view of most africans across the globe that in mind is who is able to be a congolese leader for all congolese peoples for the past time ever in the country's history an election in which there is a substantial difference disenfranchisement you can really call it a free and fair election but i'm really talking about it within the context of the malays that we face on the continent and particularly in that country but anything fired out of this if they were to bring the country together then that is perhaps a step ahead that is really how low we are starting from because hardly fifteen years ago even the government did not let other ability not know where they would find themselves in rwanda or company or really whether or not it would be overrun by nearly the fast what they call the fast african african world war time for a short break here not just when we come back remarked on how he made nazi salutes and shouted heil hitler. a fear of the far right the growing threat of extremists in germany. north korean leader kim jong un says his trip to seoul will happen just not this year as planned more in that stay with us.

hello again it's good to have you back where across china we are looking at some quite conditions across much of the area we have some clouds here across much of the central area some clouds also off the coast before hong kong a mostly cloudy departed cloud today for you on monday temps about seventeen degrees shanghai some clouds in your forecast that you get a little bit better by the time get to tuesday maybe eight degrees there in taipei just a couple showers just to the east of you with the tempter they have about eighteen degrees well as we make our way over here towards india looking quite nice for much of the area the problem areas going to be the north we are dealing with very cold temperatures also some very dense fog across much of that area as well as some haze causing some pollution in those regions so for new delhi twenty one degrees is going to be a high down towards the south a few passing clouds maybe

a few intermittent showers for colombo with attempted to of thirty one stay like that as we go towards tuesday kolkata though a nice day if you with a temperature of about twenty four degrees and then here across parts of the middle east we are looking at the possibility some showers across the gulf notice the rain right there coming across the gulf that's really going to affect iran as well as parts of saudi arabia even over here monday night towards parts of qatar we could be seeing a shower passing by but by the time we get towards tuesday things are looking much better across the region and we do expect to see a temperature of about twenty four degrees. my main interest every weekly news cycle going to see any simple breaking stories and then of course there's donald trump told through the eyes of the outstanding ace that's right out of a hamas script that calls for the annihilation of israel that is not what that phrase means at all he joined the listening post as we turned the cameras on the media after it's been focused on how they were caught on the stories that matter

the most in bad news a free palestine a listening post on al-jazeera. welcome back to the top stories here on al-jazeera polls in the democratic republic of congo up close and in just under an hours time voters are choosing who will succeed president kabila about one point three million people from three districts have been excluded from voting. the bangladeshi government says at least eighteen people have been killed in the election violence the election commission is also reportedly investigating allegations of vote rigging at least forty seven opposition candidates say they've withdrawn from the election over alleged for.

forty rebels in yemen say they've started to leave the port city of her data but the yemeni government's just getting the claim it's part of a u.n. cease fire deal signed in sweden earlier this month reports. the first tentative step which yemenis hope could lead to a new future. the fighters have controlled the part of the data for much of the almost four year conflict. these pictures show some boarding trucks and leaving reportedly to be redeployed around the city it's part of an agreement reached the talks in sweden and in her data hosted by the united nations who the rebels backed by iran and yemen's government supported by a coalition led by saudi arabia and the united arab emirates have also agreed to uphold a cease fire in the city and i was delighted today because of the thing and we want these character to fission. came late but god willing the ceasefire will hold and

the. god willing the ceasefire who died a continues people need security and safety in this country. yemen's coast guard will continue the day to day operations at the port as they have done while it's been under who control the united nations will have overall responsibility and pro-government forces are expected to back away from the areas they'd seized on the southern edge of her data in june. the deal says so-called military manifestations should be removed from the city but the fighters who leave the port are expected to stay. as the fighters who used to protect the port will be redeployed to protect the city according to the sweden agreement. the governor of her data appointed by the yemeni government says the who have simply handed responsibility for the port to allies within the coast guard and the management. the next key step for yemenis will be to transport much needed food equipment and medical supplies to starving

and sick civilians who've been caught. in the fighting. rod matheson odyssey. women have been protesting in the yemenis city of gaeta in mara province there demanding saudi forces leave the area legally the protesters also want the yemeni president granted months to hardy to sack a local governor and hold him accountable for killing demonstrators last month the women say they'll continue their sit ins until the saudi forces and militia leave the province. now the number of violent attacks by the extreme right in germany is on the rise targets that included refugee homes and foreign owned properties and businesses experts suggest there are around twenty five thousand far right hardcore extremist dispersed throughout the country more now from dominic casey massoud has shamy prepares his restaurant for the lunchtime rush on a busy week day he'd expect to have lots of clients it is a rainy and restaurant good recently things have changed he and his restaurant have

