involving lula da silva taking up a

cabinet post. people living in small towns in rural brazil have been watching it all unfold. like those in brazil which has a town of 20,000. >> reporter: the noise of protest, replaced by the sounds of horses on cobbled streets. it is a normal day of getting from one place to another by horse back. when the 18-year-old looks at his politicians, he sees little hope >> translation: the politicians are there to steal from the people. for those of us who are poor, we're trying to figure out how to pay for a bag of rise. people are humble, working class and they're watching from afar as their country's government faces the worst crisis in a generation and they're losing

faith. >> translation: we have a corrupt politician and then we get another. they're all corrupt in this country. >> reporter: into the city hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters took to the street calling for the impeachment of dilma rousseff who they hold responsible for economic decline and alleged close ties to corrupt officials. pro-government supporters responded with huge protests of their own saying it's a coup and they won't stand for it. the deepening crisis starts to bring down the government and it has the potential to get worse very soon. here in the capital, the political situation could become even more volatile this week. that's when law makers here are expected to open the first phase of impeachment hearings against the president.

here they're watching developments but not today. this day the one thing that brings everyone together is the local neighborhood football championship, but even those far away from the traditional seats of power realise this crisis is one of the worst the cub has faced for many years north korea's leader has been over seeing drills. it shows him watching coastal landing exercises with rocket fire. they were accused of firing one ballistic missiles into the sea. they have become more defiant after sanctions over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch obama's trip to cuba is significant for relations between the u.s. around its

communist neighbor. our correspondent looks at some of the key moments in this historically tense relationship. >> reporter: for more than 50 years this was the image americans had of castro. he led the overthrow of a dictator banned by the u.s. relations between the two have a fresh face >> >> changes of heart in our own-- change is heart, especially with the heavy weight of history on our shoulders. >> reporter: it took the world to the brink of a nuclear war. direct u.s. interest in the island goes back to the 19th century when americans intervened in the war from spain. cubans ruled their land. there was economic growth but there was also poverty and simmering resentment.

in 1959 castro and his followers followed their way into havana. it became a one communist party state. he soon travelled to the u.s. only to be very publicly shunned by the president who went golfing to avoid the meaning. farming it out to his vice president. >> it was very awkward. he said we're going to go washing done but not for every other, which ask could youtow to washington and beg for money. >> reporter: that's when the embargo was started and krachlt astro was officialising businesses. the u.s. sent annex aisle cubans to the island in the bay of pigs invasion. it failed. behind the scenes the cii tried

to kim him in a series of botched plots. in 1962 cuba became the center of the cold war. the u.s. recommdations the soef yept union had placed missiles on the island. >> this was the most dangerous time of the cold war. one of the most dangerous moiments in human history >> reporter: they removed the missiles, but the u.s. and queue ba were firm enemies. the countries remained in a stale mate until this. his brother took over and this handshake with u.s. obama snamd things could change. they did. now with this visit obama is hoping to solidify his new approach but he can only do so

much. the embargo can only be lifted by the u.s. congress which has shown no indication it's going to do that you can stay up-to-date with the moments of that cuba trip and the rest of the news on our website, aljazeera.com.