so his flat is not good in zimbabwe. any extra money beyond one salary is called and as economic for the poorest people in the country. it's good to have you with us here in the headlines and i was here at the leader of the to green region in northern ethiopia. since his forces are in conflict with eritrea on several fronts, he's confirmed the firing of missiles at the airport and eritreans capitalist marra, ethiopian government forces launched an offensive in the region 11. on

the border of the to great reach. according to the t.p. left leader, the prince mikhail 16 divisions of forces are already fighting in the border with the trainer. and he says that they are part and parcel of the conflict already portal prime minister ahmed. of course those strikes both a missile strike struck us mara came just hours after they threatened to carry out attacks against us tomorrow, saying that it was a legitimate target. the 1st transfer of land in the disputed region of the gotoh cutback is taking place as part of a deal to end 6 weeks of fighting between armenia and azerbaijan. armenia is handing over the district of culbut job. many people there set fire to their homes,

as they put that to leave. while the deal has been celebrated by those in azerbaijan has led to protests against armenia's prime minister. nicol posh india. 15 nations in the asia and pacific region have agreed to create the world's largest free trade bloc. the agreement was side of the assay and summit in hanoi vietnam. it's the 1st free trade deal involving china, japan, and south korea. thousands of supporters of the us president donald trump of demonstrating in washington d.c. many echoed trump's claims of 4. during last week's election. multiple news outlets have declared joe biden is the projected winner, but the president hasn't yet conceded. and the u.s. to set another record for cope with 19 cases, reporting more than 180000 infections in 24 hours. deaths are also rising fast, and hospital admissions are at the highest levels yet. are those the headlines more news fear here. after talked to al jazeera, next on countering the cost,

the once mighty financial capitals of the world have been reduced to ghost towns by the pandemic. can they reinvent themselves? plus turkey's president fires the central bank governor after their son in law steps down as finance minister counting the cost on al-jazeera. the sierra leone, like most countries in africa, is which in resource mining, but all diamonds under time have led to economic growth. in recent years, but despite its natural resources, 68 percent of sierra leone's population lives in poverty. and with a g.d.p. per capita of a bond $500.00. it has relied for years on foreign aid. sierra

leone is still recovering from a 10 year civil war that destroyed many of its institutions before and dig into a 1002 president julius murder came to power into a 1018. he promised to make his country financially independent by fighting against corruption. president b. o is a retired brigadier general in the sierra leone army, and was proclaimed head of state from january to march, 1906. after leading a military coup that removed, captain ballantine strasser from power below moved to the united states. shortly after that to study international law. once he was back at home,, he sought the leadership of the sierra leone, people's party, the b.p.,

now in power. once again, the challenges are many, the ebola outbreaks of the 101-4015 before you came to power, had significantly damaged the economy. like many leaders around the world, tackling the 19 pandemic. in addition to fighting corruption, improving letter is a raise and life expectancy are also crucial. so after 2 years in office, he's, he's succeeding. the president of sierra leone julius talks to al-jazeera julius mother be a president of syria. thank you for talking to al-jazeera. it's a present. let's start with covert 19. the pandemic that has shattered lives. rattled economies and put strains on the health service. as we've seen

a new pattern, which is basically infections increasing worldwide. what does your country stand? are you thinking about putting in place? new restrictions of the moment? no, because date and science tells us we are getting very little piece of the movement. so we are very much on the watch we have or the people are supporting the response system in place. and we are allowed by the moment we are not thinking about locking them up for what we have never really. not for those that don't want to be hard to do it 3 day period that there should lockdowns so that we can start to use that he really wanted to achieve by the time. of course, as you know, what is happening around the world,

there is an increase. and since we are not experienced in that, we are very much trying to go back to normal as much as we can. but we are very much on the watch. the movies are around, so the big economic recovery plan is meant to see are we going to transition from the stage of all these post and carry on with creating in this scenario for livelihood in this country. at the moment, we really are not experienced in many cases as it is that in around the world, the battle against cars at 19 brings back memories for their countries fight against a bowl in 20142015. what was the lessons he learned from the particular experience that was helpful to your country now as it tackles they spend, alec? well, that is a quick reaction. we had about