been attacked and for how this is it. three men dressed all in black and wearing motorbike helmets came into the restaurant they made nazi salutes and shouted heil hitler then they threw one of some of ours at me and hit me in the face then they three make answer one of the radiators i spent eight days in hospital because of it you. are the police are still investigating this attack to establish whether it was a case of right wing extremist violence but on the face of it appears to be part of a string of such incidents that have happened in this city in this state in recent times one question your forty's will be asking is what's the deeper motivation for such violence. mike scheffler can provide a clear idea he spent seventeen years in the extremist far right movement in saxony who has been the front of the to be idea where i grew up there were only left wing groups and right wing groups you could join but i felt drawn to the right and it

felt as though my friends did too then one day a recruiter arrived and he gave us a structure something to believe in he admits having targeted left wingers and foreigners in violent attacks at the time he felt no remorse until relatively recently he was an elected representative of the neo nazi n.p.a. day party now he rejects the movement he told me why often for and the reason it was a gigantic disappointment for me when the people i had followed into the movement suddenly quit it made me question everything at believed then i was full of doubt and i slowly began to realize i needed to be part of a wider society and it was in doing that that i became a different person scheffler was helped out of the neo nazi scene by the group exit dodge land far beyond fishman runs the group from its base in berlin he says the size of his task is clear but one think life that there are about twenty five thousand dedicated hardcore neo nazis who are being monitored by the police and who

are suspected of committing violent acts and that number is well identified but there is also a crossover of some individuals from the populist far right there's no doubt the vast majority of people who support the political far right do not support the use of force to achieve their aims but as massoud can confirm in kenneth's there are still several who do dominate came out zero in saxony. so the president says his country is in crisis but he's refusing to accept blame for the political unrest protesters in the past eleven days of call them omar al bashir to step down people are angry with his government and the high price of basic food and fuel the sheriff says years of international sanctions and a lack of oil revenue have hurt the economy at least nineteen people have died in recent protests but really the margin there is that i don't like it when it was a brotherhood yes we're going through a crisis and the people are facing challenges and we stay awake trying to solve it

but we can't solve problems with more problems and destruction destruction and looting will deepen the problem and not solve it we will get out of this crisis despite everyone trying to get us to kneel through an economic crisis we are a country that god placed with a lot of resources on top of its human resources we have people qualified in many fields and we could use these qualifications with what god blesses us who are national resources like a group culture animals plants minerals or pietra or anything else and we will get through this period but it needs patience wisdom end good management south korea's president has received a letter from the north korean leader kim jong un asking for talks in the new year president moon jane's office says kim was sorry he couldn't make a planned visit to the south before the end of twenty eighteen kim and moon met three times this year and then made a series of goodwill gestures brian has more from seoul. the presidential office in

seoul won't reveal too many details about the exact contents of this two page letter but it is being warmly received here by south korean officials president moon j.n. indeed has responded on social media thanking kim jong un personally there had been hopes that i can go on would be visiting south korea which would be an historic visit the first by our north korean leader indeed since the korean war and that that visit would take place during this year that was the stated intention when the two leaders met in pyongyang for their third summit in september but it wasn't to be the case even as late as last week some people were predicting that the visit might be taking place on the thirtieth and thirty first clearly that's not happening but this letter does now lead to speculation that the visit will take

place possibly as early as the new year communed on. chairman kim expressed regret towards the fact that his visit to seoul did not take place as was agreed between the two leaders in pyongyang chairman kim expressed a strong willingness to visit seoul and has been monitoring the situation kim also stated that he's willing to meet often with president moon in two thousand and nineteen to divans discussions on the peace and prosperity of the korean peninsula and to resolve together the issue of denuclearization but officials are still confident about the general direction of into korean relations last wednesday a groundbreaking ceremony indeed took place between north and south korea for a planned project to reconnect road and rail links across the d.m.z. separating the two koreas so in conjunction with this letter south korean officials are still confident that the whole reconciliation process is still on track. rescuers in india are stepping up efforts to find fifteen miners of been trapped

