from 4 different key government agencies the u.s. director of national intelligence but also who signed on to this statement was the f.b.i. n.s.a. and homeland security as well so that was is why this is considered such a definitive statement and while they're not saying if that is absolutely russia clearly they're saying it is very likely in this statement they did not provide any evidence on how they are reaching that conclusion now this so-called solar winds attack that happened last month was one of the most devastating and significant cyber attacks here in the u.s. in recent memory it brought down or at least brought it was an attack on at least no less than 10 federal u.s. government agencies and as well as dozens of other private companies as well were also hit by this. is there with me so robin a reminder of all top stories hong kong police have arrested $53.00 pro-democracy

politicians and activists are being accused of subverting state's power is the biggest crackdown under the controversial national security law which china imposed last year brown has more from hong kong these arrests happened early on wednesday morning according to local media here 52 former lawmakers and political activists have been detained they got the early morning knock on the door from police and were told they were accused of violating the new national security law now no one has so far been charged since that new law actually came into force on july the 1st last year only 4 people have so far been charged but i think to many people not just in hong kong but around the world it will seem like hong kong has taken another turn towards wealth or a terrorism. democratic challenger rafael warlock has won a hotly contested u.s. senate runoff in georgia where he's beaten republican incumbent kelly loffler and

the other is democratic john asaf holds a slim lead over david perdue but that race is still too close to call the outcome will decide the balance of power in congress staying in the u.s. california has confirmed 4 new cases of the more contagious strain of covert 19 the state recorded a single day high of 74000 of all current virus infections on monday and the number of patients in i.c.u. wards is now quadrupled since november the head of health services in los angeles says hospitals are so overcrowded patients are being left in hallways and ambulances germany's lockdown has been extended for another 3 weeks on wednesday the netherlands vaccinated its 1st citizen a care home nurse make it one of the last countries in the e.u. to begin the rollout those are the headlines more news in half an hour next inside story.

the president of central african republic wins a 2nd term but the opposition says the election was neither free nor fair so can the president united country divided by a civil war and a humanitarian crisis this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program. the central african republic president has been reelected in a vote marred by violence and intimidation the electoral commission says fast on our congress to a day or a 153 percent of the ballots last sunday he avoids

a 2nd round runoff with opposition candidates who say the vote was flawed many polling stations didn't open on election day rebels are reported to have attacked voters and staff and groups allied with former president francois boise's they seized a town 20 kilometers from the capital bangui prosecutors are investigating whether it was easy trying to disrupt the ballot. people don't need weapons to take power you've suffered so much the president has done his best to bring the country forward in 5 years that's why central african voted for him. i support another party i'm with the l.t.c. opposition group but if the president won it's because he deserves it he's a man who's fought for this nicholas hawke has been following the latest developments from the car. in a press conference archrival to twitter on shelves and he says don't look good he says that the president has not won the popular vote adding to the 8 other candidates who have launched a complaint to the election commission saying that there were not enough people

that came out to vote only half of the electorate came out to vote 900000 people and half of the polling stations were open only 2000 of them that's because most of the country is now in the control or in the hands of armed groups they're just 20 kilometers away from the capital bangui the home to themselves the coalition for patriotic change they say that president is not respecting the peace agreement they want more of a say in the country's future and more money meanwhile in the capital of benghazi there are russian fighters who are trying to secure the capital adding to that they are the rwandan troops sent by president calderon may to support the u.n. peacekeeping force of 12000 people despite all of these troops on the ground while the armed groups are are continuing to make their advances towards the capital caught in all of this of course are the people of the central african republic live in a country the size of france rich in oil diamond and minerals and yet most of them

live in dire poverty most of it live on less than $2.00 a day and this country has become the battleground between russia and the west notably france the former colonial power now this election is supposed to resolve all of this but so far it has failed to do so. well discuss all this with our panel in a moment but 1st let's take a closer look at the country's background the central african republic has been struggling with violence since 2013 when a predominantly muslim rebel group the seleka seize power and ousted the president francois was easy since then subsequent waves of violence have worsened leading to the deployment of about $12000.00 u.n. peacekeepers to support african union and french troops a year later in 2019 a peace deal was signed between the government and 14 armed groups but the violence didn't end and instead intensified the conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions. all right let's bring in