a pandemic and we went into action immediately. and using our experience with a bowler, we were able to mount a preventive structure to make sure that we could prevent the advent of copied into radio. but of course, we knew we were fighting the losing battle because it was all over the world. and part of being part of the international community, we knew it was going to come here. but as we mounted the preventive measures, we were able to do a world of the way very long time. and during that time were just kind of the structures. luckily we had a very good experience from the border and we had the people in the system who had the expertise, who had the knowledge and we were able to put our national call the response team

together. and so by the time we undertake to 1st of march, when we had our very 1st case, we had a stronger structure that was ready to fight off. so this is how we've been able to keep it on the through with a lot of things. let's talk a little bit here about politics in your country. if you don't mind mr. president, when you came to power, there's been some sense of anxiety and instability, particularly when your setup. the commission of inquiry into cases of corruption that took place from 2007 to just 1080, and that's when the all people's congress, the a.p.c. was in power. then he said that this was a pill act of political revenge against your opponents. yes, but i think we have proven them wrong because what we did was to get

people who are the country charge east who presided over the commission. and they have of course, shown that we did not interfere as a government. i did not as, as head of state, we give them the free hand to investigate and they produce a report from the boards. we have produced a white paper. definitely, we have political instability. i would not say there has been political instability . we've had corruption piped in back because once we took one of the fight against corruption, we knew it was going to fight back. we were meant to kill, i was mentally prepared for that fight. but just because it's about the very soul of our country. many say we are for i would disagree with that. i think corruption has been the enemy. and when we had decided this nation to attack ropes from head

on, so we are ready for the ramifications of our fight against corruption. this is the argument advanced by our parents. they say that corruption is pervasive. it's not isolated, it's not about individuals. it's about the system that has been prevailing for many decades in this and your country. and you have been personally a part of the political legacy of your country. yes, there has to be a starting point, definitely not muddy. i, i said the same thing to people. i said we have all been corrupt, but we have to draw the line. if we're going to be corrupt, we are not going to be able to have a better future for our children. we must accept that corruption is part of this in this country and we have to but we know how it has needed to

our lives, our future, the future of this country. and i cannot mistreat administration. i did say before than i want that i was going to attack corruption. so we are very much aware that everywhere in the country. but we are also aware that there has been growing unity with which corruption was, was, was, was rampant in this country. and the it became fashionable, i would normally say, i wanted to make sure that we can, we have been listening to in the past saying basically a very sabella time for accountability and transparency. and i'm expecting to hear some transparency from you, mr. president. as i'm going to ask you something, a few questions here. one of those questions are about when you were campaigning and saying that you had issues with your predecessor and ties with china, particularly the deals there was,

there was charter signed with china. what was your biggest concern about those deals? is that there was no sense of transparency or because you thought the deals were with china were counterproductive to your country. well, i want to start by saying that china is a great friend of we had issues with transparency and we are structured in the best interests of the country. and i did not attack the president . i talked to particular about my mama and you have no will to be any different from what we have to be. it's more last year or less. what? so i do it again. we're talking about nearly $400000000.00. so we keep the ball of china. but

for those who are in the best interest of the people of this, and this is, this explains why you decided there's absolutely no way you're going to go ahead with completing the project, which was basically the new airport outside of the, of the capital. is it because you were concerned that more loans could just end up being a debt trap for your country? of course that is one needs to leave the airport with another when we can be sure we have you know, we have a week or we can afford it, don't do it and do it in transparent way where everybody will get to know what is not what how the structure, but what is the thing here? surprise it, that caves of instability and civil war have taken

a heavy toll on the infrastructure of the country. talking about dan's roads, schools, a good systems to rebuild unit. investors seem to be willing to step in the russians, said that you were willing to step in and, and finance some of those, some of those projects. but you didn't seem to be really impressed saying that we need to look into everything into more details before we move forward. well, i, i think with a national monolith minute. so when i look at any deal, and i think it is not in the best interest of the people, i will reject the new investment for infrastructure because we know development. but we are also reductive,

