but i know how to isolate yet even though the accounting was done without my knowledge i'm keenly aware of my moral obligations but i would like to deeply and sincerely apologize to the people. i was devoted to my g.'s as prime minister regarding the operation and setting of the dinner party i was not involved a tool because so many years there were no mistakes in my office in the operation only in the elections so i left it to the person in charge. hello again the headlines on al-jazeera police in the u.s. city of nashville so they found what could be human remains or the site of an explosion that happened early on christmas morning when a mobile home blew up a vehicle had been playing a bomb warning beforehand 3 people have minor injuries. this morning's attack on our community was intended to create chaos and fear in this season of peace and

hope but nish billions have proven time and time again that the spirit of our city cannot be brokered by but we're not going to rest until those responsible for this outrageous and cowardly attacks are brought to justice. and the full force of the metro police and our partners at the f.b.i. and they are working together to make sure that we will get back to being a safe city that we. millions of americans have ignored or advised to stay home for holidays as corona virus infections their sore more than a 1000000 people pass through airports on wednesday the busiest travel day since march and the pandemic has led to a quiet christmas celebrations across europe several governments ordered their people to stay home a new and potentially more contagious variant of the virus 1st detected in britain added to the urgency to impose new law. another 800 british military personnel have

been deployed to help clear the thousands of truck drivers waiting to get into france more than a 1000 troops are now involved in the operation at the port of dover testing drivers for a coronavirus and distributing food and water new coronavirus for travel restrictions were imposed by france last sunday drivers are now allowed to cross over if they are negative for covert 19 there's been more violence in the central african republic after a cease fire between the government and the coalition of rebel groups collapsed they've been exchanging fire with the army and u.n. peacekeepers in the town of cool northeast of the capital. mali's main opposition leaders say has died after contracting covert 1971 year old is being treated in france says it was kidnapped in march by an armed group in northern mali campaigning for elections he was eventually free after 6 months those are the latest headlines on al-jazeera more news coming up after inside story

. has the world ignored south sudan the countries facing the stream hunger and aid agencies are warning of dire consequences if violence carries on so what can be done to save africa's youngest country this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. humanitarian groups are warning 60 percent of

south sudan's population with face catastrophic famine by the middle of next year that if a can't reach areas affected by floods violence and the pandemic a joint trip or by 3 u.n. agencies 6 and a half 1000000 people in the region are facing starvation of that number could rise by almost a 1000000 by july aid agencies blame the worsening situation on violence that's made it impossible to produce food and dangerous and difficult to deliver last month the u.n. released $7000000.00 in emergency funding to try to avert famine the country is still struggling to emerge from a 6 year civil war that killed tens of thousands of people. we'll bring in our guests shortly but 1st let's take a look at the history of africa's youngest country in july 2011 south sudan gained

independence from sudan but war broke out 2 years later when president salva kiir accuse his former deputy and former rebel leader regular charge of plotting a coup the fighting kills about $400000.00 people and displaced millions ceasefire was signed in generator $1014.00 but was violated several times and further talks failed to and the violence in september 2018 kira agreed to set up a unity government with machar but that was delayed as they try to resolve our standing disputes in february the pair finally formed a unity government declared and and to the civil war. joining me now are our guests in georgia matthew hollingworth south sudan country director for the world food program in oxford douglas johnson former member

of the boundary commission and author of south sudan in your history for a new nation also enjoy over jeffords you security analyst and director of the south sudan action network on small arms while come to your matthew united nations agencies have been saying for quite some time that areas in south sudan are on the brink of famine how where the response didn't really match with the magnitude of the problem why's that. i think. hello to everybody i sadly i think we've been warning for a number of months now most of this year that the tribulation of national subnational and localized conflict in the country married to a 2nd year of unprecedented flooding has meant that this country is now facing food insecurity of scale but it has not faced before more than 7 and

