has never been more available it's a constant barrage of it with every day but the message is a simplistic you have been trained good logical rational person is crazy monstrous and misinformation is rife dismissal and does not hold well documented accusations and evidence is part of genocide the listening post provides a critical counterpoint challenging mainstream media narratives at this time on al-jazeera. more than five hundred syrians have been killed in a week as government forces attacked opposition held east and. this as the united nations security council continues to deliberate over a draft resolution on a potential cease fire in syria.

hello i'm maryam namazie and london you're watching al-jazeera coming up geria says it's deploying more troops to search for more than one hundred schoolgirls seized by boko haram in northern nigeria. protests across italy as tensions rise in the run up to next weekend's election immigration is a key issue. out of the people fight for economic justice in america fifty years since it was ignited by a civil rights icon. the syrian government's onslaught on the last rebel held area near the capital damascus has entered its seventh day five hundred people have been killed and there's been no letup in the bombing of east and. for the third day running a u.n.

ambassador as a gathering at the security council to vote on a resolution on syria so we're going to have more from the u.n. in just a moment first though a binge of aid reports on what's happening inside east and. to. not responding to cries for help. but nowhere is safe clean and of the other one on the floor here a few moments of panic were children who disappeared in the debris there's a group. of children with their father. that was so the civil defense worker says they must hurry to the basement. activists accused the syrian government and russia for the airstrike that shelling the suburb of syria's capital damascus has been bombarded specially hard for the last week. the only light in the is from the fires which started after the bombing. these

children prayed in the dark in an underground shelter one of them wants the world to feel their pain her. no food no water every day you sleep on the floor my back hurts we can't bring a pillow from our house if we get out we'll get it don't you know that imagine your children being gone and what do you want me to say. the other way it's a safety. really was you had the floors are down the air is humid and it's called underground there are few basements in all the nearly four hundred thousand people i know that have the roofs of our size you know what this is called our children didn't eat for two days we can't find anything else we'll feed them this is a male god help us. syrians living in cities abroad have protested in small gatherings they reject that the fight in eastern is against what

the government calls terrorists. but the syrian government iran and russia see the civilian deaths and who are fabricated propaganda activists from who have been sending us messages asking people to emerge and living their lives without proper electricity or running water for five years and now the bombs just don't stop with its day or night plan of the job. and the turkey syria border right so that's what's been happening in eastern. this is the scene now at the united nations in new york where diplomats have been negotiating to try and reach an agreement on a resolution that would pass if it were put to a vote for there to be a cease fire across the whole country not just in eastern guta that would allow for humanitarian deliveries and a and watching all of this our diplomatic editor james bays joins us from the u.n. headquarters does it look like we might finally see

a vote james. i think it's highly likely that we're going to see a vote in the next few minutes in the security council in fact the majority of the security council ambassadors are now they're in the chamber they have been again negotiating in the couple of hours that they were supposed to have been meeting and the meeting didn't start on time because russia still had problems with the draft resolution the swedish ambassador you see him that is the one that's been leading much of the negotiations trying to bridge the gap between the russians and much of the rest of the security council working along with the president of the security council who is the kuwaiti. we understand they now have having gone back and forth on the first main paragraph of the resolution that's been the sticking point about the timing of a cease fire some of the use that language i'm told me going back and forth on

different words diplomats have been saying they've been sort of going through the dictionary almost looking for different words to change words modify words soften words or strengthen the words that has been the speech on the opening paragraph the the first substantive paragraph on the resolution we understand they found a form of words you may ask while they now waiting well the way this works is resolutions normally at the u.n. are laid down ready for a vote twenty four hours in advance and the reason for that is the u.n. clearly does not just work in english it is a multilateral international organization all the ambassadors meet their own national tongues and the u.n. has five official languages so the resolution actually has to be translated as well even if there are a few slight changes into the official languages of the united nations everything has to be put in order before they can come to