we make sure that the process of getting those loans are also both theory and in the best interest. so we are not cherry picking. we just want to make sure that he's in the best interest of the president. you know that your people will judge you in the future, all the basis of what will you accomplish for them, and what battles me and many people all over the world is how come cyril yoan. a nation rich in diamonds and other natural resources is at the same time one of the poorest nations on earth. that is the exact reason where we are here to change the narrative. and we have very active in the extractive sector, which you just identify. we are the i think i did said to you that we are not a politician. we have been caught up in bad governance for a very long time. and that is why you can, i think you can feel the pressure on me for,

for fighting corruption. these are the things that i think that our development and with the resources we do not bring about reforms in the governance of our resources . we are not going the able to to took it for the needs of our people. so if you can see one thing we have identified resource, these mineral resources are natural resources. people see a very important but to be able to effectively manage that. i think for me i have identified the human being the human capital resources of our country. most important and that we have to develop and that in my project i've got human capital development. when you talk about the extraction process, either have to be implemented. are you thinking about restructuring the whole sector? because i'll give you an idea about what's happening in your country, mr. president. if you don't mind, it's so poorly organized,

the diamond mining sector, to the point where you're famous for being is a country where all it needs is just a shovel and a c.v. . there you go and try your luck. this does not work. you cannot move forward as a nation if you continue operating under this particular scheme. well, that's right. to do that we are trying to sanitize the extractive sector. we are rich, we have resources that the piece of land that we see as a nation, that a lot of rich we have to, we have to provide some guidance. we have to have sound policies on how we extract these and use them for the popper's of developing our nation, taking care of the social programs. so when i mentioned earlier, human capital development already, we have pre-qualification, we have been for over 22500000,

people in this country because as much as the resources there, we can talk about never the in the human resource passage of this going to have to be developed. so we are very much engaged in these 2 tasks, a revamp of that extracted sector in order to be able to get the benefits this we have not done in the past, and that is why it is they cannot bear so many interests in and out of the so it is always difficult to, to, to, to restructure that sector. speaking of those interests, are we likely to see a 0 tolerance when it comes to the international trade. trading companies wish more interested in their own interests, while at the same time they might be willing to manipulate the system for more revenues at the expense of the civil unions. of course, there are international corporate organizations,

the core mean we are that we should have the investment, but we are also not in the process of exploiting those resources that has damaged the ecology and they brought remain and we should have enough to keep the activities, activities are taking place in mosul, but initially we need resources to be able to a revenue to be able to the men that we want to improve and a lot of work. but again, the potential is there and again with other sexes like our great culture, which is which was supposed to be a key. it cannot make sector. why is it like in fall behind reason that we have spoken about broad governance and i speak to you. it's one of those sectors when i spoke about human capital development in 3, when we talk about human capital development,

we are talking about the agricultural sector of security, education and health. so these are exactly the 3 areas we are of course attending to or the issues of government that the india ereal drug reports or we are placed in a lot of premium on that. and we know that we should be exporters and we are working on we are working on the policy to make sure that we should, we can produce enough and even export security. when you read reports of international organizations like the world bank or the international monetary fund, which basically predicts that your economic growth of your country will contract by something like 4 percent. and that inflation will continue to hover around 16

percent, plus more than 50 percent of the population which lives below the poverty line. doesn't this look a grim reminder of what might happen in the near future? you seem to be facing unprecedented massive challenges ahead. these are definitely very difficult scenario you've just spoken about, but we are also coming to make sure that we are putting in place sound. what is the shooting that we have from policies that have not paid off from the past and making sure that we can inclusion we have been reducing consistently as a matter of fact. i mean corruption, you might have had when i over it was in the region of what is 49 percent according to the regs in by the m.c.c. . now we can,

