visit take a look at the top stories here it out of his era saudi arabia has denounced what it calls blatant interference by u.s. senators who have blamed the crown prince for ordering the murder of jamal khashoggi the republican controlled senate voted on thursday to hold mohammed bin sound man responsible for the killing of the saudi jan this second resolution called for an end to u.s. military support for the saudi u.a.e. led war in yemen the saudi foreign ministry says the senate's decision could affect relations canada's prime minister is looking to cancel a weapons deal with saudi arabia justin trudeau has called the murder of jamal khashoggi unacceptable and is demanding says he's working out how to cancel the contract for trucks it's part of a thirteen billion dollars deal made by the previous government relations have been tense since canada's ambassador was expelled earlier this year in a disagreement over human rights in the kingdom i don't murder of a journalist is absolutely unacceptable that's why canada from the very beginning

has been demanding answers and solutions on that secondly we inherited actually a fifteen billion dollar contract signed by stephen harper to export light armored vehicles to saudi arabia we are engaged with the export permits to try and see if there is a way of of no longer exporting these vehicles to saudi arabia sudan's president omar al bashir has become the first arab leader to visit syria since the beginning of the war almost eight years ago he met the syrian president bashar al assad in the capital damascus both leaders stand accused of war crimes linked to the conflicts in their countries thousands of people have been protesting in hungary as capital budapest the false demonstration this week against the president. later reforms. all right you have today those are the latest headlines from us here at al-jazeera coming up next it's out front.

the tunas in scientist who led a double life so secret even kept it from his family. but his activities would have a military impact for which he would pay the ultimate price. out as zero world investigates the life and death of miami. the tunisian drone engineer. are we any closer to ending the devastating war in yemen after this latest round of peace talks in sweden i'll ask the un special envoy for yemen martin griffith. i met the house and voters in africa's most populous country nigeria will be

picking their next president early next year but which of the candidates has the best plan to end corruption and defeat boko haram that's our debate but first after november marked the deadliest month this year for the saudi led war in yemen members of the who thing rebel movement and the country's official government met in sweden this week the u.n. sponsored peace talks but are we any closer to ending that conflict earlier i asked this week's headliner from sweden the u.n. special envoy for yemen martin griffiths. martin griffiths thanks for joining me up front this week in sweden you reached what many are calling a major breakthrough in peace talks between who think leaders and the saudi backed government of yemen are we now a step closer to ending the war in yemen well i certainly hope so it's been seven days of hard work here in sweden both parties who came the governor yemen and.

have worked a great deal to achieve these agreements all of which will be published so that people can see what the people what they can expect to happen in yemen i think it's a big step forward but it's the first big step forward you didn't just get a prisoner swap you got a cease fire and a crucial deal of access to the port city of who data which you've described as the center of gravity in this war will we now see a major and even. media it and urge an increase in the mount of humanitarian aid getting into yemen which the u.n. has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis isn't that the priority well that is the priority and i think the reason why we all focused very very much on her data and by the way we the united nations and the u.n. security council has been focused on her data for many months because of our exiled sees about the humanitarian pipeline being affected by the battle and i think we we've put

a spike in the road on that so i think we will stop that happening the first thing that i hope will happen is that the united nations world food program will be able to play a supervisory role in the port and it will backstop the port authority of the three ports of data sally from russia. it will be then for the members of the security council to decide and to decide hopefully very very quickly whether a resolution is needed to provide backing for the un deployment that will need to happen in how did i get that you're a diplomat and then negotiate and you speak diplomatically but you did say earlier this week after an agreement on the release of prisoners in yemen that quote yemenis should be proud of the people sitting around that table today but if you were one of the eight million yemenis on the brink of a major famine if you're one of the families of the thousands who have died in the war in the cholera outbreak the twenty three million people who are in desperate need of food aid should they really be proud of people on all sides who have

brought such a horrific war to that country they should be proud of people whose presence here and whose decisions here. create the conditions for peace and create the conditions for the humanitarian supplies that you've been describing so in my career not as a diplomat but as a mediator i've always wanted to try to understand that how the people who manage wars. can shift into producing peace it's not easy you have to take the moment and we hope that one of the first moments in yemen has been here in sweden this week is it one of the problems with negotiations like this one that you bring both sides to the table as if they're equal parties when in actual fact one side is a rebel group which is yes violated international laws being accused of committing war crimes but the other side is a saudi led coalition which supports the un recognized government but which