underground for over two weeks navy divers have joined the search but hopes of fading for the teenage workers in the flooded coal mine in the north of the country . as more. a leap of faith underground rescue crews are on a race against time hoping for a miracle fifteen miners have been trapped inside an illegal coal mine since december thirteenth a few helmets have been recovered but so far no signs of life. until we have checked every corner we would know to shoot at the trapped miners have died nearly one fourth of the ninety meter deep mine in the east hills got filled with water when flash was from a nearby river rushed through a lack of proper draining tools delayed earlier rescue plans leading to heavy criticism against the government. specialized indian navy divers have since been called in and more equipment is now available police are filed an emergency services the rescuers of odisha fire emergency services have brought ten high

pressure pumps we've already started the instalment process says. environmental concerns let's well mining ban in two thousand and fourteen in the state of meghalaya. it's illegal but still common known as rat holes illegal coal mines operate under dangerous conditions with no emergency plans the workers are often children and teenagers accidents are frequent with little or no losses in food or water for the miners chances of survival are slim the indian navy divers personally inspected the area with my divers they assessed the situation from the water surface level and i think they will be able to map out a good plan they are staying positive and so are we. a challenging rescue mission with time and odds against it but families and rescue teams are clinging on to hope katia lopa so the young al-jazeera. the mother of a guatemalan boy who died while in u.s. custody says his son was healthy when he left home eight year old felipe gomez

along those from a remote village about four hundred kilometers west of guatemala city he and his father were detained by u.s. border agents on december the eighteenth qatari their lawns and says his son reportedly was doing well there were times he called home. i could never have imagined this he was happy when he left he called me and said he was at the border and he was having chicken for dinner after contest where they hoped when he left he said i'm a little young now but when i arrive there i'm going to grow up i will study and look for a job and i'm going to send you money and buy a kilo it's for my mom. when all the u.s. presidents blame the rival democratic party for philippe's death as well as that of another guatemalan child in u.s. custody this month donald trump criticize what he labeled the pathetic immigration policies of the democrats he says the flow of asylum seekers from central america would stop if they approved funding his border wall. well migration was a key part of trump's last presidential campaign and is expected to feature heavily

when he heads out of the trail next year. looking ahead at what we think we as major issues in twenty nineteen kimberly holcomb reports on what else we can expect from the white house. in the u.s. election season begins very early. i am officially running i'm running for president i am a candidate for president in twenty nineteen the campaign for the white house will officially begin expect a crowded field of candidates on the democratic side as they try to take back the presidency from donald trump in two thousand and twenty. will be helped by some fresh faces and capitol hill in january democrats will take over the house of representatives in the u.s. congress for the first time in eight years it will also be the most diverse group in u.s. history with the highest number of women including the first two muslim american women and the first to native american women it was no solution no collusion there

is absolutely no solution but the new congress will also bring in many people who want more investigations into tribes businesses and financial transactions with foreign governments particularly russia one of those people is california congressman adam schiff who's expected to take over the house intelligence committee he's promised to probe trump's business dealings and make them public i have no business whatsoever with saudi arabia couldn't care less any inquiry will look into that claim and u.s. ties with saudi arabia riyadh has come under heavy scrutiny following the murder of . killed in the saudi embassy in istanbul in october democratic lawmakers in the house of representatives may press to hold the crown prince accountable even though the royal palace has denied it this is the f.b.i. continues its investigation into trump's alleged campaign ties to foreign governments. that investigation has already netted his former campaign manager

deputy campaign manager and former national security advisor among others. another meeting between north korean leader kim jong un and trump is also in the works white house officials have indicated it could happen as early as february last june the two men made history in their first meeting in singapore. but since then pyongyang has reportedly built up its nuclear program contrary to what trumpet hoped the white house is also expected to unveil its peace plan to help resolve the dispute between israel and the palestinians given the israeli elections in twenty nineteen the trump administration is said to be in discussions with israeli officials on the best time to unveil the proposals kimberley health at al-jazeera the white house. for a quick check of the headlines here on al-jazeera the bangladeshi government says

