a unique poor trait of a small gulf nation living under siege but maybe this friend was their target. pain to be forced to leave will be all and then gains by the celeb it has given us the desire to carry on with our lives and be creative maybe other turndowns it's not a marriage bargain business. has become more united. beyond the blockade at this time on al-jazeera. ethiopia's prime minister. sadly has resigned after months of antigovernment protests and the release of top opposition leaders from prison.

on all computer davi you're watching al-jazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also coming up a new leader for south africa cyril ramaphosa prepares to step in after jacob zuma as resignation. mourning in zimbabwe after the death of the opposition leader morgan tsvangirai will be live in harare. and the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson arrives in eleven on as part of his middle east tour. a breaking story for you this the ethiopian prime minister highly mariyam to salim has submitted his resignation during an emergency meeting of the ruling ethiopian people's democratic front it comes after months of anti-government protests and the release of top opposition leaders from prison because and six others well they were freed on tuesday their detention had filled the pro. yes led by the old romo ethnic

group they were sparked by a government plan they feared and caused them to lose their land and cause a ten month nationwide state of emergency. we'll get more on that story for you this developing assumes which. south africa is awaiting a changing of the guard after jacob zuma resigned from the presidency mr zuma was told to step down by the governing a.n.c. party his nine year term has been plagued by numerous corruption scandals the stage is now set for the a n c's cyril ramaphosa to become the country's next president he will face an election next year but in the meantime he'll be dealing with many challenges including high unemployment and crime for me to milena from johannesburg a reluctant announcement from and in vattel to president i have therefore come

to the decision to resign as president of the republic with immediate effect even though i disagree with the decision though for much of the leadership of my of going to zation. i have always been a disciplined member of the sea it came just hours before parliament was due to vote in a motion of no confidence against jacob zuma president's hand may have been forced but zuma says his party did not give reasons why he should resign that's despite being in broiled in scandal after scandal throughout his presidency including accusations of corruption and a court ruling that he had broken his oath of office when he ignored the public protect his recommendation that he paid back some of the state money used to refurbish his private residence despite all the criticism against zuma the a.n.c.

says the decision to recall him was a difficult one to make following zoomers resignation the ruling party saluted what it called his outstanding contribution and thanked him for the role he played in the a.n.c. for many decades. earlier in the day the home of zimmer's associates a family known as the gupta's was raided. five people have been arrested after an investigation revealed that millions of dollars of state funds was siphoned from a dairy farm project into business is linked to the group does. next week the national prosecuting authority will decide if a corruption charges against zuma that were dropped in two thousand and nine will be reinstated and an inquiry into the extent of external influence in seumas administration known as state capture is due to begin his removal as president may just be the beginning of zoomers travels.

ok let's just take you live to the south african parliament there as m.p.'s get ready to see several ram opposed to being sworn in as president of course he will be looking ahead towards the elections shuttles for not very far away we've had scenes of celebration there inside the parliament building cyril ramaphosa one thousand nine hundred one thousand nine hundred five he turned away from south african politics he felt he'd been passed over by nelson mandela nelson mandela under pressure from the a.n.c. went for somebody else to be his deputy. there we have a moment of respect for the process going on there inside the parliament building. obviously a highly significant moment there for south african politics people are saying that the end scene now has to go through a period of soul searching those allegations of corruption of course have been around for

a good few years they have in effect gone at no place until this point. when it became clear that jacob zuma had to step aside because he either worked out for himself or he was told you will not win that vote of no confidence there is a feeling as well that still run a poster who is in his own right a very very wealthy businessman these days is so wealthy that he doesn't need to be corrupt he doesn't have to indulge in those areas that are being questioned even as we speak right now to do with very specifically i guess the group the family as well but he did feel overlooked because he wanted to hitch his political weapon to nelson mandela back in the mid one nine hundred ninety s. he was a union leader he went on to become a very successful big businessman something of a country trick that he managed to pull off and one of the claims made about him is that despite his unionist his union beliefs and the way that he set up

a union back in the one nine hundred eighty s. he always turns left when he gets onto a plane he doesn't turn right he's the man that always flies first class mr zuma of course has gone before him he had to deal with those allegations. i am just getting a sense of the history of the a.n.c. is that up until now there have been very public squabbles political infighting and the a.n.c. now has to have a period of political healing relief. agencies being. there how soon now. now proceed to the election of the new president of the republic of south africa the constitution requires the chief justice and of course to preside over the election in the bull's eye and now invite on the chief realities to know you are talking about speak for the normal no no outer she was starting on the wrong foot in speed guy on our door ford our speed up your catapult

