forced to return home despite the ongoing war a joint report by six leading agencies says neighboring countries as well as european and u.s. governments are pretty pressure on refugees to go back the only surviving suspect from the paris attacks more than two years ago has gone on trial in belgium. is charged with trying to murder police in a shootout the belgian born frenchman was arrested along with another suspect four days before bomb attacks killed thirty two people in the belgian capital. pictures obtained by philippines media appear to show further militarization of the spratly islands and the disputed south china sea photos released by the philippine daily inquirer show china has built several multistory kong create buildings on one of the artificial islands china has previously said that construction is intended to improve peace and maritime security. headed for a presidential runoff in april after candidates fail to get enough votes to win

sunday's election the campaign has been dominated by the issue of same sex marriage a christian evangelist opposed to it has the most votes so far. those are the headlines the news continues keep it here on al-jazeera front is next. it's one of the most violent places on earth but just how democratic is the democratic republic of congo given its president was supposed to have left office back in twenty sixteen the country's controversial minister of communications and will also debate the future of germany's angela merkel.

also on the show she's been called the new leader of the free world but german chancellor angela merkel has grown increasingly unpopular at home struggle to form a governing coalition and has been undermined by the rise of the far right so how much is merkel herself to blame for the problems germany now face a debate but first protesters shot dead opposition figures on the internet shut down all some say because the president of the democratic republic of congo. refuses to leave office the country's constitution says elections should have been held in twenty sixteen but the authorities keep postponing them so what next for a nation that still recovering from what's been called africa's great war this week's headliner minister of communications.

thanks for joining me from your boss joseph has been president of the democratic republic of congo for seventeen years and you've had presidential elections in your country delayed for nearly two years now is he ever going to give up power and let someone else be elected president. where my president used to see often. you just read the constitution of the democratic republic of the congo and you find the answer there is a provision within the constitution that can tell you if he can step down or not and it is written in the constitution very clearly and nothing will change in that constitution under the constitution there are supposed to be elections twenty sixteen your government said there would be elections in twenty sixteen then they were delayed we were told they would be in twenty seventeen they didn't happen twenty seventeen now we're told they should happen in december twenty third i think december twenty third twenty eight hundred the end of this year how do we know

there are going to happen everybody nor that we the security challenge i think you have heard about these terrorist offensive we had to face in north kivu province where even the soldiers from un died you have already had already and this to the about what happened did they can we not some put their wrist or fences or these didn't make it easy it is this and that's the reason exercise is you have another election of course you can get in previous interview and your president said the reason for the elections was the electoral commission the electoral register getting technical problems now you're switching and saying that security looking for any exists is a big issue you can't organize elections where they are killing those people or of the electoral commission it is impossible we had the problem of . never going to have elections because they'll never be perfect security no no no

in a democratic governor i tell you how to register electors and when they start to register electors we found a lot of provinces under attack terrorist attack and a lot of officials from electoral commission were killed and they refused to go ahead with these. electoral census that jeopardize the existence all saying on so you're saying now that we haven't had elections you haven't had elections in the democratic republic of congo for nearly two years now because of security issues here's what i don't get you say that you want safe elections free elections without violence your president said in the past we want perfect elections i believe is the phrase he's used and yes in twenty eleven when he was reelected for a second term president kabila those elections were not considered free and fair by international law he didn't care about free and fair elections in twenty eleven when he was being reelected this is comment of people from international monitors

from the carter center as are your views is not a country that belongs to. a comment of i don't know who so it is very unfair it is the people of congo who decides that we decide that the image of the where good are going to one decided the other if i was a member of parliament it was good so let people say what they want but the people of congo you say will decide what is free and fair the people in congo are protesting in the streets they have been for the last two years against their will is an election who protests the my idea there are. twelve million people in this town of kinshasa. there were no not even ten thousand people protesting ten thousand people doesn't count as a pro because you know how the non-elected people would try to keep sure you only elect desirable and allowed to protest in a democracy is that your position richard are definitely because the show is that the elected people to come and not give the policy of ignition so you're against

peaceful protests but that's very honest of bloodstains for the last policeman they killed the policemen might be easier non-democratic to protest in the streets they delayed elections again not to come with guns and to keep but if your peace in this thread about the peaceful it was not peaceful so ten thousand guns you are not well informed ok so i'm asking for information in other. well and the people who found the some bundy two were there ten thousand. people didn't commit suicide minister whether you had a thousand people with gay were killed in the police is that i'm not disagreeing detained out of many peaceful protest was killed would tend not to know many many many who look at other me the number first answer my question if you guess how it works i'll be the question i'll tell you a figure in a moment people died you said ten or twenty five two people died that is to this work of individuals who would have reported twenty thousand people carrying guns and so on asking no question no you except there were nonviolent protesters here at least the way among the various protests there and then just people who are not in