a vote but it seems they have come. i'm to a moment where they are going to bring this to a vote and it looks like this isn't entirely clear it looks like there is consensus around the security council but even those that have been negotiating with russia are still saying they won't believe it is until they see it for hours now james does that coalition because this has been so difficult and so that was my my next question if it is finally going to a vote is it safe to assume that it will get russia's support. not safe to assume i think that is the most likely situation at this stage also don't just watch russia when the hands go up watch what china does because china has mainly voted along with russia in the security council but sometimes russia has opposed things and china has just abstained watch the chinese vote and also worth

watching one other member of the security council bolivia bolivia is one of the nonpermanent members the nonpermanent members have been driving this resolution and bolivia appeared with the other nonpermanent members in support of the rose resolution earlier on having said that bolivia often is persuaded to vote with russia in the security council those i think of the three to watch to see whether any of them vote against or abstain on this resolution will even keep an eye on what's happening there. it looks as james is saying that a vote is very likely to take place now on a resolution calling for a cease fire across all of syria and up to well a vote that was delayed several times at least three times it looks as though the resolution will now be put to a vote we'll get back there as soon as the vote gets underway. i

sill is claiming responsibility for twin suicide bombings that killed at least six people in yemen southern city of aden the explosions targeted a military camp used by counterterrorism forces as well as the residents of ames form a government hospital officials say three of the dead soldiers and three civilians at least forty three others have been treated for their injuries i jarius president is deploying extra soldiers to search for more than one hundred girls kidnapped from their school in the town of duchy muhammadu buhari is called monday's abduction by boko haram a national disaster parents of the missing girls plan to join the bring back our girls campaign which was launched off the book around kidnapped more than two hundred seventy schoolgirls from the town of chibok in two thousand and fourteen many of them still missing amid interest has more from. the mood is that of shock and anger anger because the nigerian government has failed to properly explain how many kids or how many students have been taken from that college and what exactly happened there now shock in the sense that many people expected nigeria and the

security agencies to learn from the mistakes of two thousand and forty when more than two hundred and seventy schoolgirls have been kidnapped by boko haram water one hundred of them are still unaccounted for our group of activists have been pushing but i didn't government to rescue the girls now we spoke to some of them who expressed shock and dismay that four years on the nigerian government and the nigerian security services have not learned anything from the war. before its four years one hundred and twelve people goes but only two who will come up on tuesday to realize that more schoolgirls were abducted and we're back to square one when many nigerians expected the government to beef up security i don't value the word places like schools especially boarding schools in the northeast of nigeria now in the case of she that clearly did not happen and many nigerians will be watching the

government closely as a low security agency is to see whether or not these girls are rescued in the next few days or so. the u.n. has removed a police unit from a base in south sudan amid allegations of the sexual exploitation of women in the protection of civilians camp forty six police officers were called from the while county and confined to base after complaints came to light a preliminary investigation found some members of the police unit allegedly transactional sex with women living at the site. at least twenty six people have been killed in a series of attacks across afghanistan most of them army personnel taliban fighters stormed a military outpost in the west where they killed at least twenty soldiers security forces were also targeted in lashkar gah and another attack happened in nearby nada ali i still has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in kabul also tony berkley brings us more from the afghan capital

. another bloody day in afghanistan three suicide bombings at a large scale taliban attack on an afghan army base the first attack was in kabul at eight thirty on saturday morning the target was intelligence building afghan intelligence building where people were killed and wounded this was carried out by islamic state they claim responsibility the other attacks were by the taliban there is concern i think especially for the attack in kabul you may remember the large ambulance bomb that was set off in january killing more than one hundred people but after that the afghan president. ghani said there was a new security strategy you've seen on the streets greater numbers of army and police greater defenses but still with this in place islamic state were able to strike so that's causing concern and of course the taliban is beefing up their attacks as well is preemptive perhaps for their annual spring offensive which they