our guests in brussels peter konopka is a fellow at the institute for justice and reconciliation a south africa based think tank and a former dutch diplomat in london michael amoa is a senior visiting fellow at the fit was lousy center for africa at the london school of economics welcome to the program michael let me start with you today you know it had been reported that definitive results from this election were not expected before january 18th but you know we've already heard from the electoral commission they announced that president 2 of their got 53 percent of the vote in the 1st round is this is surprise and if so what changed well 1st of all it's not of it's not a surprise i mean best know many votes to count there was only about 110000 registered voters so that's no camps and those so perhaps there wasn't. too much about us any potential all or are you know it

actual practice so we would have imagined i was a pretty straightforward thing to do. peter does not have the right. all right thanks michael peter did unrest keep fodor's from going to the polls. yes in quite a number of places there was there was it wasn't secure it wasn't safe there was unrest so there has been. at least 14 out of i think it was 80 different regions there was no possibility for people to go and vote so yes yes and yes michael the opposition had tried to delay this election will they accept the result 'd i mean what happens next well i think the opposition is efficiently complaining that maybe perhaps there were some that are

fraud however that hasn't been investigated is nothing investigated and it's not so much a big deal. for this particular election i mean if you actually compare what happened the center of republic c. minus for example where some 700 point stations could not operate and some for thousands of other places there were destruct in a myth bomb scare and mortar shells in could our region from arcady back compare that to happen in central african republic you could actually say that central african republic did it might affect our. who are next really is that now that election is old and the states is firmly place the governess issue has been settled and you have and looks an illegitimate and a recognised common place and the main thing to happen next really is to see how the plan to go after the rebel movements it's really busy is

a another rebel factions because the center of the republic really house lurks with us you know a totally but under government control forest areas however in rebel groups and if we don't deal with these rebel groups now then because you have got some time so it's quiet it's actually a good thing that a lot of international actors are play rwanda whom the perhaps the yields plaints. russian or kind of than contributing troops nothing the next big thing really is that all these troops you know well reinforced with all of these chips amassing really concentrates on a long term plan to obsolete deal with rebel movement to let the function was either a. cap a long term plan about what to do about you know get sick unhappy get unlucky latest arrest is peter if i could ask you to expand

a little bit on the point that michael was making i mean 1st can we can we talk a little bit about these armed groups i mean you know who are who are the groups that comprise these 14 groups. well there's a there's a whole range but they they're there's 2 major candidates if you want there is the of the block and the eccentric. and the eccentric roughly speaking her the muslim groups from north winds east and the west and the on to block out are the groups of christian on the miss groups rather more south and central that came into existence as a response mechanism to the to the seleka that marched into bunky some 6 years 7 years ago. so it goes on it but but there are within those 2 different those 2 phyllis there's

a variety of different groups that compete between each other that compete over territory that have their you know their their. confrontations between each other but also have their sort of confined territory where they rule and are the major player no it's the it is the accomplishment of what they are. needs to be recognized for that too that he has brought all these 14 players to table and has signed a peace agreement that initially is knesset community and many many others were doubting that it would hold but it did for a long time until you know april april of this year and you elections played a very important part in disrupting the very very peace deal michael i saw you nodding to some of what peter was saying there did you want to jump in yes

that part of that you know. we cannot. well if the current peace deal is going to expire and this yeah i speak i have said then obviously we cannot another am really. it's quite important to note though that i will not peace deal with that we signed in the past where 20122019 center 100 pound lake never ever satisfy us oh all parties paki because the rebel factions and under control so in the long term really if you're looking to add up peace to that would vote in the long term you actually want to be out of a scenario where you actually have the rebel groups under control you know who to deal with them and for once you know someone has the groups that you know causing havoc and destructive governance the center left wing probably is not the