a half or more or less than a half 1000000 people expected to need food assistance by the lean season of 2021 is an unprecedented level and what we have been struggling to do is to reach areas of the country where the most vulnerable are living primarily because of conflict earlier in this year and then by floods when the conflict wait we've also been struggling to get the kinds of resources we need to give people a full ration to help them get on their feet and to help them rebuild their lives after times of conflict and not a disaster when you add to that this year's economic collapse which is also largely due to private 19 the impact of that but also diminishing oil reserves or oil resources and you've got a recipe for a food security disaster in south sudan douglas you have climate change you have filers you have instability and this is a remote brim reminder for

a nation of that about 9 years ago was rising hopes among the international community that it could become a vibrant new democracy in the african continent what do you think has been completely wrong with the station this is reminds me of my own time working with more of her program during the operation might find sudan where we've had a similar. simoneau periods where there been extreme fighting. hand demick. epidemic pandemic diseases this actually among livestock. also fire fighting now factional fighting so it's 2 things i think are important to think about or or to suggest in this current problem is that one there's been a failure of governance and part of that is the inability to create

a disciplined national army a lot of the fighting and this impression of civilians which is prevented cultivation or colon prevented harvest has been down to elements of the sudan people south sudan defense force rampaging through civilian areas and also in opposition with armed groups who are either there to protect themselves or to take advantage of chaos so that's a failure of governance and that's a failure of the current government and we shouldn't make any excuses for them this is something that should have been. attempted and should have been set or we were disciplined national army a long time ago as far as the other problems. the area of john lay for instance is been an area that has experienced extreme violence before into

it with the communication networks etc but you know there are also other areas that are usually very have high production that immune to so the by the fighting also there has been a failure of the governor to provide. no communication networks road networks the sorts of things that are needed to move right suppliers to from one post to another let me go to jeffrey job or jeffrey why is the government in a way or another not willing to recognize the scale of the famine in the country well i wouldn't enter into the politics of declare it's an unfair move to a country. but. for those who want to know whether people are starving or not. you can visit where it is communities live

and speak to them directly because. i don't want it to be a jiffy declaring them in south sudan or it is in cities but let's. recognize that them in that might be longing. is is a product of displacement and that this sort of displacement is not new to south sudan it was there even before the treaty that team civil war and. we'd see it is something around intercommunal balance in the absence of state security communities get up tight and it's simply bend and in these cycle of bends. which often is the manifest in form of that scale violence and use of military style weapons that fox and.

you know. but it's just looking for their survival but not you know growing crops as done in other parts of the world and jungle is that is notorious for so that's a function of into communal violence. matthew the government did not indorse they the famine review committee's report that was released this month by the integrated for security phase classification is the government trying to say this has been blown out of proportion by the international aid agencies. and i think there is consensus as you know between the famine review committee which is an independent group of experts and the can be called in to look at data when there isn't consensus of the country level and they haven't agreed with that but i think it's more important to look at what has been agreed there is consensus on the 7240000

people who are in severe pig. food insecurity there is consensus on that there is consensus that there are 5 or 6 locations in the country we gets a famine there isn't consensus on this scale of that like you would have found in or risk of famine but there is consensus on the account the fact there is a very significant price so that we need to respond so if we are to prevent what would be a full blown famine we're not talking about declaring a full blown found at this stage but we're talking about the likelihood of famine and the risk of famine and what we can do to respond to just stop it in its tracks and that itself is not. easy and you've heard why from from the other panelists aren't all you know south sudan is a country 2 and a half times the size of big of the united kingdom there's 200 kilometers of paved roads in the whole country this is an incredibly difficult country to move around

when this peace it's an incredibly difficult country to move things around when there are natural disasters to cope with and we have east and some of these locations this year and we've been facing up to them i mean it's. and all of the complexities that are 19 thrown up in terms of 'd supply chain interruption you've got communities that did not or could not cultivate land this year because of fighting communities that lost their harvests to flooding you've got communities that lost their cattle and the sheep and their goats to flooding and so you've got you know like i said this recipe for disaster and that we are going to need to respond and the politics aside that's already going to be very complicated it will be impossible unless there is stability and peace in those areas so i agree that such an important aspect asked to be an understanding that the weapons need to be