to trust this word that it's a person on the floor you are setting up a justice for failure please. or down i remember when the speech was on the floor no one else could be on the floor but. the raise to one i remember a call for our section fifty of the constitution artesian speaker and i remember talking about recording for out here you are allowed me to finish talking. and listeners and sure enough to hear t.v. off the constitution pay me any member to propose that the afghanistan of the constitution permits any member to propose that the national assembly be dissolved but such a proposal and must take the form of said trafford resolution and motion of which prior notice must be given and which must be truly programmed in accordance with

the rules of the house i am aware that such a motion has been submitted by ditties not on the order paper for discussion today members will be aware that these matters i discussed in the programme committee which meant to day and the estie. but rather that the chief justice has convened the sitting to date for the purposes of electing the president in the light of this i must accordingly order that we proceed with the business of the day as it appears on the order people will go. on the double speak i. want to go to burger indulgence we are preempting things that we're not always here to raise we have indicate that it's less the jobs. then we're looking

a proposal that has political parties we should be given a minute or two to respond to news in which to make them out studs. we notice it was ignition we saw about. all of us and parliament that was a statement in terms of what has happened so that is the purpose out that we made but because we are clear that you thought were going to raise the issues that have responded to not by this the second part of what i want to deal with now what dealing with the issue of the resignation may will please be allowed to respond to die or not abolishing mamoun this morning you when we presented in the joint program called miti you are all story presented in yesterday afternoon's national assembly program committee those meds has were not raised by your representatives and saw it has been that greed in the status of the joint program committee and the

national assembly program called meeting and to day's business is about the election of the president. and therefore whenever member as i now. but also you know when we raise our hands or dilute you don't recall demise and the next thing when we stand up to speak you are going to be completely raising our debt weirdly india where we know you are singing for stop are we to my. least. one member of my lemma from our process of a long time ago. we got within the budget we are not in their product position to elect the president. because course was not a part as made certain findings are against this parliament. and therefore an illegitimate parliament which as it the constitution i did not as acute its

responsibilities cannot be the one that elects amongst its. a person who is are accused of the same things because when the course is not a court say we failed as parliament to execute our responsibilities they include all of us here and therefore no one should emerge from amongst us to stand for position of president with strongly feels that we must dissolve the feet of parliament than the elections and people are not in my out of people are not as the earth. have already learned not to get somebody lit baghdad arrangement or not every minute of their money. and not some elite which meets here not every day and amongst themselves on their own. seats if we even see if you insist on proceeding with the election of the president you are

in kerry's dinner now on the process which will be late by telling this much as i want this one. thing when we're telling them are. asked. to take a seat. as i have said madam speaker and issue must be raised in the form of have properly constituted motion and have not allowing members to at use this. adams really pleading with you are not able to id please take a seat let them speak on a different matter. you will recall that. chief we've stood up and request that it's good to see two miles that each leader off the political party responded to the announcement that he'd made of it is the issue secondly there is national

letter is not published in the a.t.c. we request at least. it was not there in the morning can you read it for us maybe i'm speaker because we don't trust that men at all who can't even talk to me in news in news can leave that one so much ask for our. honorable adze there's still going to be a deeply aides you will be able to express yourself as broadly as possible on major issues that you want to express about the resignation and the sitting and the troll trials of a new president because i really because you are not a man we are even this morning i even ask you which way is the letter from i am now sad to have received no happy clappy was now i live in muslim and let me ask that we see the latter can you read the lead how to us and to the nation in who are to

sit to lead and give each and every political party to speak on that. things are not. highly. please. call padraig's you're watching al-jazeera english coming to live from doha with live coverage as well coming to us out of cape town and we were expecting cyril ramaphosa to be sworn in as the south african president south african m.p.'s i suspect we're expecting that as well it has not happened yet and the motion has not begun in the process of being passed by m.p.'s inside the parliament building in cape town because what we've been looking at in the past fifteen or twenty minutes if you're just joining us here on al-jazeera is julius malema from the economic freedom fighters basically kind of filibustering with a small f e a saying look we didn't have ample opportunity first thing this morning local time to challenge the supposition there we are they are walking out