according to the u.n. itself is responsible for the vast majority of civilian casualties for the tens of thousands of people who have died over the past few years by job is to find agreement between the parties to stop the war so the people of yemen can be returned to a seville life the people who can stop that war the people who are overseeing the fighting of it and the conflict in yemen is as you say between the government of yemen. and between them and the other as a mediator it's not actually my primary purpose to make political judgments about these two although i'm guided obviously by security council resolutions including the crucial one two two one six but my job is to find places where the two can respect each other's decisions to change the narrative in yemen. i profoundly believe not just reopened but from my other experience in other conflicts this begins when you start listening to those two sides when you start respecting them

and when you start helping them to find agreements that will move history that's what we're here to do rather than decide who's right who's wrong and why did this start in the first place some say it's not just two sides though the problem with yemen they say is that there's multiple sides there's outside actors it's become more of a proxy war than just a domestic civil war is that a fair assessment do you see this more of a proxy war than a civil war. i see it as a strategic conflict perhaps a different slightly different perspective i think yemen is the result of the conflict in yemen is frankly as important for people in europe because of the red sea shipping lanes in the trade routes that come through the red sea in a sense it's almost as it is for the region and the need for stability in the gulf the fact that member states in the region and beyond the region frankly have interests and stability in yemen is not surprising nor should it shock us having said that while we need to take those interests into account and certainly in the

united nations that's a natural. issue for us to address. the emphasis on the in the process that i'm involved in is on yemenis agreeing between yemenis about ways to run yemen so it's not about other foreigners being around the table to make decisions the people around this table in sweden were all yemenis and i've profoundly believe that this is what the united nations believes that that is right and proper you say it's not shocking the other countries in the neighborhood in the region should have interests in yemen and beyond but it was pretty shocking last month when reports emerged that saudi arabia and the u.a.e. had lobbied the u.n. security council members to stall a cease fire resolution as someone who is trying to get a cease fire a sustainable cease fire surely that must shock you when parties to the conflict the lobbying you all bosses at the u.n. security council at the u.n. building in new york to prevent such a deal i think there were many many reasons why there were different views about

that security council resolution as a member of the u.n. secretary i did not get drawn on the rights and wrongs of any resolution that's for there was of that council but if you ask me whether i'm shocked about where the parties to one conflict or another or having some relationship to it have strong views about issues related to it and its resolution if i was it would be absurd for me to be shocked about that what i need to do is to understand why people have different approaches to resolving this conflict i think that's perfectly normal every conflict you see that and we need to understand that so that we can actually find their way through it to resolve the conflict it's easy to call for a ceasefire and if somebody like me and you who want peace in the world naturally stopping people killing each other is has to be a good thing but cease fires are difficult to make work in a ceasefire that is called for and then breaks doesn't build confidence it breaks confidence it takes you back words so it's sensual for somebody in the position

that i'm in so look very carefully at the prospects for. any cease fire how would it work how will it build confidence how will it save lives and will it alternatively do the opposite and breach the confidence between the parties so it's not a simple judgement martin you're an experienced negotiator you worked extensively with three u.n. envoys to syria how difficult has this conflict in yemen been to quote unquote resolve end compared to an equally horrific syrian conflict i feel like all of us extraordinarily sad about what's happened in syria i got involved firstly with coffee and out in twenty twelve then with his successor but over here me and stuff and of a story or and you know we all had hopes from the beginning of that conflict that it would be soon resolved at ceasefire twenty twelve when i look at

yemen. in some sense it's simpler it's perhaps at an earlier stage even though it's four year war than something we see in syria and so what i write when i look at you have and i think let us resolve this now before it becomes even more intractable than it is i think yemen is a hope for the international community is hope for the people of yemen first i think it can be resolved the fact that we got these quite remarkable agreements in the last seven days in sweden gives us some idea that that could be true just to push back on that point and i hope you're right about the hope and about the agreement this week but just to push back and say do you understand why a lot of people around the world look at the u.n. in syria the u.n. in yemen the u.n. in libya maybe in myanmar as well and say we've given up on this organization it just doesn't work anymore just doesn't succeed in doing what it was supposed to