the party that you are exaggerating their condolences to the police as you killed in violent protests no order given to any protester really does a lie it's a lie nobody can say that for the us government says that you use lethal force against congolese civilians amnesty says used firearms against protesters human rights watch says you fired point blank range we're going to don't like how you can rob them which are misty but we have a problem with a lady walking with you're not right everybody you know i'm glad he had that she had a problem with what you do should ok so you're a little bit here oh well that is how problem i will minister. to respond to that i talked about and i want to repeat lots of questions what i do admire is you do speak in a very blunt way you said you have no problem with amnesty international this is what he says the wanton disregard for protesters lives the unlawful use of force cannot be tolerated the use of firearms against unarmed protesters contravenes congress obligations on the international media are not well informed that dissolved oh my well you are so there is no you dismiss amnesty as well your should

not to go and take a report from somebody who has a problem with somebody but i should say recall for the government that's killing the people these are misty who say we should i will you do it is rules we should i believe i shouldn't believe the french government to put a u.s. government. what human rights watch but i should believe the government would be hiring out because we are in the ceded my idea ok so there you. ok so let me ask you this question a u.n. official u.n. human rights official on the ground was monitoring events were thrown to the ground by security forces kicked and punched even though he was wearing a blue vest identified as your terrorist way of that so perhaps you should get more information i'm not just where you were telling me to get lots of i mean you're not aware of an attack on a unit where you see the new york times with no no you see while the formation of bodies. you see them but these we don't have that information the reality is that the congolese people a lot of congolese people support could be a lot of congolese people don't support. indeed indeed in the knowledge that there

were actually without elections there was a poll done last year that showed ten percent of congolese people support the president thirty eight percent say they have backed the exiled opposition or later they're going to be wanted by ten percent of people what are you talking when you do you make these enormous poll was done and opinion poll who won the recent government and why you have never seen bills people. making policy in the new york or the brussels or this is a lawyer made up those out of the ok so they're liars they're un that realize they are honest and human rights watch are liars we want a government. number that you're the only one of the sort of sorts of was that well trees are unhappy because we are giving them now partnership western countries are not happy so i'm some partners like ok what about the respected head of the catholic church in your country who has compared life in congo to living in an open prison we said demonstrating for the catholic church let me today have

a problem with you it looks like we have a problem with some prove me didn't you man who are acting as a politician about the head of the catholic church no that's not bad is what he says how can you. how can you kill men women children youths and old people young thing we all saw what you are we're now living in an. r.v. i'm sorry oh. are we now living in an already were killed during the demonstration cardno lorin maazel that is all we now living in an open prison it's a very simple question it is the clergyman who is acting as a politician who said so but not the catholic church so he wants the song out by many other bishops ok because you just dismissed the bishop as well he. says he doesn't like your business relation with china he's a politician do you fear your congolese opponents is that why you don't let them protest for free do you think that there is any country in the center of these part of the continent who people could be moved that freebee us the democratic republic

of congo. where hundred country people are being shot dead and there are people who are six people were shot dead this in january twenty sixth is not a hundred let's just do the math challenging numbers i love a few less in december twenty sixth in sixty two people killed in the august twenty seven hundred twenty seven people are by law that's eighty nine lives on the seven in december result in may that's ninety six thousand in january that's one hundred result identity does it into deficit figures dismissing your fellow can tell you the cigars in where is their lives what i read the report i vy hermanus the human rights world war three reuters we people can be fluent in the right but it won't it's impossible to have a conversation because when i gave you advice a criticism becomes right phil just like news you bring president becomes for a fake reports i'm sorry how many of you killed they have to be a confrontation between him and call them turned our soldiers want to reach with you no no no no we are not going to give it up to you not even the company which i

mean killed the researcher nobody were killed during the demonstration how many were killed five five ten others is the way our kids into december why it is sixteen how many people have been killed in protests not even ten really not even so when we have the bad shot of the one who have to keep the people. out of the sheet. the problem is you keep saying the facts are fake information that your government is actually trying to control information you shut down the internet you prevent people from sounds like a very worried about their current to be way off speaking of speech freedom of. expression more than the going to reflect this is just you know does not tell you just give me a seaboard making nonsensical stays with me as you don't know if. you the free is going to. come to you or not they have no respect you know interview me i'm not going you who is a reason i lost a simple question on t.v. are you saying that your country is yours as to free speech in blank outlook or to