m.p.'s voted into the parliament to represent an economic freedom fighters deciding to i guess exercise their democratic rights and leave the chamber julius malema saying that they didn't have the enough time first thing this morning the speaker of the house saying yes you did but now the business all this afternoon show joined this afternoon procedure is to make sure that is sworn in as president traditionally more of course something of a thorn in the side of the a.n.c. he was expelled from the african national congress although he has been touted by some people think as being potentially a south african president at some point in the future they're basically lying when they started that quite loud quite vocal protest against the process that the speaker wants to see the parliament through their basic line was we cannot go with this because we cannot give cyril ramaphosa the just a must see that you want us to give him and given that jacob zuma announced

his resignation last night so that's where we are right now let's just listen in again to what's going on the inside the parliament were. just is to preside over the election i now invite. chief justice to take the chair. from thank you or already thank you. thank you respect or let me begin by i agree

that the purpose of visiting is to lead the president of the republic of south africa. and visage by a section eighty six of the constitution. it is necessary to make sure that there is no lapse. and that nobody is left with any doubt in relation to comply. with the prince cripps of the constitution and i therefore begin by i read in section eighty six of the constitution it relates. for sitting of dates election and whenever necessary to feel if they can see a national assembly must elect a woman or a man from among its members to be the president the chief justice must preside

over the legend of the president or dislike made another judge to do so the procedure set out in part a of federal three applies to the election of the president and election to fill a vacancy in the office of president must be held at a time and on a day determined by the chief justice but no more than thirty days after the vacancy occurs. as suppose it's enough for me to give an assurance that i have seen the letter written by the president julius signed

today fact that he is resigning with immediately that it may be let me read it out the air madam speaker and it's dated the fourteenth of february twenty eighth in resigning from resign in the office of president of the republic of south africa there is serves to inform you that i have tendered my resignation as the president of the popular of south africa. presidential act out loud to take this opportunity to fank you all members of parliament and the public at large for giving me an opportunity to leave this country from two thousand and nine yards and see mr jacob get this lady says zuma president of the republic of south africa and it is signed and as for the presidential act it's entitled presidential act number twenty four i. assume are here by

a design as president of the republic of south africa with immediate effect there is this edition will be communicated to the speaker of the national assembly there is this edition is recorded in terms of section one or one subsection one of the constitution of the republic of south africa nineteen ninety six given under my hand at pretoria on this the fourteenth day of february two thousand and eighteen president and then it is signed. i also confirmed that i received notification to this if you listen by the speaker and in response i send a letter to her communication titled election of the president of the republic and it reads in order to feel a vacancy created by there is a commission of president j.g. zuma and acting in terms of section eighty six three of the constitution are

determined that first the fifteen february twenty eighth in fourteen hundred hours will be the date and time on which a new president of the republic of south africa will be elected with kind regards of side and more or more in chief justice of the republic of south africa that then confirms that there is indeed vacancy as envisaged by the constitution that the existence of the vacancy was communicated to me and that in response and in compliance with section eighty six i determined the date and the time at which that is to be done they lection of the president is to give them i have to announce that court rules general govern today's proceedings to be distributed. to members of this

house by placing copies on their seats and those are the rules contemplated by the constitution in shelter and free item in line hours so announced that i have appointed the following persons to be attorney offices to assist me in these proceedings. why as returning officer. returning officers. so. mr seavey much longer will miss our more shlomi less the employer case misty alliance mr j.m. . mr v. p. the lega mr t. now. mess that the battle law. mess the ever gave us on a custom mr p. . dick mr g.

me mr m. j. dog d. miss our tender mr. mind jersey and miss mongo they have taken their oath or affirmation of this before me a little while ago for that matter will now proceed to the election of the president of the republic of south africa before our call for nominations i have to remind members that in terms of the constitution. must be submitted on the prescribe form and julia second it furthermore i have to draw the attention of members especially to item four of part a of three to the constitution in terms of which there may be no debate there will

now be an opportunity for the nomination of candidates for election as president of the republic of south africa are their nominations. are. dr patrick myself. on behalf of the a.n.c. nominate another acting president might demand siddaramaiah pausa to be elected as the president of that would probably go to south africa as stipulated in section eighty six of the constitution of the republic of south africa act number zero one zero eight of one thousand nine hundred eighty six he had tried and tested the