succeed you get why there's a lot of disillusionment with the u.n. across the globe right now well i think there's lots of different uns and i've worked in different parts of it if you want to talk about the u.n. humanitarian agencies whether and syria or yemen i think that kind of comment is utterly unfair and utterly inaccurate they do extraordinary work in times of great difficulty and they saved many many lives in terms of peacemaking negotiating let's be very clear i don't say this to make to be pleading it is the parties who decide to resolve a conflict it is not the u.n. it is not the mediator it is their decision whether they will resolve a conflict or not the decisions that made this week in sweden without my decisions i was here to help them come to those decisions but it is their achievement their compliance their performance which is being watched not mine this isn't the un this is the parties to a conflict and the un's job my job it's very thing we care through diploma. see

through mediation through urging through patience through listening through respect to give them the chance to do the right thing but if they don't want to do the right thing they won't martin griffiths thanks for joining me on upfront good luck . in february nigerians will go to the polls to elect their next president the incumbent muhammadu buhari of the all progressives congress is running for a second time despite promising to serve only one term and his main competitor is a former vice president. running this time for the opposition people's democratic party but which of them is best placed to defeat corruption and violence in africa's biggest economy joining me now from a budget to debate this are the candidates official spokesman festus k r president bihari and shaved and soon me speaking on behalf of opposition candidate atic abu

bakar thank you both for joining me on upfront festus k r let me start with you president biharis approval rating has been below fifty percent for most of this year do you really expect him to be reelected come next february. where there will be a real record and we're reelected by a very wide margin ok show me how are nigerian supposed to trust former vice president atika other varchar when he keeps trying to run for president under different parties at least for i counted over the last couple of decades nigerians have to trust. because they know that the democratic experiment in nigeria has been a difficult journey and it just took in the tenacity of people like. the two parties nigeria's and the international community will recall that article was instrumental to the communal p.d.p. he. also played significant role in ensuring that their particular and.

other back are planning to stay in that party this time i think that's a quibble but come to a point where he believes in terms of budget administration on getting the party to come alive. so i can tell you for free that is going to be staying in the party and isn't the project the state let me of festus this question over two years ago just over two years ago festus president kerry said his government would quote not encourage expending nigerian hard earned resources on any government official seeking medical care abroad and yet he himself the president has been receiving treatment abroad for almost two years for an unknown illness that he refuses to discuss is it not hypocritical of the president's part festus except for iran to rebuild all the damage to infrastructure all that is left behind the largest health system being held that had absolutely nothing to rely upon you think it would have

been different if we're talking about somewhat upset for people that had never argued before the public in all of this you know how to count in you know knowledge on what this magnitude not to talk about what the stimulus that we're going to help us a little africa what it took that's really collapsed so does it should he apologize for having said that he would send government officials abroad for medical care and then going abroad himself at taxpayers' expense for medical care abroad enough that you know they're going to come for him for that i don't go i kind of remember that particular price and he made up article after that well you know you have to rebuild infrastructure all this well you got in my part of it out you have to rebuild infrastructure because elvis number one and you don't expect people to die don't want to live in any of that that's not all. of the help that you see in a sense of help that may be turning out you may have to seek help elsewhere on to rebuild what the damaged before they left ok let me ask you this what did he go

abroad to get help with well i'm not his doctor or i thought country down here and give me. medical records are coming out of your doctor why is it a secret for the president of nigeria to not share his health most what leaders tell the public if they have a health problem why is it a secret illness that he won't talk about record a reputable company coming right toward the target that you most any. book like underwear in the world i think you're going to school in a democracy the people have a right to know don't know if their president is healthy not healthy if he's going abroad to get treatment at taxpayers' expense once and for i've looked at medical doctor oh let me your response why did you want him to be reelected for several more years down the people have a right to know before they vote for him again if he's healthy or not and whether you can even serve another term in office run when you know you. he's required medical doctor robot have fresh eyes don't think he's going abroad for two years running medical doctors after you've got an analogy i'm not i don't walk if you're not pregnant bot ok let me ask with your candor who is also in his seventy's i

believe will even releasing all his medical records and being completely transparent about his health before the election in february we learned. and he did agree to let us bring down medicaid we. at the wellness isn't the problem for your candidate that he may not have a health question mark over him but he does have a corruption question mark over him because there's this suspect forty million dollars that went into the u.s. via offshore wire transfers that makes him look pretty bad he may be innocent but it doesn't look good for his image does it when he's running for president when he's.