kind of game that can play any longer. and i think that missy at least go out course quite strongly so between now and the next deal perhaps merely what's interested password to really think about this how best we can plan effectively at the really once you do with the rebel groups and actually that in their business because the longer a gate they are about interact with the governed i sense that with that kind of army peter a few moments a few moments ago you were talking about you know the fact that president to i dare you believed deserves some recognition for some of his efforts i want to ask you this do you believe he's going to be able to unite a very divided central african republic. extrude many concerns extremely conserved but try to imagine what happened. in early twenties 19 a very expensive 19 these these 14 groups signed to be severe. part of the peace agreement was that they took up positions government positions in bunky now the

next thing you know there's elections these people knew from the very start that they would make it they were instant chance in the elections so to to keep their positions to to to keep the positions that they were a foot in the peace do they need to that they needed to do something that none of them participated in the elections as a candidate so they needed to do something and to add to to make sure that they will keep some of the power some of the of some of the positions that they head they took up arms. and i'm not sure if 2 are there will have the opposition and the men date to bring these people back to the never shows that stable and well for them a position again this is this is going to be the challenge are these people going to be. guaranteed to be convinced that they will be able to take

up positions within you form a new government that's going to be for michael what do you think will president to an arab be able to unite the country going forward i think that the broad mandate for breaking the past again that you know i came out of the last business of the u.n. with some assistance from not in years. and i think back template will be used to come forward i mean the current president who remain presidents however i think vienna you know haven't been commanded to bring the past you know far out of the u.n. and i think that. perhaps you were at the table is when we released talk seriously about whether it's actually feasible and how much political room is giving to the rebel factions and the very least you know if there's going to be any room for them to sit around the governance table we also need to think about

disarmament it's as a precondition for that michael let me interrupt you and just ask you a quick follow up how much of the country is actually under the control of these armed groups well let's just say that perhaps about. at least 70 percent of the country is not under government control let's put it that way precisely how much is and around rebel control that use is running fine central africa african republic is debatable because some of these areas also occupied by rebel factions that are written elsewhere we have the losses army and the distance cody really targeted uganda we have rebel factions in the save terri treat also typed in south sudan we have rebel factions also playing games with your our csa basically come to rely on d r c south sudan the key countries around since

a lot of confidence may have rebel groups that are all stationed the center left under army so i mean it's come back to question at least some percent of the country it's not government control but then not on the rebel factions out pretty now gates said left they've become economists a pavement and i actually notice $0.04 left for the sake of all the other countries around the world live for the a yearly something really nice to be down about to being on regulate that forests regions in central $100.00 probably peter the constitutional court rejected former president bush is as presidential candidacy they said that he did not satisfy the good morality requirement because of an arrest warrant and un sanctions against him for allegedly ordering assassinations torture and or other crimes when he was president what is going to happen with these investigations against the former president i mean are prosecutions going to be carried out. well 'd that's the idea

yes well that will they be able to do it is difficult to say but the idea is to bring them to justice. and i think the constitutional court kudo otherwise then you know what they did there for say 2 books the it was the only or think they could take what loses a bid to become treatment to. use the disc as a starting point many of the of the conflicts that they're still. in. now on the points of the of the new territory that is on the control of the government the interesting thing is that when the 2019 peace agreement was signed the the the all of a sudden suddenly big the bigger much bigger chunk old governor of the territory was on his approach control of the government because the government changed in his composition the rebel the 14 rebel groups joined the government

and then by definition obviously control of the government off the territory was much bigger a look at what the elections elections did is disturb the process that's what happens so today suddenly the government has no control over the territory because the rebel groups are no longer part of the government so if the big issue now will be well that the rebel groups rejoin the government of the elections yes or no. and that is that is a very delicate. situation a process that will be seeing over the next couple of months michael how much of a disruptor can the former president be i mean how how powerful does he remain. well not too powerful but then that's only because he has now joined up with the

rebels in 2012 for example these same. picture top pictures coalition for chains the current rebel you know where the coalition in 2012 where actually and local society against it was easy they had another name then called quotation patriots c j for justice some other name and was easy it was a case them and they were not able to agree to something else and then the coup took place so now because these it has joints. there are factions if you like and that have kind of empowered him too with an expense because of his power would depend on whether the rebel factions wants to incorporate him as happened bit chess game going forward but particularly now that he has some specific you know allegations leveled against him. he's going to penalty i slipped