revolutionary who is bring new hope and expectation to our people as well as you need to renew our and discipline to the movement africa and the world of our pinning their hopes on you are not only does she. thank you. and i'm opposed as below i'm in attendance the nomination second. yes to justice. chief justice and members of the national assembly i. wish to second nomination for perry's dr my sarah that the honorable. it's the candidate of the sea as president acting president. is a revolutionary caterer. who has served the people of south africa all his life. as

a student activist when studying law and a principled community leader and unionist. the presidency of. honorable romney. well deepen the commitment of the a.n.c. to radical economic transformation and training so they you know. they've unity in our country and try to restore our nation board we cannot transform our country by the i mean lives. we transform ourselves and black all of us chambre before him from apollo says leadership style will not simply be a matter of historical and academic matter he is a product of deeply ingrained principles and values but above all above all

he is a selfless just supplement. and he no this is just the people of south africa and bring about ending plusa and prosperous economy for all south africans in which to benefit i think q thank. some of the nomination. yes i do with. the. top. is that another nomination. as the nomination form is being supplemented to me checked

is there another nomination on the ball to have justice as a number no no. i do not intend to break another nomination i just want to bring the following to your attention i mean nation just made by talked about was done in terms of an act that doesn't exist it is third to act one one zero nine nine hundred eighty six the constitution is nine hundred ninety six so if it's a mistake you must rectify that. if it's not in a way i thank you and thank your noble murderer that isn't why the nomination form has to be submitted and saw that we can satisfy ourselves that there is compliance.

any other nomination. has the nomination form been submitted to that attorney office or not it. is there any other nomination. yes called done. under a chief justice i advise not to make a nomination. but on behalf of the congress of the people raised and of jackson. i guessed you're watching our live coverage of

cyril ramaphosa becoming the next president of south africa after the announcement yesterday that jacob zuma decided to tender his resignation when it became clear he was not about to win the vote of no confidence that was leveled at him we've heard mr ramaphosa being put forward as the next president we had his nomination seconded there to some jeers and catcalls within the chamber the m.p. that second it is nomination said he's the only person that can transform our country and we've got to do that because if we don't we can transform ourselves as well she went on to say that mr romack is a selfless disciplined leader he can bring about intrusive economic reform for all south africans of course that's one of the key aspects of mr ramaphosa presidency moving towards the. quite soon relatively speaking presidential elections which are

not so very far away the states of the surf african economy because despite the end of a party despite nelson mandela despite what followed nelson mandela there are so many people in south africa still joining. the economic benefits of the end of apartheid and it makes you it makes one have to discuss the end of apartheid in terms that would make it feel as if it just ended two years ago five years ago of course it was one thousand nine hundred four in one thousand nine hundred five when . he thought he was going to become the number two to nelson mandela it didn't happen but he's. been content to bite his tongue one waiting to go back in to politics let's listen in to what you're looking at is the chief justice. there nomination is in order. accordingly in terms of item five of part a real threat to the constitution i declare. the honorable mike that mailer said

obama pasta julie elected president of that it probably goes on thank you ian was i i. i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i

i i i i i i i i i i i i i i he there are sadly. i was. i. was going to you know i. try and do our job to their environment i'm not them used to me when i was in a pub of law nor singing as i was. on my done and pasok congratulations on your election as president or better thank you the.

it and our now invite the speaker to take a seat. in the in the open. in the open . the so. order the sun.

or another will president from up or cya. in the in the chief justice or not i remember was distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen south africa has just emerged from a historic and challenging and. in taking us forward i wish to remind the house of the words of wisdom by former president nelson mandela when he said in that quote it is in the character of growth that we should from both pleasant and layers and experiences and quote a lesson that we should draw from these words as a nation is that our challenges and not in some mountable.