use your yes. why do you use section you are the minister communications for a quote repressive media policy cause of trying to undermine the lecturer that you are now as a homicide travelling to the e.c. or bandages a lot bizarrely has your mind all very well ok so that it was of china i know of anyway and why did the us government sanction officials in the sunshine in the back of the us so your colleagues are your colleagues or nobody's telling us out of the e.u. assigned to the members of your government but apparently the freest government in quote black africa no no no no no i mean this is why some of your statements and all of that nonsense challenges that beaches are challenging that ok because challenging the right now you're sanctioned by the e.u. we have a problem with a company called better but the us government says you're corrupt and prey on your citizens maybe they are influenced by bad you ok well i'll tell jim is that well you know how these days oh no sir i could but change the trumpet minister i know you're the american go lobby what i don't get the us government the e.u. the belgian government the. right sequence of belgium i'm not going to extend it to

others and i'm talking i'm quoting the us government me the us i'm quoting the us government the french government the e.u. human rights watch amnesty international and why you the un the cobbles in the catholic that you've dismissed not on no cheese not ok one called nothing you do on the catholic church a very yes ok but do you dismissed all these people which. you're right but what i don't get is why not one pretend that you're a democracy where no one thinks you just say you know what we don't care and we are thinking about even more correctly doesn't care we have a broad tendency to raise re people where you say you are the freest years we are a democracy but we have freedom to interact with you who do you what do we want and what are we decided to interact with to china we got problems we could belgium because the before market or nizar and they wanted us to remain in partnership with them so my question is yes when all of this criticism from the international community is coming out you want to just say we don't care why pretend that you are

a democracy where no one thinks you are we are a democracy because we are it is much better off the fact he's not your mother or your president it is not a lot of people turn you off other this interview because a matter of fact some idea of somebody say you are a democrat so you are a democrat these are matter of facts are we acting as democrats if yes we have the market even if you don't think that we have their work cut if you ali we are as they walk out we are out of the market indeed. thank you for joining me on out front thank you thank you. she's been called the defacto leader of the e.u. the new leader of the free world and even the most powerful woman on earth but in our own country german chancellor angela merkel is more unpopular than ever before she's been struggling to form a coalition government and last year lost a number of seats to the far right nationalist a.f.d. or alternative for germany party speaking at the recent world economic forum in

davos the german leader claimed she was doing all she could to get the populist wave under control but is she or is merkel the cause of it and how do her current political struggles affect not just the future of germany but of europe joining me to discuss this are yasha monk a lecture on government to harvard and host of the good fight podcast and from frank coleman a journalist historian and author of the biography the german angler merkel and others thank you both for joining me in the arena ralph let me start with you in the past you've praised anglo merkel's leadership you even wrote in your twenty thirteen biography that she was quote in perfect sync with the national mood that isn't quite the case today though is it nearly half of germans according to the poll say they want merkel to resign in twenty seventeen she let her party to the worst result since nine hundred forty nine era of dominance seems to be over isn't it. there are two reasons i would say first of all she's in office for twelve years and that's lots of time even for germany and of course it's also

a problem that forming the government is very difficult now and that's not a very comfortable position for and the other reason of course is refugees policy since two thousand or in two thousand and fifteen. nearly one million a year for refugees came to germany. of course that was a great for the right wing nationalist of the party but while i think that it's not the fault of america because there were a few turn and how to react in the situation we had in that year. but of course it's a consequence of our policy yes it's to do with the fact that she's been in power for a long time that's one of the main reasons why she saw unpopular now it's not through

faults of our own i mean the little bit of both obviously once been in power for the ten years it's easy for people to sour on you but i think the best line and i know merkel always used to be that she's minimally invasive she doesn't really get on you know and i think she still doesn't get on people's nerves in quite that way it's not they see you on the t.v. screens and i think as a kind of standard see this face anymore i don't want to hear that voice anymore i think people are recognizing that she actually hasn't shown real strategic leadership and that's true across a whole range of issues the refugee crisis is one moment where she seemingly had some kind of leadership for she was actually buffeted by the bends to a remarkable degree of same is true on the euro crisis where she didn't clearly set out how germany should deal with greece and other countries she sort of kept muddling through the same is true of the rise of the liberal populist in poland and hungary where she hasn't shown real leadership but i think people are. recognizing now that the same is happening in coalition of the sea asians which have dragged on without a clear word of leadership among the merkel voters saying this is where we want to

go and why that is not as strong a leader as has been claimed she lacks real strategic leadership and she's been muddling through suggestion or her well yes but i think that for her what you call muddling through is part of political leadership pragmatism and to see what is realistic and if you take the eurozone crisis for example the countries of north and eastern europe are not so much of the people in these countries we're not so much going to pay money or to guarantee credits to be more exact for other countries and southern europe. people in southern europe are not very much attached to the idea of financial stability and i think it was a really big political leadership an act of political leadership that.

