could and that's why he did a. wise man. and when it comes to that reputation and that title the pseudonym i guess the wise man of the region when it got front page coverage that the kuwaitis and the omanis were driving the yemeni peace process almost 2 years ago now that was when the revelations came out i think it be fair to say there was a reaction outside of this region saying oh the kuwaitis are involved oh the omanis are involved but the reality is that the amenia and the royal household their toolbox of diplomatic skills was very big because they had been around that block of middle eastern diplomacy several several times. sure i mean i'm like i'm on which can be cage in the ak used as being maybe too close to the how. having taken that a little bit of distance from saudi arabia 'd the united arab emirates kuwait

managed to keep equal distance from all and that is really one of the reasons why people felt comfortable going back again and again to great to try and resolve the issue in yemen and that again it's a quality that she has accumulated as a result of its many years of work as a diplomat and the respect that you gain regionally having said so i think there were some internal difficulties that we're faced in the last years and some would that would that maybe following the invasion. of iraq with the invasion of kuwait by iraq maybe there was a missed opportunity when the construction happened the biggest fraction focus too much and maybe too quickly on restoring the. oil supplies and giving

the basic its nomics priority when there were many other social and economic issues that should be tackled and this is why for many many years people would say who waits with its neighbors and say well it's not really developing such as other capitals around in the gulf so if you looked at the infrastructure in kuwait city has taken a back seat to a little bit compared to cities like or dubai or abu dhabi and so on and that's was blamed on the way the reconstruction surgery was managed in the aftermath of the invasion. which i apologize as james pays was explaining the u.n. general assembly is in session in new york you're looking you know he's a course that's interning for terrorists we understand the u.n. secretary general is offering us his thoughts on the passing of the emir of kuwait . in some of the most important humanitarian actions in the world.

millions of people have seen their lives saved or their community is. in deep distress because of conflict or natural disasters being assisted and protected and you as always in the 1st line of mobilizing the international community in acts of solidarity with those in need i want to express to his family and to the government and people of kuwait my deepest condolences now in just 4 months since prime minister through your prime minister holiness and i convened the global leaders in may 25 1000000 more people have contracted govern 160-0000 more people and we'll peel away from mr turkish at that point he clearly has taken a decision to react to the news arriving in new york from kuwait from the wider middle east the 80 amir has passed away at the age of 91 our diplomatic editor

james bays was listening to the james. a stunning measure of how well the amir and his country were perceived there where you are you know the heart of global diplomacy for the u.n. secretary general to say millions of people are alive because of what this man did because of what his country contributed to the diplomatic process. yes and just before the bit that you heard peter the very beginning when walking into the room the secretary general said i want to make a personal statement i want to say how deeply moved i am personally by the death of the amir and it was clear from the secretary general's tone that this is something that has affected him as well i mean he knew the amir very well these are 2 figures that have both been on the global stage for a long time and tony you could terrace has now moved on to talk about development aid at the time of cove it has had other jobs before he was prime minister of their

own country portugal he was the high commissioner for refugees he's encountered the emir over the years and remember if you look at the secretary general's long career it's nothing like the emir of kuwait because before he was in the air mere 40 years as his country's foreign minister and in fact if you go back to the history of the u.n. he was the foreign minister in 1963 when kuwait joined the united nations in fact there are pictures of him in new york there when the flag the flag was flown for the 1st time at the united nations and also when it comes closer to kuwait region the gulf region the gulf cooperation council which is certain to be tested in recent years that was founded in 1901 he was the he was the foreign minister at the time then so he is a real symbol i think you know a troubled region of stability and continuity james thank you very much james bays

our diplomatic correspondent there at the united nations let's bring in ali akbar that any he's a researcher at the center for strategic studies he joins us from tehran and at barberini welcome to this special news hour on al-jazeera the relationship between but in kuwait city and tehran sometimes complex definitely always compelling how will you remember the late amy and how do you think you'll be remembered in the upper echelons of tehran. the late amir will be remembered as a mediator he was a seasoned diplomat who played the role of mediator in regional conflicts but their run and kuwait have had a very complicated relationship during the. iran iraq war kuwait supported saddam hussein's army against iran