at least eighteen people have been killed in the election violence election commission's also reportedly investigating allegations of vote rigging at least forty seven opposition candidates say that with joins me next of alleged food. looking people are being arrested candidates are being arrested and one going to receive president. would not be good not even you they wouldn't. even a bad dream nightmare i could not think it would bangladesh after forty seven would i would have given the good in both the polls in the democratic republic of congo will begin to close in just a few minutes voters choosing who would succeed president joseph kabila who's been in power now for seventeen years about one point three million people from three districts have been excluded from voting and a decision that calls protests ahead of the polls. my only concern is that we have these are very heavy rate and probity for the time out might be wrong but

for the best guys we're clear on the total time out and when but what do you think of critics who i think that they don't believe anything the man might be putting out. and are timely to but this clear that they shouldn't afy unfair and always different to defeat him for yemen's who the rebels say they handed over control of her data ports but the yemeni government's disputing that claim humanitarian corridors are supposed to have opened up it's all part of a u.n. sponsored cease fire deal signed in sweden earlier this month so down is president a mob al bashir says his country is in crisis he's refusing to accept blame for the political unrest on sunday he told police to abstain from using excessive force at least nineteen people have been killed in the last eleven days during protests against rising living costs south korea's president has received a letter from the north korean leader kim jong un asking for talks in the new year

resident moon jane's office says kim was sorry he couldn't make a planned visit to the south before the end of twenty eighteen. all right those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after the listening post stage and thanks for watching. on the twenty second of may a series of major news stories broke across west africa in

a simultaneous publication now known as the west africa leaks journalists from eleven countries had pored over gigabytes of data nearly thirty million leaked documents on tax havens and the secretive offshore companies of the rich and powerful like the panama papers investigations of two thousand and sixteen and the paradise paper's stories last year this collaboration was coordinated by the i.c.i. j. the international consortium of investigative journalists based in the us it worked alongside the norbert zongo cell for investigative journalism or sonos though in birkenau fassel we've reported on the i.c.i. j.s work before and we've been tracking these particular investigations since february when the journalists involved first met to lay the groundwork what sets the west africa leaks apart from other i.c.i. j collaboration's is the media landscape the conditions in which the journalists work taking on powerful individuals institutions and a global financial system that secretive by design is difficult for any reporter in

west africa that's just the beginning and one of this group of journalists greatest challenges was getting their readers their governments and in some cases even the media outlets they work for to care listening posts nick knew or had now on the making and breaking of the west africa leaks. west africa is the largest of our collaboration of investigative reporters from across west africa the vision matters to me it to be and seems to be based on their reporting. on. africa. we have thirteen journalists are exploring nearly thirty million offshore financial records and this is just ridiculous you. suppose she said.

why. is someone who has nothing no islamist no twenty in my name why is she the dad talk for him on. this is a mom who is championing the cause i'm sure but makes the literates effort to deny. me tax from oil same with global media collaboration's not only is that the more the merrier the more the country. and. west africa feel probably. the west africa leaks got its start in sending up we're going to find a much more interesting name for this project over the next two days the list of the better i'm still in it to day workshop organized by the i.c.r.c.

and snow's journalists were given access to a compilation of data from six major leaks held by the i.c.i. journal i'm just going to go through the main database and share with you some. tips the. just the purpose of the workshop was not only change produced the journalists to the data but also to help them start reading between the lines you don't go offshore and write in a name now that you want to evade taxes lawyers and potential crooks are a lot more sophisticated than that and therefore understanding how to read the signs and how to interpret the red flags in offshore documents is crucial on was that he agency on my contacts said. wanted to keep more samples. done more in doing stories of this nature it's

very important to take the right terminology to use it's not for you the journalist to see somebody has. the duty. to go and so the. pastors or. you can i mean don't. it get in the do for this woman least be what you put in even. simpler than the don't want to. send is a level and you would put this in a dress. it's not necessarily true a dress or after a dress well you. walk yeah like you don't let walk kind of person not. as an tell us you need to investigate what the data presented to you to have

a part of the work but fortunately i did find some documents and i started building hypothesis and the documents and setting the questions. were coming to the end of the first editorial meeting out here in the. the journalists behind me have been given access to six projects or let into the murky world of offshore finance primed for the investigations time to head out and begin digging through the data and hopefully start connecting the dots the west africa leaks is the i c r j's seventh major media collaboration investigating official finance they can of course speak legal legitimate reasons for an individual or company to keep assets offshore over the past few years however the consortium has broken multiple stories documenting serious abuse of the system. there are good reasons why the ice has to focus on