put down so that humanitarian aid and development is i'm base building where there's going to get on with their job on bringing communities together electing communities and trying to give them the livelihood that will improve them. douglas for the time being the international community has been putting more pressure when all the parties in south sudan to set aside their differences rein in violence and allow the aid agencies to operate on the ground you look at the hard hit areas further expand into words what are the jungly of norther buttle has the states we're talking about the situation there could easily spin out of control and become a full blown famine you want yes i mean this is one part everybody is trying to prevent and i don't i honestly don't understand the reluctance of the current

government or even some of the opposition groups who are refusing to recognize that . i just remember what we used to do in operation might find sudan and and know if you can get access to some of the reports from our home 2220 or so years ago you see one assume or support that time during a war situation will and environmental disasters. contributed to it. and so again i do not understand some of the people who are involved in the government were very much involved in the operation lifeline sudan episodes negotiating with the u.n. with world food program and various other. agencies so they have the experience of how to deal with these combination of disasters they have that background and experience and it's something that the they should be able to draw on to prevent

this fire in our control as you say jeffrey when you look at what is happening on the ground the u.n. is saying that it's patrols are now in place to monitor areas like moneyball they will go. your way and the white and that's where the tension between the communities has been on the rise with that be on its own enough to contain the crisis and rein in the tension which has been. going up. i think the crisis. might be centered in those areas but it has to be you know not. focused like the whole of jungle or state because this community is how big wrecking balance against each other. across it's not only the communities.

in the us went in a terrorist attack in people or you know the great up to boredom a sense of a disincentive where is this is hardly heat but. you know double tragedy of both violence and flat so up out said the focus needs to be didn't post it and of and of course being the. hard he'd intercommunal violence the governments to. really focus on quickly dominating violence that by the way of nigger sick of us are getting in existence and are some cease fire of some sort of communities because we have to not that good peace agreement and do not have any frame up a ceasefire among communities but that's why we see much as you know violence between and among the parties of the peace agreement that has dramatically gone

down they dicom you know violence has persisted throughout so it has to begin by negotiating some sort of cease fire and there. within that you know a couple exist on the sort of access for humanitarian actors and then another dialogue segment focusing on addressing the real root causes of these into communal violence and of course one of it eases the culture of impunity. well you know and you can organize and good to have every community and direct balances and come back to the hall and see it without any fear of what kind of beauty or any sort of justice and that has to stop and so on big government and you know these actors need to niggle see if that sort of arrangement are right matthew of the world food program says it needs something like almost 500000000

dollars over the next 6 months to be able to cope with the magnitude of this. disaster now do you think the international community is expressing and up a tighter step in against a backdrop of what we're seeing on the ground. i mean i think we have enormously generous donors member states that have stood by south sudan when it was southern sudan joining the operation lifeline program that was richer of to earlier and since independence in 2011 and those those member states are still wanting to see a successful country but he continued to grow to be prosperous to be peaceful. if they can see if those donors can see that this country is going to be stable and that unity will maintain they'll continue to support but i fear that if they see that they're going to be throwing good money after bad they want i mean i think

it's really important just following on from from the last question that i mean in areas like the greater people are going to sort of area in greater jungle a state. these are areas where you know the dialogue side of things has been going and fits and starts for many years conflict she saw on recurring and it's that persistent and recurring conflict that is part of the cause of what we're seeing the catastrophic food insecurity in areas that we're seeing not just in jungle a state this year that's that has to change but the importance for people living in those areas course is that i mean frankly you can't eat you know you can't live after those families those communities any jobs at those families those communities they need a livelihood they need to be connected to market so that they can actually access the the sort of basic staples which are available in other parts of the country

that are less remote now but without sort of that service to the basic services to market forces ringback i mean you know you're going to see it in tin you ation of the prices is as was rightly said without dealing. art it. is the deprivation the marginalization of some of these without dealing with that sadly it's going to be more assistance otoh is going to be provoked me and the last element that's that's the equation we need to turn on its head let's talk about that particular equation and then we go to the douglas douglas let's face it one of the biggest problems here is the huge differences between silva care and eric machar do you think that we will be able in the near future to convince these 2 rivals to set aside their differences more forward turn a chapter pave the way for stability and peace in south sudan. well i know that