always launch but there are so many attacks going on now that basically one offensive rolls into another the united nations has released a report showing that the majority of people killed are civilians last year ten thousand were killed and wounded and it's the weapon of choice now is more often suicide bombs and roadside explosions. the americans are here in force they've beefed up their numbers they're using more aerial power to try and defeat in particular islamic. let's take you back to the united nations where we can see representatives of the u.n. security council taking their seats inside the chamber that's less than. it is so decided. but. the security council shall now consider agenda item little to work with the. city council is seized of a draft resolution. as slash twenty eighteen its last one

hundred forty six. draft resolution that separated by kuwait the united kingdom friends northern ireland and the netherlands and the united states of america and. i now give the floor to three members of the city council who wish to deliver statements prior to their vote so we didn't have the floor. thank you very much mr president. sweden and kuwait earlier this week put forward a resolution to respond respond to the desperate calls from the un and humanitarian community in syria for us to say tional still it is for an initial period of thirty days in order to allow for much needed humanitarian relief. we've been working intensely with all council members to operationalize the concrete requests from the

un humanitarian community and above all the civilian population on the ground we've done our utmost to accommodate council members concerns it is now time for this council to use unanimously shoulder its responsibility and show that meaningful action is possible the key components in our draft resolution is a nationwide suspicion of hostilities for these thirty days weekly human un humanitarian aid convoys to all areas in need and immediate emergency medical evacuations the u.n. convoys and evacuation teams are ready to go. mr president this draft resolution also calls for the immediate lifting of sieges of populated areas including east and. it reiterate its demand reminding in particular the syrian authorities that all parties have an obligation to act in accordance with international law to protect civilians and hospitals and other medical facilities this draft makes an

exception for military operations directed against eisel al qaeda and al nusra front and other terrorist groups as designated by the security council this does in no way relieve the parties to the conflict in syria from upholding their obligations under international law at all times including the principle of distinction proportionality and precaution mr president this draft resolution is not a comprehensive peace deal on syria its aim is purely humanitarian there are already cease fire agreements in force for the areas where fighting has asked escalated the most they need to be complied with there are existing monitoring mechanisms that can be utilized the role of this council is to push the parties to the conflict to comply with the proposed the station of us ditties in order to urgently enable need alleviation of suffering for the people of syria if this resolution is adopted

today it can deescalate violence save lives alleviate suffering and break the deadlock on humanitarian access and sieges since the first call for suspicion of a still ities the situation has gotten dramatically worse particularly in eastern guta as we have heard from the sector general and from on the sector general mark local seven years of war and the situation for innocent civilians in syria has never been worse. but we have an opportunity to turn things around today to avert the disaster unfolding before our eyes the resolution before you represents a resolute and very urgent attempt for this council to take decisive and meaningful action today we count on each and every one of you to do the right thing thank you very much mr president as perlman to absorb and i thank our percentage of of sweden for his statement to the security council stands ready to proceed to the vote on

this draft resolution a little sweet i will put the draft resolution to the vote but i would call upon those who are in favor of the draft resolution in the document as twenty eighteen one for six to raise their hand. yes. let me do it but those we hear the results of the vote who are as follows the draft received fifteen votes in favor. of the draft is hands adopted unanimously as resolution two thousand and five four hundred one for the year twenty eighteen and. i shall now give the floor. to those wishing to speak after the vote kuwait has the floor i shall speak in my capacity to eat the limb of the go home and do with the

dime of the. i agree to what their percentage of sweden has presented. over the adoption of theirs aleutian today unanimous. after a long and extensive negotiations. will showed without the pain holders kuwait and sweden who worked on ensuring unanimity on this important humanitarian or solution and then use the hope in the ability of the security council to reach solutions that are agreed upon and to alleviate the sea of. suffering the humanitarian suffering in syria i would like to cern call member states that voted in favor of this resolution that includes concrete and principled demands in response to the appeals of the international community the most important ones are as follows one demanding that all parties seize hostilities without delay in all parts of syria