west africa for its latest investigative collaboration first the economics according to the un more than sixteen billion dollars a year is moved offshore from west africa illegally which amounts to more than the g.d.p. of six of its poorest countries combined second governance authorities either lack the ability or the will to stop money from being stashed off shore where kompany taxed and as the investigations reveal politicians are often the worst culprits. and then you have the media news organizations that are on state run not typically by those in power or those close to the second average all too often there's a way from holding the check count which is why didn't take long for these journalists to start finding some news with the story. of the second largest and the second poorest country in west africa aska editor of the eleven more newspaper is investigating

a government funded project worth around thirteen million dollars in two thousand and nine a contract to build a modern refrigerated scroll to house was awarded to an obscure australian company rich studio full with links to the new gerry and minister of livestock you hire better. in the day i found that. money was paid to the australian firm but a large amount of it went missing the new facility was meant to be specious meeting when he went to the site of the school to house many a decade on he found that he had not. expected to do. a. about plot. and knocked off on to. the next story is in the journalist however he's not maxine domini earth porter for a lot of. works in exile and his office not to reveal his vacation he's on the

government's radar not only as a critical journalist but also as a member of a movement that has called for the removal of the president for yes has been in power since two thousand and five over the past yeah anti-government demonstrations take or have been escalating and as the authorities began to crack down on the need to flee the country. in the something else to go. on the only one. just simply good. show. to move. it to fit some people see. it isn't this you want to. be do you not think that those political activities have compromised your standing

as a journalist in the country you know. syria. and . visits. move even. when they. could do without a gun is a good. so i was informed there is those. companies investigation focuses on the financial dealings of patrice ya kind of patricia a businessman with close ties to target ruling family according to documents from h.s.b.c. private bank in switzerland in two thousand and five kind of keter trying to bypass turkey's banking restrictions and while one point two million dollars out of the country and in turn you could set up an account at the time he held director level positions q state run companies and both of them were on the verge of bankruptcy. challenge has been to corroborate the data in the documents with information back.

in exile. you create. this will do new. down the middle in this yes or no and i'm going. to go dig in there on the school kid. and see it's. going to set the song in the classroom it did i was at. the rebel sons of movie don't listen to that model sort of prison that they defeat. when they deploy the defense ship it monday off it. emmanuel dog davy is the managing editor of drawn up business news an online

publication he is investigating a form a guy named ambassador to the united states made by way to say on his foundation's website it's described as a philanthropist and humanitarian looking through documents leaked to the arts from the premier to play store from apple to. doug davy discovered that if you say used the spider web or for fuel pump and he's to hide from god named tax authorities his share of a three hundred five million dollars oil to. worry everyone that a diploma should know better and conduct himself in the most if the culture will register osho companies so he would more or less maximize his profit and lessen his taxes that is. contrary to the. vienna convention that ties the conduct of diplomats on duty he engaged in business activities and more seriously in our show business why who has to lamesa that is

a clear conflict of interest and i use of his in this matter. into the ministry of foreign affairs. they haven't responded to my questions and that's very typical of gandhian politicians they ignore you when you have very serious and important questions to ask they would not respond if there is a pond out thought they were respond after the facts. but this simply didn't respond to the queries and only went to simple questions responses us to what the minister would do would normally under circumstances of that nature but didn't respond there seems to be a pattern of behavior here where government institutions or business leaders don't feel the need to respond to journalists why do you think that is i think it's simply impunity i definitely did everything emails phone calls handily

ventilated. i give the whole the opportunity in the world would be over a month or two on the sort of quest to send the hope. so we're stuffed the leaks coming out next tuesday that's really spending a lot of time at the moment helping our partners get over the line. powerful people in that part of the well really don't like to respond to questions so. spending lots of time on the phone. i'm going to run through ok i've got. i've been helping west africa links partners make contact with and get responses from a number of subjects across the west african region i should say that this really

is a two pronged approach that is the journalist in country will always try on their own and to make contact with that person about whom they're writing a story but as we've found in a number of cases that local journalist is seen as the need for the standing of an important person or a politician in that country to respond to it so what i'm trying to do then is call from the u.s. number and it's surprisingly effective. yes good afternoon is this is this ms broad parka hello. hello ms broadwell commands will fitz given all according to the documents we have from penn in the papers you will listed as a shareholder of greater putu foundation ltd a company in the station. your

shoes davis. works for the news newspaper he's been on the trail of kevin the fourth parker a curse for end of the film a lot variance president ellen johnson said. in the panama papers were recalled showing that dr parker the pharmacist by trade was appointed director of a shell company called great authority front patient limited through this company dr park and lobbied the johnson city government on behalf of a foreign mining business to land a lucrative and controversial deal for them despite a clear paper trail linking dr parker to great departure from they showed them the birds she and johnson sitting for the night any knowledge of the company would should any editor's interest but not necessary not to bear it. in with few hours to go to the politician of the story. not wanting.