in the proceedings you visit going to be in the seat around the table to renegotiate another piece deal with the there will not be a valid candidates to sit around the table. and i think the rebel factions will be aware of that one of the difficulties really is that i did the peace deal whether in 2099 a future one of the things that the rebels are actually asking for is not just. governance but also dacs troops will be matched or are that into the national army . ross is this is a very difficult to talk to our chief because. we basically are on the front of the next. it's something which is quite difficult to teach us how exactly how you would not allow more space for that peter i want to take a look at the humanitarian crisis that's enveloping the country as well i mean the

u.n. says that over half the population in central african republic is in need of some form of humanitarian assistance i mean how worried are you that the dire the already dire humanitarian circumstances there are only going to worsen because of the the instability. yeah i know that the chances of that happening is is extremely high the political process will will be democrats but the human and there is as you question who can be more delicate because the rebels don't forget the rebels do not necessarily presents the people they represent their own interests not much more than than the interests of the people so the people have suffered. in the hensel to the rebels. and they will continue to suffer as long as the whole process is not going to come to an outcome. for her and impulse of the outcome during all true 2019 and defers bits of 2020 the violence came

down in the number of incidents came down the peace the peace diffidence as a result of the of the peace agreement will stare at the people were relieved it was some form of going back to normal and as me just said at d.d.r. and we can see the ation was supposed to be part of the. piece of movement d.d.r. that this demobilization disarmament and reintegration of some of the rebels he's a process that has started out but there's also the feeling amongst the people that that is giving a. price a a a bonus for being a rebel so to the population also wanted to profit from from the east and the recall ca it hasn't started partly because of the cove and the grown up partly

because you know of some of the these processes are slow processes so. so my honest. opinion is is that the elections were too early. to observe that i mean and that and the public the general places so. michael if the situation continues to worsen if the violence continues i want to ask you a similar question how much worse does a get for civilians because you know violence against civilians and humanitarian workers in central african republic is still quite high isn't it yes it is thought quite high and that kind of asked more to the easy curiosity. of the city and it doesn't bring confidence in government wasn't even aware of you know how to help civilians written piece. one of the things that we

probably need to know is actually perhaps maybe. revising our men in the mandate of the us forces there because usually the general peacekeeping minded is basically just to keep the peace but i think if we look at the road that the un troops played a few days before the elections was more like a piece of force maybe whether a lot of the rebels were actually advice and towards the capital position themselves or vantage points just to make sure that we took the rebels on a and to a lot of actions to happen but what are police and foursomes and that's the sort of thing that's the sort of corruptive activity that you expect that the troops should also be playing i think perhaps maybe every official of the month it is necessary if you know that country there is going to be able to actually deal with rebel factions and have a security problems. all right we just have about

a minute left peter let me just ask you very quickly i know it's a big question but again we only have about a minute left one of the regional implications of continued violence and his security and sort of after public. it's a huge question. though to get you know as well as my colleague just said bill some of these regional pows are playing their own game because we bought it so there's there's a lot at play you know if if this news is security new. fighters is giving an opportunity to some of the neighboring states to regain to position. their position it will it will be. tremendously. he said a bet or or not just said but. all right we've run out of times we're going to have

to leave the conversation there thanks so much to our guests peter can open and michael. and thank you too for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our web site at 0 dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter we're at at a.j. inside story for me my my gentleman the whole team here by for now thank. you. discovered kazakstan that as

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al jazeera. and. i'm about this in in doha the top stories on 0 breaking news out of the u.k. what a judge has denied bail for ricky league's founder julian assange and that's despite a judge rejecting a u.s. extradition bid on monday on account of his mental health a songe is accused of endangering lives by publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential documents let's get the latest from paul brennan who's live for us at the westminster magistrate's court in london. there have been great hopes that this was going to be going at the positive way clearly not the case. yes i mean there were arguments on both cases on.