the challenging events of the last few weeks and the subsequent resignation of former president jacob zuma brought to my a similar moment a decade ago if you remember when former president resigned as president of the republic. with all of these i however truly believe that our more kersey has my true ward and remains the resilient. or the rebel members i take this opportunity to appreciate and command the role and contribution made by former president zuma over the last nine years. we we wish former president zuma and his family all the best in his future

endeavors. on the election of the new president is excellences horsa we wish you strength and fortitude in this challenging role i take this opportunity to extend aware of gratitude to the people of south africa for their patience throughout this trying route. as we move forward let us be reminded again of the with of nelson mandela that indeed our challenges and not insurmountable i think you. having said that on the rebel members i think this is a moment. for me. to thank the honorable chief justice for having conducted these proceedings for

having operated at so quickly with us. and in fact assisting us to even have this election of a new president earlier than what we thought was possible when we were interacting with the moon were very never us about the question of fees of a liberal or a really grateful chief justice. and. i on the liberal members will now afford patti's up to two minutes each to make remarks and there after that the president elect will have an opportunity to address the house for a few minutes not to see really deliver the state of the nation address that's for two more. may i chant with our number of members from the have something to say.

the leader of the opposition. speakers taking us through the constitutional niceties that they're going to go through the actual swearing in will happen into two and a half hours you're going to hear from lots of different stay with these live pictures coming to us out of the parliament building in cape town we'll talk to our correspondent from either miller who's in johannesburg monitoring this compelling piece of south african political theater they seemed at one point for me to be in kind of uncharted territory because we had the economic freedom fighters either walking or being ejected followed ten minutes later by one m.p. saying look this is all happening under the umbrella of a political act that doesn't exist it was felt as if they didn't quite know where they were going of course they've never had a similar situation in the past. well the years

it has been expected to some extent that the year every would have some sort of resistance in parliament and they had said earlier along with a democratic alliance of the sea there the leader of the da will see my money speaking now they have said that they want parliament dissolved and they want south africa to go to early elections in the months time now they're basing this demand on a constitutional court ruling at the end of last year where the court had said that jacob zuma hadn't abided by the constitution but related to that parliament hadn't either because they hadn't forced president jacob zuma to pay back the money night i don't know if you've heard this phrase before on pay back the money but it goes back to jacob zuma using state funds to refurbish his pride. but residence a public protector investigation and inquiry found that this shouldn't have

shouldn't have happened and at least a portion of the money should have been paid back by jacob zuma when this was done and it was only when jacob zuma was taken to court and forced to do that and later followed by a constitutional court application by opposition parties and this is what these opposition parties are saying this is a parliament we can't trust is a parliament that's dominated by african national congress this isn't just about one man it's not just about jacob zuma it's about a rotten party they say the rot goes far deeper than the former president they say that the swearing in the program to see later today of a new president doesn't mean very much and that parliament should be dissolved and we consider to see the kind of resistance from opposition parties you know they've also wanted other smaller issues dealt with like the president's a resignation letter to be read out that was done later we do know that the affair

does take this aggressive and confrontational style in the parliament but they've walked out and we are expecting to see more of that in coming days when the state of the nation address is given tomorrow by the new presidents all reports are perhaps later ok i'm going to interrupt you there for just a second if i may we will come back to you i'm sure in the coming minutes because i want to take our audience live. to beirut to the lebanese capital that you can see rex tillerson the u.s. secretary of state with. the lebanese prime minister a significant visit there on the part of rex tillerson the u.s. secretary of state he's doing something of a round robin to he was in latin america he's now made his way across the globe to the middle east he has been making comments about hezbollah reading of the interpretation of the financing of that perceived not just in beirut not just in lebanon but across the region as being. highly significant he is we understand

thinking about reheating the idea of a legitimate lebanese security force how that will be received particularly across the region with regard to the israeli government that remains to be seen it does have a slightly finessed approach to say because he is very clearly separating out hezbollah the armed group from hezbollah which has political representation within the framework of lebanese politics the politics of lebanon and the people of lebanon there has to date been something of a refresh is being called a pressure campaign where the state department identified individuals and they were then found in finding themselves on the receiving end of sanctions whether that pressure campaign will not either continue or won't happen a toll is yet to be to be seen as we work our way through this relationship particularly difficult for mr to listen because he goes from here to ankara he's

going to have meetings in turkey the relationship there is slightly more problematic because of how the united states perceives different groups fighting on the ground in syria and how those same groups are seen by the turkish administration let's just open the microphone and see if we get a sense of what's being said in beirut and relation lebanon is committed to security council resolution seventeen zero one and two two three seven three we want to move to instead of permanent ceasefire but israel daily violation of our sovereignty under that process as does israel is collating gravity this needs to stop lebanon southern border is the calmest border in the middle east and i asked security thurston to help keep it that way and i thank him for his country's continuous support. the special tribunals for lebanon which we are confident would