thanks for mission former editor and historian who'll be publishing the news newspaper. my editor. asked not. as plain to me why he can of publish this story but from my reading. is because of the people watching this story. the news by many newspapers in west africa is owned by a politician in this case wilson cato play the country's minister of commerce the paper is quietly seen as taking an editorial the soft approach to the current government and by the looks of things to the friends of former government says well . we dropped the largess off at the news newspaper about five hours of an hour just waiting on his call to find out whether or not says it is going to publish the story he said it's a ghost of the story then great if not then there is a plan b. in the way. moments later david confirms that he said it's

a hazard checked the story so we head across town to meet. rush hour traffic means that we reach our destination of the night for the offices of the daily observer. to ensure that he gets coverage david has a not for the first time he says taken history to the competition. a last minute editorial meeting this cold in the story gets the green light it moves through layout and into print within twelve hours a four month investigation built for one use paper winds up in the front page of and. the news feeds of the far less antagonistic story about calls for war clark you know the oss the paper's editor in chief for an interview he agrees to speak with us when we arrive at the newsroom has left the building and won't take our calls. choose that may twenty second and across west africa the investigation. have started to go. maksim domini story about the

dealings of businessman patrice. is on the front page of loud tentative it gets picked up by radio with the supporters of the government presumably circulated on social media front page of loud tentative calling the paper's editor in chief of the. media. in the. investigation into what he calls the phantom slaughterhouse makes national news in liberia the daily observant leads with david story into caravan the bright talker however literacy rates in the country radio is where most liberians get their news and for this story to hit it will need to transition from print to broadcast in the days after publication this investigation it seems has failed to do that. it is the bank that helps clients break the law. now h.s.b.c.

secrets around. the political impact of pasta media collaboration's coordinated by the i.c.r.c. was almost immune to the bank of england from the public and often simply from tax authorities including its engine in the panama papers investigation of two thousand and sixteen made headlines across the globe mr prime minister what can you tell me about a company called employees so now i'm starting to feel a bit strange about these questions because it's like you're accusing me of something in iceland the prime minister was confronted on about his feelings he resigned a few days later the founders of the law firm. vested amongst others money has been became and there was a healthy dose of public outrage in many countries this forest of documents basically has been dubbed the paradise and it cost us paradise papers had less impact. headlines. but even by those standards the reaction to the west african

leaks has seen mutant wise. it could be the geographical focus of the stories the stubborn silence of many of those investigated or even the lack of evident public and. my question after west africa lakes is where is all that outrage where are those public demonstrations what we do know is that it's not because the communities in the countries in the citizens don't care about these stories all the have to do is speak to the reporters go on facebook to say that every single story from west africa legs was followed very closely and really great local by. case in point bikini a fashion where journalist sandrine sarah dagger of lacanian mr fastow reported on two leading businessmen and a possible case of tax evasion. on

a prison most doctors on the stand he couldn't get they didn't want to cause them to plunder vonte a prisoner lector this is. what. your post percent bristol university to all the press corps so mr last i see people in the world will . not wash intellectually give me the missions one hundred regime also interest and. see in this it's. been gone and nearly a month after emanuel dogberry published his story the ministry of foreign affairs finally got back to him about his questions with questions of it sir. be rude to ask me to tell them specific cases i was investigated there was no need to tell them what i was getting i just wanted to move clearly what the general rules were for the conduct of diplomacy duty for me issues at the religion of duty which shows

a lack of understanding of the rule of journalist and they are running away from being held accountable. the ministry disagrees with in a statement said the church's quote failure to disclose vital information it was unable to put the matter into context and therefore could not provide any additional information. that governments have been slow to respond to the revelations in the west african leaks or ignore them completely as come as no surprise what's been more concerning has been the lack of response from i've been used to this in the region one would expect stories of high level corruption and financial irregularities to top the news agenda over the subjects of these investigations of the very people who in large part control what gets reported in west africa and what does not. clearly there's somebody to pressure their generators that are our press not to publish. their think kind of things