if you want so it is not going to be an easy job. i don't expect that. but i'm very optimistic at the time and then i went from sharing that to me and with the people of this country that one day we were lehman's going to change the face of the century. and that is why i remain optimistic because our people are beginning to bite into that. and we have going to fight for as we are what is done in the many instances where the nation has been faced with very serious challenges . and you seem also to be willing to somehow change this to your types the have been going on for quite some time about your country, those images of young fighters roaming the streets of the capital and elsewhere, pillage and villages. and to does that, you said the 2 things need to happen 1st of all education and number 2, the gender gap in your country. can you give us some idea about how, how,

how do you think you can move forward when it comes to those to important issues? education and again that we have taken education. that's not said many times in this interview. the main thrust of our government with how to class 3, quality education wearing kid from 3 primary to end of 2nd is cool. we go to school at the cost of it is not free, but we pay for everything from learning materials to tuitions, to teach you materials and we are providing food in some sense that is to make sure that everybody goes to school. we know the benefits of education, what it guides, who have been disadvantaged, what a very long time because of a neg, lect. we have also been doing quite

a lot in that area. sexual and gender based violence. we have taken on we have very strict laws now and punishment for those who engage in rape became and i haven't even had to declare a state of emergency for it yet. and we have put in place more than to just 100 that gosnell have cips places in school 2 to be delivered to take part in education. and lots of my wife has been involved in a campaign to make sure that child is free, you know, from our good marriage from really with she's given provide enough time. it's our past because we realise that the guys can lose of 2. so when to do it these days from going to school because they're like 73 part

a lot of it we have taken up the issue of the guards very seriously. and initially this guy is catching up on that. so these are things we take very seriously. i need to about more rooting guns in the young man that it's history. we have said, toots, you know, we have had this assessment of the conflicts we have. and in tripoli, we are just about fit enough to call mission peace, a national vision commission to keep it clean, i own just making sure that issues that kind the need to get conflict of whatever nature kept on the control of it. when you look at neighboring countries, where there's been more instability, particularly mali, broken up us and ivory coast. and where people have become pretty much worried about the potential for one minute to haunt us to take over once again. what kind

of message would you like to send to those people? this situation of different countries vary, and what leads to a midget? who in one country may be different or similar? the they do those specific situations leading to who's again maverick. i think that we need to look at very properly. you know, the armies are mr. villian now, and i dare i speak. i says civilian,, we should not get the military involved in what should be a civilian r.c.s., but the military is also part of the country, the military. we also suffer when the bad government will also suffer when it is given. the leadership is not doing what it's supposed to do. are you confident at this particular stage? that said earlier, has turned the chapter of the trick?

because yes, we have this by that as a nation, that we are going to force you the democratic path irrespective of what is happening around the world. we know that the, the myspace of politics when it is restricted, creates the possibility for many to coups and or the so shop he was. so what we have done is admonition i said, nation that we, we wish you the democratic path and we have had that for peaceful transition. i have warrants the sick in the interest of the people, the country. i joined the military due to to fight for my nation. but even when i was involved in the lives of fools, it was for the best interests of this nation. we have to leave it there. thank you

very much indeed. said julius mother, be a president of sara. thank you for talking to us is here. thank you. thank you very much. food for celebration? food for reconciliation and food from ancient civilizations. al-jazeera wild goes on a mouthwatering. haven't read jenny, from spain to the middle east. to discover the hidden history behind some of the region's best loved dishes. savoring the past on out is the dissecting the headlines in the midst of a pandemic. let's start with some of the on the ground realities affecting the news coverage. what's the lay of the land there? stripping away the spin ripping story about presidential corruption. it is real

reporting. it's not if you keep challenging assumptions and the official line for this type of agreement to tell our story, look, we don't want to rely on authority. and if the listening post on out is the right, if he appears to great conflict widens eritrea's capital is hit by 3 rockets, a sudan takes in thousands of refugees. hello, i'm adrian for the given. this is al jazeera live from doha. also coming up on medians, leave their homes in the district of culbut job, the 1st area to be transferred to a serious under a cease fire agreement,

asian country side, a major free trade deal that could revive sluggish economies.