put and then impunity for the perpetrators of political assassination in our country once again the secretary was come to live and thank you. thank you as well so much from mr hariri for the warm welcome to beirut i was told by my staff when i arrived to think it's been a little more than four years since the last visit of secretary of state so i couldn't be more pleased to be here to represent the united states this trip is really an important opportunity to reaffirm that there are very strong bonds between our two countries but also to have very important exchanges about what can what we can do together to address the many critical challenges that this region is confronted with it addition to the prime minister also had the privilege to meet with president on foreign minister bustle and speaker barrie in all of these

meetings i've repeated the united states message that we stand firmly with the lebanese people and lebanon's with gentleman state institutions as levanon faces formidable challenges as well as threats in the region from foreign conflicts and efforts to drag lebanon into such conflicts to terrorism and violent extremism to economic strains lebanon has been under enormous pressure. we are engaging with the government of both lebanon and israel to ensure levanon the southern border remains calm. and we remain committed to helping levanon and the lebanese people prosper through the development of their natural resources in agreement with all of their neighbors if an agreement can be reached it truly has the ability to help lebanon and the neighboring countries prosper both now and in the years to come despite all these challenges it is clearly

a testament to the resilience of the lebanese people and lebanese communities around the world that lebannon perseverance we're grateful to our close partnership with lebanon's security services particularly the lebanese armed forces and the internal security forces as they fight on the front lines against isis desh and al qaida and they stand ready to safeguard lebanese stability we've built a very strong relationship with the state institutions and we would remain committed to supporting them in dancing our common goals we also command the extraordinary generosity of the lebanese communities which are hosting over one million syrian refugees the united states has provided nearly one point six billion dollars in humanitarian assistance that delivers basic services to refugees and the open hearted communities here in lebanon who welcome them the united states stands

with the lebanese people as you face these challenges and we were remain strongly committed to lebanon security stability independence and importantly your sovereignty. but it's impossible to talk about stability sovereignty and security in levanon without addressing hezbollah the united states has considered hezbollah a terrorist organization for more than two decades now we neither see nor do we accept any distinction between its political and its military arms. it is unacceptable for a militia like hezbollah to operate outside the authority of the lebanese government the only legitimate defender of the lebanese state is the lebanese armed forces as well as not just a concern for the united states the people of lebanon should also be concerned about how his will his actions and its growing arsenal bring unwanted and unhelpful scrutiny on levanon hezbollah's entanglement in regional conflicts threatens the

security of levanon and has destabilizing affects in the region their presence in syria has perpetuated the bloodshed increase the displacement of innocent people and propped up the barbaric assad regime their presence in iraq in yemen has also fueled violence and the consequences of their involvement in these far off conflicts which have nothing to do with levanon or felt back here at home that's why we're doing all lebanese leaders during my visit to uphold the government of lebanon's commitment to disassociating itself from foreign conflicts the international community expects all parties in lebanon to fulfill this commitment including hezbollah which should cease its activities abroad in order to help reduce tensions in the region the united states looks forward to building on the strong ties and working together to ensure a bright future for the lebanese people and thank you again prime minister for the

luncheon today and a very important discussion exchanges that we had thank you very much. he has said critics say that would make it even easier for iran to spread its influence in places like lebanon and could alienate european allies he needs in this region to counter that threat what happens if the us pulls out and so both of you how serious is the oil and gas maritime dispute with israel and secretary tillerson did you ask the lebanese to parts of the disputed waters to israel in order to settle this dispute thank you. what with respect to the j c p o y

the iran nuclear agreement as the president has indicated he would like to see the defects in that agreement addressed along with iran's other malign activities in the region as such we have been engaged with our european partners the other signatories to the j. shapiro way for some time now to chart a way forward to address these particular flaws we've had very fruitful meetings with the europeans we're not through without work yet and so i don't want to conclude or suggest any conclusion to a decision to exit the agreement it is important that these areas be addressed in particular the intercontinental ballistic missile program that iran continues to carry out as well as their export of weapons and foreign fighters that is destabilizing other countries in the region. and i'll go ahead in terms of the the offshore agreement we had very good discussions in all of our meetings today this