and we can understand that we're working in that environment so we can we can never tell. all the variables have more effect. on the in bank or the lack of every population i remember one example from ivory coast where the day after the publication of a really strong west africa leak story into the underclass offshore company of a very senior politician. a newspaper associated with the political party of that politician the next day carried a headline that said. something along the lines of troublemaking journalists just out to settle the score so to my mind the fact that we haven't seen a global or even regional outcry from west africa is not indicative in and of itself of the quality but rather of significant work that remains in terms of free press and in terms of investigative journalism what no one can take away from the

west africa leagues is the fraud that is historic is the first time you have this number of journalists within the sub who didn't do it and went in to put on a project which itself to the value of the web. and be that in the long. run will save us this period she had for. african generally do you know certainly since any move or it wouldn't have to. go on to long term i'm sure this reform is only to say that your left. the poor nope sick you. with us to think only think that they ask me why we went to school and then to shop for mr than to steal. people's religious democracy. from the c.d.c. it's. one. thing. pulling it

here about a poison. on a few legal briefs you i believe will notice what i feel is your lack of feel. there's a misconception about journalism one that many reporters still hold that once you expose corruption or wrongdoing the problem then comes to an end but that's not always the case journalism is just one step on the road to accountability and unless civil society gets behind the story the political will to take action will not be there journalists in short cannot do with a long you've been watching a special edition of our program on the west africa leeks we'll see you next time you're listening post. and. then you look at the arrival of refugees is debated in european parliament's

time but the journey itself is little understood. to syrians document the route that is claimed so many lives searching for sanctuary to people in power on al-jazeera. will. the new. studio for. a day.

finally. voters in the democratic republic of congo. and. the hash tag. and the. many human rights groups.

for the bad economy will that be enough to stop the protests. streaming online through you tube facebook live on a. zina dot com good to have you with us on this sunday now for the first time since twenty eleven some forty million voters accosting presidential ballots in the democratic republic of congo in elections which were supposed to protect place two years ago some polls have just closed others will close in less than an hour from now as expected there were delays and problems with voting machines causing lots of frustration three main candidates are vying for the top job to replace president joseph kabila who's been in power since two thousand and one will katherine soy is live for us now in that kinshasa so katherine i know you faced some security challenges of your own at a at

a polling station what happened there. well i am an opposition stronghold here in the capital kinshasa and it's very tense in some polling stations we are seeing voter voters register's not there and we did go to polling stations in one of them like i mentioned the lease was and there are people there very angry saying that they're going to stay there until that list comes to use a police presence but then the police left so we had to leave that one of the most dangerous areas in the city we went to another calling station where we met people who were even angrier same problem no voters registered and they got very aggressive with us they thought we were from the electoral commission or the state broadcaster they don't trust me so my vision a tall he tried to convince them that we were not doing good in the least and they threatened us and forced us to leave we are in this polling station. in this

opposition area voting is going on but it's very very low as many people are saying they can find their name on the voters we did a speak to an observer who told us that perhaps the reason why part of the reason why this process is slowed because many people really don't know how to use this most controversial electronic voting machines and so that's taking a long some up to ten minutes to understand the machine before actually voting the vote that paul closes in the next hour or so but we are seeing more and more people coming to vote as i'm i will for story beyond the capital what what's what are you hearing in the rest of the country. well let me start with the information we're just receiving from an area called the barrow this is in the east and we're being told that the militia called my mike the rebel group called my my

fighters have overrun some township some voting stations and of course have been forcing people to vote in a fucking way in another area benny in the east one of the sunni areas where the election was postponed to march we seen very dramatic scenes of thousands of people going to the makeshift one in patients who. are looks like we've lost our sound connection to katherine their apologies for that we'll move on those jason stearns is the director of the congo research group and he joins us now from mom claire in new jersey thanks very much for being with us now we'll talk about all of the challenges over the voting itself in in just a moment but i would just want to ask you first of broadly speaking what are the one of the issues at stake for people in the in the democratic republic of congo what's what's most on their mind as they go to the polls. well i think that