the iranians have not have forgiven but not forgotten what kuwait did but after saddam hussein turned to iraq and in a way did to wait the history changed for the people of kuwait and its government and iran. iran adopted a position of neutrality iran assisted kuwait to extinguishing the fire and its oil wells and iran's position. as well as kuwait suffering at the hands of saddam hussein changed the history. and that too and that moment was so crucial in kuwait's history that the kuwaiti leadership tried to adopt a new strategy while in the past kuwait has been following a strategy of bandwagon ing following the united states at the international level

and soda rabia of the original level kuwait suffering at the hands of saddam hussein taught this country a hard lesson as of that moment unwarped kuwait followed a policy of somehow hedging diplomacy or a policy of balancing trying to strike a balance between the regional powers and patch up relations with big neighbors while while maintaining good relations with. with world powers so that's that was a big change for kuwait and from that moment on more iran and kuwait how generally enjoyed friendly relationship while there has been many ups and downs in greece and yes those big tectonic events that you're talking about the iran iraq war that lasted 78 years i think it was utterly ferocious the 1990 invasion of

iraq into kuwait the conflict that followed it which was short and sharp the actual war was just for 4 or 5 days what's your reading as to how that changed who the amir was becoming because clearly he was a different man in 10019912 the man that we saw driving the embryonic yemeni peace process 2 years ago 18 months ago then his his illness is ill health really accelerated past him but i'm intrigued to know how that changed him and how he reacted to those events. the mayor was a foreign minister for 4 decades and he saw tragic events and very. very bad developments in his

country's history. and it was the. iraqi invasion and occupation of kuwait that had the biggest impact on kuwait's foreign policy and it was 2 the do and me here who was foreign minister in the past that tried to lead kuwait frood the original crises and the best approach he found was to follow a new policy of. trying to be a balance or that's why the wait has been a neighbor different from soda rabia and the united arab emirates for iran while the governments in the united arab emirates and baron have been very hostile towards iran kuwait has has followed a different policy it has tried to walk

a fine line and trying to pacify both its neighbors iran and soda arabia and void tensions while trying to be a mediator trying to calm down the tensions in the region that that has been the wrong way to has been playing in recent years and now whether this. strategy is going to continue or not will depend on the on his successor i expect a smooth transition of power while the new leaders who have assumed power in soda rabia and the united arab. emirates have brought great instability and tensions in their relations with iran unlike got out of which has been friendly towards iran i expect the transition of power to to be handled

smoothly and be done something like that of oman so i do not expect kuwait to change its foreign policy and i expect a continuation with some you know minor probably minor changes in the short term of the same policy the late may have followed ok we'll leave it there thank you so much for joining us from tehran and danny there he was he is a research at the center for strategic studies let's talk now to giorgio is the c.e.o. of gulf state and a little geopolitical risk consultancy firm focusing on the arabian peninsula he joins us from washington d.c. george you're welcome back to the news hour here on al-jazeera would the relationship between kuwait and washington have been so positive had it not come down to the coming together of the 1st george bush as president and the late

emir of kuwait. i thank you very much for having me on your program today i would like to begin by expressing my condolences to the people of kuwait and the entire gulf region who are now mourning the loss of the kuwaiti amir you know prior to the crisis of 909991 the u.s. and kuwait had a strong relationship but there's no doubt that that conflict did so much to strengthen ties between washington and kuwait city in over the past 30 years the americans and kuwaitis of worked so hard to gather to advance common interests which the 2 countries share and kuwait is definitely relied on the united states for security over the past 3 decades and also when it

came to saudi issues such as fighting the islamic states in iraq and syria as well as trying to push for a resolution to the g.c.c. crisis the united states leadership depended very much on kuwait's as an important goal for her. i don't know if you can talk about this giorgio but i'm interested in what happens as they move forward with this twin track approach almost of paying all due respect and going through a period of mourning for the late in me and what happens when it comes to the line of succession next because i think people side the region might think oh well the crown prince it is his but then this seems to be this this process of meshing together a political process a political process because you've got politicians who have to be involved in doing

more than just rubber stamping a successor but less than saying no we should actually not have that person. i think it's important to keep in mind that kuwait is a unique country within the g.c.c. as it is a semi democracy and there are strong institutions in place which will be very important throughout this transition right now we all understand that the crown prince the 83 year old brother of the late or will be the next amir of kuwait however as he is quite old we know that he will not be on the throne necessarily for a very long time and the big question has to with who will be the following