for thirty days at least second allowing the united nations and its partners immediately to undertake medical evacuations in a safe and unconditional manner. demanding all parties to ensure the unimpeded and safe passage of all workers in the humanitarian and medical fields for the call upon all parties to lift the siege of populated areas including eastern gota. we are convinced that this grizzled ocean cannot end the humanitarian suffering in syria immediately however it is a positive sign. sent by the security council a sign that the council is united and. shows solidarity to stop the humanitarian suffering and stop the hostilities immediately. now we must

implement this resolution to save the lives of the syrian people and to deliver humanitarian aid. we still have to do a lot in security council to end this tragic that racing in syria today. the tragedy is entering its seven years. this resolution is just one of the interim provisional solutions. as the political solution is the only way to reach a comprehensive settlement of the crisis to achieve this creation of the brotherly syrian people according to relevant security council resolution rules are just russians especially resolution twenty two of fifty four and the geneva convention the geneva communique of two thousand and twelve the state of kuwait. stressors the importance of considering.

reaching an agreement a mound council members. to prevent any obstruction of a draft resolution to stop asean flagrant violations of the security council the kuwait supported the court of conduct that was launched by the act group in which. the. security council members pledged not to obstruct justice solutions concerning crimes against humanity genocide and worker arms we also supported the mexican french. initiative to stop the use of the took the veto power in these cases we are convinced of the importance of it hearing to the fortuny of a convention and its protocols international humanitarian law and the outcomes of the humanitarian summit of two thousand and sixteen. we call upon engaging with humanitarian issues such as. allowing humanitarian access and

evacuation of the. injured as procedural issues that's come in which case is we cannot use the veto powers so that we don't repeat these strategies i give now the floor to their present of of the united states. thank you mr president and i want to thank the pen holders both sweden and kuwait for their work and their sacrifice in their time in the negotiations and as we go through negotiations i think it's also important that we bring this council some of the voices of the syrian people in eastern guta who have suffered so much while waiting for the security council to act a doctor treating patients in a makeshift hospital described the condition she is facing quote we are men all an emotional wrecks there's nothing more we can do we are bled dry in a haunting video the doctor walks into a room with a crime mother as she says quote i'm waiting for my son to die at least he'll be

free of pain i was just making bread for him when the roof fell and he's going straight to heaven at least in heaven there's food another message we received yesterday that i think was said to you and all of the close consultations but i think it's important to say it again. was one that was an emergency call from a doctor in eastern guta quote we have a horrible situation here we're being targeted with all kinds of weapons nonstop we lack everything water food medical supplies shelter this is a disaster everyone is just waiting to die today the security council finally took a step toward addressing these devastating levels of human suffering in syria the united states wants nothing more than to see the cease fire and this resolution implemented immediately across the country it is critical that the assad regime and

its allies comply with our demand to stop the assault on eastern guta and immediately allow food and medicine to reach everyone who needs it all of us on this council must do our part to press the assad regime as hard as we can to comply but we are late to respond to this crisis very late on wednesday the secretary general made an emotional plea for an immediate cease fire in syria to allow the very basic necessities to get to the people kuwait and sweden had a version of this resolution ready to go for a vote but russia called for a delay on thursday in an effort to stall russia called for an open meeting on the humanitarian situation in syria at that meeting fourteen members of this council who are ready to impose a cease fire. but russia obstructed the vote again. and then yesterday

this council sat around for hours ready to vote only to have russia delay it again every minute the council waited on russia the human suffering group getting to a vote became a moral responsibility for everyone but not for russia not for syria not for iran i have to ask why. at least nineteen health facilities have been bombed and sunday's nineteen as they dragged out the negotiation the bombs from assad's fighter jets continued to fall in the three days it took us to adopt this resolution how many mothers lost their kids to the bombing and the shelling how many more images did we need to see of fathers holding their dead children all for nothing because here we are voting for a ceasefire that could have saved lives days ago and after all of this time hardly