was able to find a compromise between these two positions let me ask you this she accepted one point five million migrant asylum seekers refugees in twenty fifteen and twenty sixteen her critics say that open door policy backfired on her people on the left actually praise her and say that was a humanitarian gesture from a purely political pragmatic view point was that a mistake in your view but with alternatives is as rough as meant when i think one of the things that was a mistake in in the migrant crisis which is quite typical of her shortcomings was that she is not somebody who can actually set up the vision and hold a speech in order to get people on board was a lack of communication so what she did was quite bizarre you would expect somebody who's actually committed to helping refugees to try and. keep the door open while reassuring people that there is a limit and virtue is taking steps to manage flows what you did instead was the

opposite which is to say that she actually did what she could to stop the migrant flows she struck very dubious deal of threats about one of turkey for example to make sure that no more migrants could actually reach germany and overwise should tell the german public there is no end to immigration and to refugees we will not have an upper limit this is going to go on for however long it will and i think one of the reasons why germany turned against refugees so strongly is precisely that they had a sense of this is going to go on forever and so that it will change all. of a cleavage if she had been very clear about the fact that there's going to be an end of the i think that people would have been work that route. i think that the main reason why she acted. was simply europe she thought that germany not be the country which closes the borders if that doesn't matter about germany cannot do that in specially in the situation of

the summer two thousand and fifteen after the deal with greece many people thought that money was too hard against greece and greeks and so this was the main motive but i didn't want to speak about that because she thought that this argument europe was not popular enough and that was why she only said that when every single day and every single time she irony i want to say because i'm running after the opinion polls moment after moment and that's made her very successful it's allowed to get reelected number of times but it's also the reason why she hasn't actually solved any of the issues facing germany what's her legacy in what way has she actually changed the country you mention political legacy what is her legacy would you say that part of her legacy is the rise of far right nationalists the turning to for germany party which became the first far

right nationalist party to enter the german parliament since the nazis merkel's vote went down last year their vote went up and they won seats for the first time on this level do you hold her responsible for the rise of such groups. i mean there's a case to be made but you can say that because she has vacated the political right in germany because she's moved her party to the center of it left a space for fifty when you look around europe there isn't a single country with a system of proportional representation where some form of populist party has risen so i think germany was the right for that and that probably would have happened with a different chancellor as well. perhaps it's part of an american celebrity but it's not in the center of this legacy or legacy is in my view that she managed to with her muddling through yes of course but to bring germany and europe quiet safe through the recent ten years of crisis first of all financial crisis where

you are in crisis when you current crisis really where the edge of a third world war when she started to talk with obama putin and so on and then of course references crisis. around europe angular merkel she's been in office nearly thirteen is we don't know how long she'll be in office for will she be remembered as a great leader who united germany in europe behind or is an overrated leader who's tenure and in failure how will historians judge and i think she should evolve and be seen at a great leader like homework or with very new things like reunification but she will be seen as a great leader such as hammersmith for example chancellor of crisis who managed to keep german the germany and europe safe in a time of crisis and i think when she is not there anymore her popularity

will rise again most of the time briefly yasha how will history judge angle merkel i think is a very decent very competent leader. who didn't have the foresight and the strategy to actually confront some of the big crises. that haven't really come home to him yet that right now aren't quite felt yet but i fear will be of course of the next decade judgment will have to leave it there we're out of time thank you both for joining me in the arena that's our show up will be back next week. the nature of news as it breaks the u.s.

cut the funding has cemented the feeling here that the u.s. is now part of the problem and has picked the israeli side with detailed coverage but our german government insists negotiations are ongoing to secure the release of the girls and hundreds of others. from around the world three decades on chileans are still thinking about abuses but this time those committed by the church. and the rhythm are a vital source of substance to the countries it flows through this nor the single on who can lay claim and with good name isn't good given the resources we found both agreed with with this comes a destabilizing rivalry countries suspicious of each other's intentions in the battle for control of the record that transpired in syria consultation was not often included hunters because of some unknown fear struck a little bit of this time on al-jazeera.

the scene for us where on line what is american sign in yemen that peace is always possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on set there are people that are choosing between buying medication and eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist and she's close to the story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. samsung's convicted leader j. wiley is now a free man after a south korean court suspends his presence sentance.