a mirror there is quite a bit of speculation there are a couple of names whom experts have been throwing around for many years with a little bit of time we might come closer to having a better idea of who will be the next amir after the current crown prince right now from an outsider's perspective that would require a little bit of speculation i think though going back to my point about the institutions in kuwait's given the strength of these institutions i think he kuwaitis will be able to move 'd forward in ways in which they can means he is their 'd stability there are always outsiders who are speculating about some sort of a succession crisis but that definitely does not need to happen that is not an inevitable outcome the kuwaitis recognize that they have been blessed for many years with

stability you know when you're sitting in kuwait you can look to yemen iraq syria so many hotspots around the region and that really underscores how kuwait stands out is in a way he says of stability in i think the queen governments and the queen the society will be working very hard to preserve that stability in the years to come. george you always good to get your temper temper of thoughts on a big story in this region critical to torture again georgia or on this this thought provoking day as the region comes to grips with having lost the emir of kuwait. let's take a dive into the other big story here in the news our diplomatic efforts are underway to stop the fighting between armenia and azerbaijan the un security council in new york is holding an emergency meeting later on tuesday but on the

ground the violence is escalating with both sides again accusing each other of using heavy artillery and killing civilians in charlotte dallas. one after another helicopters landed this medical center in armenia's capital here of on the burning wounded soldiers and civilians from the disputed region of nagorno-karabakh fighting broke out on sunday in a resurgence of a man running conflicts between armenia and azerbaijan over control of the territory nagorno-karabakh is internationally recognized as part of azerbaijan but is controlled by armenian forces in 3 days dozens of people have been killed hundreds have been hurt and more can not save on the hospitals located on the frontline will be lived empty in case a large number of injured people arrive for emergency treatment so that no one will be deprived of medical care. it's not clear how this fighting

began but armenia and azerbaijan blame each other the 2 sides are targeting each other with rockets artillery and drone strikes they plot to seize villages under the other's control both countries say they are now at war and. the most important thing is we are brave and fearless. and we will go forward. we capture a lot of his very military equipment and we continue to fight against them using their own equipment we do well with this a few hours drive from the battle and azerbaijan's capital back main registered to fight the government has announced a casual mobilization to recruit civilians into its military by although our president people here gathered for a partial mobilization which means that its concerns men under the age of 32 and those who are considered suitable for us by their professions flights out of

backers international airport have also been limited for security reasons. france is calling an urgent meeting with russia and the u.s. to find a path to deescalation the 3 had mediated the dispute in the past but there is rising concern the fighting may spread outside of nagorno-karabakh with both sides reporting civilian deaths away from the immediate conflict area. this is the most intense fighting since amini and as a world war and here in 193-0000 people would have been now both countries say they will not back down if you look in karabakh despite the rising casualties taliban this. you're probably well aware the world today passing 1000000 deaths from kuwait 19 latin america is the worst affected region with more cases than any of the region about 9200000 leadership is one factor behind that

making brazil 1st stop it not only has the highest number of cases in the world but the 2nd highest death toll the president in that country jailable some are actively play down the threat of the virus calling it quote a small flu and he was well opposed to efforts at bringing in a system of quarantine latin america has one of the worst rates of inequality and that helped to spread the virus to in chile for example while the rich could access health care the poor couldn't and that meant cases in that country skyrocketed lockdown measures were also tested with many workers unable to follow stay at home or those informal workers make up 71 percent of peru's labor force many risk catching the virus just to keep the money coming in and it's all left medical workers dangerously exposed to corona virus amnesty international says more health care professionals have died in mexico than in any other country let's talk now to

make a law in rio in brazil he's the executive director of the institute for health policy studies miguel largo welcome to the news hour give me an idea of what your senses as to why this vicious virus has got such a tight grip on latin america. thank you peter. basically i think there are 3 main reasons for the reason region to become the biggest victim of the team 1st one. is the fact that the region is the most unequal region of the world and inequality social and economic inequalities are directly linked to help outcomes so we have it's harder to do a lock down it's harder to do hygiene policies when you don't have basic sanitation france and many cities of of the rich the 2nd biggest challenge is concerns distinct at that city and specially public health systems so