people have been trying to persuade them to put aside their differences and. know has been a feeling of broadly within the country and outside of the country that actually both men have have a long run in the history of south sudan in governance in one way or another and if they both agreed to an honorable retirement and alone and other people to i'm a forward to being to deal with these problems that might be the beginning of a real sense of not just of daro. trying to tackle the problems. and the divorce them from from. us through to move on from the problems that occurred were created within the we were oceans struck. i would just like to say note that what matthew centers is quite true about the importance of markets and livelihood

and i would point out that there are signs within your way of difference of 1000000 troops that are trying to not just foster dialogue to change the equation between the communities the small they need support they need recognition but there is something there within the civilian population john lennon and how the parts of subs and individuals and groups that are willing to try to. carve out a new path and change the. patterns of the servants and destruction ok jeffrey we've been talking about the unity government one of the key components of that deal was basically the security a range of events you need to have a professional army of that brings about stability and security how can you achieve

that when the country is divided along ethnic tribal lines. well it is. definitely unrealistic to expect people who are who have been you know on each other starts to come together very soon. after you know their last battle and then form a community if that's a gun at me. but it is definitely. something that has to be a long term goal because we need you not some sort of needs an army that reflects don't pretty and that you know i can't be you know this bin and etc but the problem here is that the perkiest tend to use you know on the easel of you know graduating do national necessary unify powers have their purposes

for for for for for progress in implementing some of the peace agreement if then you soused that does not require the necessary unified force not being implemented for example for example just you not just appointing the. the officers not the department you know the governor of the pretty governor's commission as in the sector which does not require you know of. a unified force is not being dense so this reason is that the question of their willingness of the parties to see i'm going to amend a piece that it be sacrament let me go to matthew matthew this is going to be my last question in less than a minute if you don mind now this is the dry season when people would be moving from one area to another. towards sources of water how we are your concerned at this particular juncture. i mean the last time i was in people was in october and it was still covered in water and then in december i traveled to other parts of or

great people as well as to other parts jungle and whatever community respects here and these are communities that were the term used before were at each other's throats previously and i heard the same story their greatest fear is the moment their the land starts to dry that there will be more fighting and that fighting will happen not just the political reduced or not at because of political reasons but because of necessity they will need to find ways to. raise other capital to bring capital back because they lost so many cattle in the floods in the previous i'd say what we mustn't allow is the deprivation to kick off another round of fighting and to be manipulated into something more political and something greater thank you so it's are wrong to continue the relief act or ations that we've already been started and we've already been working throughout the whole period but to gear

it up and raise our game because i mean furthest distance people out but their future if you 2 relies on east and the peace relies on the. unequivocally of communities to feed themselves look after themselves and meet their basic needs to know how to live with them matthew worth douglas johnson geoff radio appreciate your insight thank you and thank you for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our website dot com for further discussion got our facebook page that's facebook dot com for was last a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter i'll handle his at a.j. and say sorry from the hashemite of our own the entire team here in doha by phone up.

a secret mass grave in arlington discovered at an institution run by catholic nuns has. the nation's shock to its core. people in power investigates a scandal that destroyed families cost thousands of lives and still raises profound questions about the ties between the catholic church and the irish state. arlen's mother and babies come. on a. my i had 3 jobs and now i only have one but i'm soo providing for my family. and the 1st time i was admitted to hospital i didn't show any signs of m.s. . i'm more that but at about my opinion and i have become very positive

and stop thinking about the negative sides of families and get on al-jazeera while he is from the us living with an axe in egypt the us is always of in fact the people all right the world people pay attention to what you can hear and i do see it is very good at bringing the news to the world from here. tomorrow or. this is al-jazeera i'm dating obligato with a check on your world headlines a huge explosion has ripped through a neighborhood in the u.s. city of nashville it happened early on christmas morning and there was a recorded warning playing beforehand police say they found traces of what could be human remains nearby. we have found 2 that we believe could be our remains and we're just. you know examined and then we'll be able to let you know from that

point darby was detonated so if it was someone inside we have no idea it was such a large explosion but the investigation continuing there's.