is really extremely important issue but to lebannon it's important to israel as well to come to some agreement so that private companies can go to work offshore and determine what in fact might be available in terms of natural resource development and how to get started moving forward we had a good exchange over our lunch meeting thinking about creative ideas of how to break this stalemate and move forward and so we will continue to be very engaged with both parties but we've asked we've asked no one to give up anything rather we're looking for a solution and while for us to. listen says we want to be what is ours is ours and what's the. difference and i think this is we're trying to find solutions that would be fair to us and fair to everyone and i think we had some very good discussions on this and some new ideas

and i think we're going to expose those ideas to finally explode for oil and gas. they will be in english mr secretary long the reasons for your visit is not one of the main reasons. to discuss the dispute over block nine and the controversial war being built on lebanon southern border as we speak what guarantees can be given to lebanon that israel will respect any solution that may come out of this visit. well the u.s. is not in a position to guarantee anything for another sovereign country what we are here to do though is to be constructive in finding solutions to a final border along the blue line. there are we think very constructive discussions going on now we've just israelis to also be constructive in these

discussions and let's get let's get the border greet first and then. people can think about if they need a security wall or not at that point but we're hopeful that the current talks around establishing an agreed upon border will yield a final resolution of that we think it would be very very important and useful to lowering the tensions along the border if the two sides could agree to that. and that's the idea that the only thing that had to have. you done was. one hundred one belmont at the at the quetta haeckel in syria and have you all thought of any assurances that such escalation wouldn't be overspending to lebanon . to us any escalation any tension

is not beneficial we are old supporting. and we are all for pacification and cause the reason is alive with tension. and we cannot endure yet another war we hope to see people coming to dialogue reach a solution simply for that isn't that there isn't isn't a need for such diplomacy for the past seven years we have been suffering and we should have been spared all of this we cannot be victimized as a result of any threat or tension in the neighboring area we are all for dialogue where all templer matic solution and this is the best way we hope that lebanon would be part of such a dialogue. thank

you secretary tillerson as you're about to travel the situation between the u.s. and turkey over syria looks to be a stalemate from virtually every angle so what would you say is your level of worry that turkey will force some kind of showdown over man bitch and in your mind what would a compromise even begin to look like and also when is the u.s. going to start taking heavy arms back from the why p.g. and you know today i should also ask you as you've been traveling the world and visiting countries in many of them talking about ways to try to and violence within them how do you have these discussions or how do you explain and lie to the fact that the u.s. cannot control its own very unique problem of children getting shot in schools and other mass shootings and mr prime minister it was mentioned today the fact that you're still dealing with more than a million refugees well as you see the u.s.

cutting back its own numbers as well as foreign aid even though the u.s. is very generous in terms of contributing to humanitarian causes what do you think of this shift in u.s. policy is that enough thanks well first i want to comment on the horrific school shootings in florida. i'm not going to answer your question. on the heels of what many people are dealing with we have mourning parents we have people that are in really difficult circumstances dealing with that so i think we need to just keep them on our thoughts and prayers at this time and when you have conversations about other things lighter. with respect to the meetings upcoming in turkey turkey is an important nato ally of ours they're still an important partner of ours in the fight to defeat isis they have performed admirably and in all ways have been supportive and your question of from any angle you look at it all you don't see any closure

well you must be looking at a flat wall because there are so many aspects of the turkey us relationship which are very important and very positive and we intend to build on the areas that we do share common interest common concerns i would tell you are in point of jackers or completely aligned there is no gap between them we have some differences about tactically how to achieve that in point objective but our objectives are to defeat isis to defeat terrorism to reduce the violence protect people and support a peaceful resolution to the conflict in syria which will bring great benefits not just to syria but it will bring enormous benefits to lebanon and other neighboring countries we have never given heavy arms to the y.p. g.'s so there is none to take back. well you know i think lebanese prime minister saad hariri there picking up the baton from direct sales and handed it over talking

there about the relationship between the united states and turkey mr tillotson would not be drawn. because of the a reaction to that school shooting in florida seventeen young people have lost their lives in the past twenty four hours a broad ranging news conference there apparently of a genuinely warm relationship between the two men there mr tillotson opening up his part of that news conference saying that he was very happy because it's four years since the last visit of a u.s. secretary of state he said that lebanon has been under incredible pressure lebanese forces fighting and al-qaeda hosting one million refugees who found themselves on lebanese soil as a result of the conflict in syria against the takeaway headline would be that the us settled official policy is we will strengthen the existing security force set up we will not set up a new unique security force.