you're talking about a populations that suffered from years of war there are one hundred forty different armed groups in that use of the country there are according to some figures of the five million people displaced in the country and so for many people it's issues of security it's issues of job creation it's an extremely poor country but many people i think are just the extremely eager to bring about change change is something that people talked about a enormous amount despite the fact. of spite all these problems is extremely determined population ninety eight percent of people have registered to vote ninety one percent say they will vote many are walking for miles and miles a very difficult conditions to vote or waiting for hours in front of a polling station so it's a it's an extremely it's extremely traumatized population but it's also extremely determined population told their people about people wanting to get the opportunity to vote but many are not going to get that opportunity at least today because of

the. so many of them have been excluded from voting in some areas because of problems the electrical commission says over voting machines and health risks and and so on so i guess my question is how credible is this election going to be given that so many people at this point are not going to be able to vote. i think that i mean there's two ways of answering that question the elections are not credible to the extent that the electoral commission and the other electoral institutions are deeply criticize there's been enormous number of flaws manipulations of the electoral process the state and the ruling party controls state media. they have been able to campaign in areas where the opposition hasn't been able to campaign so it's not been a free or clear process it's a process that's been skewed very much in the favor of the ruling coalition and the question is is it skewed enough in favor of the ruling coalition that overcome the odds according to a poll that we released two days ago. opposition candidate not enough for you lou

would score seven million more ballots than the candidate of the rule equalization that's twenty five percent more so is the kind of bias in the electoral process enough to overcome those are the i think that's the real question i want person who is not on the ballot is the current president joseph kabila who has been in power since two thousand and one but many people have their suspicions. about him that that he's going to lead if you talk to many people in the opposition that he's going to continue to hang around and and try to sort of pull the strings behind the scenes if his man wins is there any truth to that i mean can congo move on peacefully off the can be love. depends on the outcomes of this poll i think that it should ari he is chosen candidate wins the poll you with face enormous amount of

opposition again our polling indicates that eighty percent of the population does not would not vote for him and prefer elections they would not consider over half the population would not believe the results if a candidate of majority wins a kind of coalition win so i think that the polls would be extremely contested if presidential candidate wins. and i think that should dari was chosen precisely because he's somebody who is under the control of joseph could be late somebody who does not have his own political base he doesn't have his own political networks he doesn't have his own funding or financing so he depends to a very large extent on president to be with himself so it is a situation that would be very beneficial so it could be learned you could continue to pull strings from behind the scenes and this will be an opportunity as well for the d r c to to to to see a peaceful transition of democratic transition of power in the country and what sort of a message with this center to africa as

a continent. well i think that there have been numerous turnovers handovers of power across the continents in recent years i have recently can see a retrenchment of authoritarian policies across the continent. in the congo itself this is an extremely historical election the country was the war began the country in one thousand nine hundred six and really in large parts of the country war has never stopped since one thousand nine hundred six and so this election was supposed to be the consolidation of a not democratic transition. message that power can be at sea of can be obtained through a democratic peaceful process now if these polls don't go well then that message could be eroded all these democratic institutions that have been set up during the peace process backed by the international community backed by over thirty million dollars of foreign funding bills would be eroded and put into question i think many people would say what good is this democracy if all it does is serve the interests

of a narrow. and narrow slice of the elite. yes and that remains to be seen how all of this does turn out so have a good to get your thoughts on this said jason stearns in montclair new jersey the rail is here with how young voters in the day are see all making an impact that's right has a moment people on social media talking about number of challenges that they've been facing rising from electoral lists that were not there and voting machines that didn't walk about one uses said this video floods in the capital kinshasa which prevented a few from heading to the polls. and many of those online tend to be young voters in fact sixty five percent of the congolese population is under twenty five and they're complaining about the lack of opportunities and jobs some have alternative ways to get their message out.

relief. well bob elvis is a rapper he uses his music to criticize the government he says he was once kidnapped by congolese authorities because of his political songs and that now it's too dangerous for him to go out and vote but he says he is determined to keep fighting my name is bob barry's. rapport and make my music for all for my people. for peace and the. whole right and for more on how street rappers turned to music you can also look at our website to see how these stories around challenging joseph b. as government will give you more insight on that as well as an interesting article there featuring how musicians try to work around that issue treat us as well if you are in that the r.c. let us know your thoughts on the elections is the hash tag aging is good for israel

now to another a closely watched election bangladesh where the opposition is calling for a new vote they say the election was rigged polls have been closed for several hours now local mean.