anything has changed in the resolution except a few words and some comments the syrian people should not have to die waiting for russia to organize their instructions from moscow or to discuss it with the syrians and why did the council allow this there's no good reason we should have done this wednesday or thursday or friday we may not know the faces that we're talking about we may not know their names or these people but they know us and we all failed them this week i guess there is unity in that today russia has belatedly decided to join the international consensus and accept the need to call for a ceasefire but only after trying every possible way to avoid it. this resolution marks

a moment of council unity that we must seize and maintain beyond the thirty day time frame we hope this resolution will be a turning point where russia will join us in pushing for the political settlement to this conflict and take action to reestablish real accountability for the use of chemical weapons in syria progress starts by adhering to the cease fire with no excuses after so many years of defying this council's demands the assad regime must change course none of us should be so naive as to accept that the assad regime can continue indiscriminately bombing schools hospitals and homes under the fake excuse of counterterrorism assad's bombing must stop the ceasefire must be given a chance to work we look to the assad regime's backers especially russia and iran to address what the secretary general rightly called

a quote hell on earth all eyes will now be on the syrian regime iran and russia our goal with this resolution is clear the assad regime needs to stop its military activities around eastern ghouta and for once allow humanitarian access to all of those who need it we are deeply skeptical that the regime will comply but we supported this resolution because we must demand nothing less we owe this to the innocent people of syria begging for help. in the days to come our resolve to stand by our demands and this resolution will be tested all of us must rise to the challenge of maintaining the ceasefire just as we came together today all of us must do everything we can to make the demands of this resolution a reality it's the only way to restore the credibility of this council the syrian people have been waiting long enough thank you as government do but. who are

we and. i think the united states of america and i'll give the floor to the russian federation. thank you mr president would you please mr president. following one thing consultations during which the overwhelming majority of delegations demonstrated a sincere focus on seeking the joint solutions for which we thank them for the security council unanimously adopted their humanitarian resolution on syria. i should wish to thank in particular the pan holders the point i was actually gives of kuwait and sweden for. their unstinting efforts and for their desire to arrive at a compromise up until the very last moment. the russian federation supported this

document in so far as it encourages the syrian party to conflict to promptly halt hostility and compliance with previously agreed upon resolutions in this regard and to negotiations or work on general of the escalation in the establishment of lengthy humanitarian pauses through out the territory of that country. it took us so much time to reach agreement on the resolution when you do to the fact that we did that we did not support what was in trying to in there the directions for an immediate cessation establishment of hostile suspicion of hostilities over a rather lengthy period of time just because. as it stood that was not feasible it was not possible to achieve this directives or instructions without any concrete agreement or for the warning of political for the foreign parties in syria we cannot arrive at a ceasefire. with this kind of an unrealistic approach will not in no way help to

address the pressing humanitarian situation in syria what is necessary is for the demands of the security council to be underpinned by concrete on the ground agreements. it would be naive to think that difficult issues can be addressed overnight momentarily we trust that all parties or external parties with influence to bear will help to bring this about we seen that some external sponsors of the illicit armed factions are falling well short in this regard and they at times deliberately skirt their obligations to the russian federation works with all parties to the conflict in so doing we are doing everything possible to normalize the situation we are proactively lending assistance in terms of humanitarian delivery a great deal of work is being done by a partners under the astonished

a process iran and turkey. in their monster com we're preparing for an important meeting under this format. under the southern us coalition of a zone of good cooperation has been established with us bodies albeit in some recently we've observed in some areas escalations of attentions are due to the ratcheting up of activities by armed groups. resolute the resolution explicitly stated that it does not apply to the military operations against eisel. and other al qaeda affiliated organizations or other terrorist groups which have been a good knowledge as such by the security council but this is a struggle which will continue. we call upon international players are to closely coordinated on this matter including with the syrian government. with strict compliance with international law including respect for syrian sovereign.