we have a region with. more often fragile health systems very fragmented health the systems as you mentioned a great example of cheating but today is not the only example but even when you have strong when you have state capacity which is the case of brazil brazil has a strong health system a public funded health system one of the biggest and major. public health systems in the world even when you have a state that the majority of the countries in latin america does not have the capacity to pursue as then you have the 3rd problem which is leadership so you have a government that does not do not believe does not believe in science does not believe in evidence based policy and. only lucchino. how to increase its popularity so basically that's how brazil's president. did not

use the state get past the british who has developed for the late last 30 years you know it's a fight the 1000 so all the countries in north america on an equal of course creates a lot of trouble for the cove in 1000 sprat then the majority has a. lack of sleep that's especially on health systems and when they do have they have problems with leadership so to sum up the 3 major problems miguel forgive me but briefly with your answer please is there one country in your region that is the the benchmark for turning it around and doing its best but also getting effective results costa rica's doing this they have a good health system they are less unequal country than others and they have good leadership miguel thank you very much less as well ok thanks for that me going longer there talking to us of rio de janeiro on coronavirus and the impact of

covert 19 across the continent good to talk to me girl thank you thank you so much the afghan government's top negotiator for peace talks is in pakistan abdullah abdullah has met the prime minister imran khan talks a part of the negotiations between the afghan government and the taliban being held in qatar pakistan and afghanistan have had a tense relationship in the past abdullah abdullah is the head of afghanistan's peace council earlier he told us both sides do want a resolution. peace in afghanistan peace in pakistan peace in the region is important for all of us and most of the talks that i had hit in islamabad yesterday and today will continue to so model will be focused on how we can support the negotiations which are that in peaceful efforts at the same time what are the steps that we can take as far as the strengthening the the bilateral

relations we will come to the message that this statement by the prime minister of iran come calling for all of that action in violence reading to cease fire in also did i that countries including the host country which us which is that and the support group do night is states which is not directly involved but at the same kind they are all working to get that in support of those efforts pakistan also help the fact that. contacts negotiations are started in itself it was historic i would say that i never diffused di dio of getting to get out and sitting across the table i've always asked and trust of course that has been mistrust in the past there will be is still we are not that. we should raise all issues and put it on the table in tying the common way forward

a solution which works in the best interest of all sides in the people of afghanistan 1st and foremost so it will take time before before we will get that but both sides. shown that they need to talk as part of the systemic republic of afghanistan is concerned we are determined to be patient and to continue our efforts. abdullah abdullah talking to this channel just a little earlier that was news broadcast less wrap up the 60 minutes of news and comment where we started it with the news that's broken just in the past 2 and a half or 3 hours that the emir of kuwait. sabah has died at the age of 91 he was hailed as a mediator across the middle east al sabah ruled the country from 2006 but a spent decades shaping foreign policy world leaders are reacting to his death and

offering condolences the u.n. secretary general praised him as a symbol of wisdom and generosity and said he helped millions of people. we'll recap all the top stories for you when we come back in about 3 minutes also you that. corruption it is that invisible behind a wall of silence by. going up children is not something to be tolerated it. is a. country he's even let's destroy this wall.

in 2020 the free space only encourages the heroes who are fighting against corruption this helps our communities to save the resources that we need in order to address the burning problems that affect us all. shine a light on your anti corruption here i. nominate now. 2 planes from suit by 15 man checking out hotel you missed your mug shot missing for 5 days it is possible to fully clean the premises all forensic evidence but what you then leave is evidence that you have for the claim from mr wanted to give an exit from the from started speaking about the whole him before even the saudi government get public to start jamal khashoggi murder in a saudi consulate on al jazeera if by trying to win it by the

mob when he lied to the american people failed to do is job on track you don't go in sleepy jail for nothing ok he still doesn't have a clue do you see this crisis one of the vice presidential debate on al jazeera. the emir of kuwait. has died in the united states of the age of 91. he made a kuwait was an extraordinary seem all of wisdom and generosity. leaders from around the world remember the man known as the architects of the weights modern foreign policy.

looking like it's a w watching al-jazeera live from doha also coming up fighting intensifies between as a push on and armenia while the international community race is to fire.