applied for borscht to be awarded unesco world heritage status ukraine insists that it created the soup dish the move is an attempt to resolve a wider dispute with poland and russia who also claim it as their own. this was a thought a reason to apply to unesco is really for ukrainians to make them love ukrainian cuisine to revive it and to let the world know about the great meal that borscht is maybe they know minestrone heard about hobo or even try to call it carney but i want everybody in the world to know borscht to taste it and to know that borscht is a ukrainian meal. with the headlines on al-jazeera senegal's political turmoil has triggered more unrest in the capital dakar people went inside supermarkets to take food and supplies off the shelves there's been violence since opposition leader was arrested

earlier this week and more from the car there is this feeling of injustice through the rest of the opposition we don't respond sancho this feeling of injustice in a feeling that a lot of the young people specifically poor young people feel left out because senegal under marquis so well the economy has been booming he's been showing how the country has been growing and yet there are many that feel left out in this economic boom. pope francis has held mass in iraq's capital baghdad on the 2nd day of the 1st ever papal visit to the nation the leader of the roman catholic church called for common ground and unity after meeting with christian and muslim the deuce earlier on saturday he was in the city of najaf where he met iraq's top shia cleric. the u.s. senate has just passed president joe biden's 7 a $1.00 trillion dollar coronavirus a bill the bill now goes back to the house of representatives before it go to

biden's desk to be signed off democrats and republicans are basically divided over the bill. yemen's army says its forces have killed another 23 who the fight is on saturday in monrovia where it says it killed almost 100 rebels on friday the army however hasn't reported casualties among its own side's military aircraft from the south it is coalition have been targeting who he finds is the rebels began a defensive last month to seize the city and nearby oil rich areas. security forces have used tear gas and violence to break up another day of anti coup protests across meanwhile more than 50 people have been killed in demonstrations since the military seized power last month. people in the ivory coast are in the closing hour of a parliamentary election it's happening 3 months after tata won the presidential poll which was boycotted by the opposition. close the headlines i'll have more news for you here on al-jazeera right after the latest edition of inside story which is

coming up next. violence extremism and intolerance the message from pope francis on his 1st visit to iraq but in a country deeply divided along sectarian lines will anyone listen and can this visit appease the concerns of iraq's christians this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program i'm peter now welcomed by cheering crowds and

security lining the roads pope francis is the 1st head of the roman catholic church to travel to iraq at the start of his 3 day landmark trip the catholic leaders appealed for common ground among religious groups he was speaking at a meeting between peoples of different faiths in the ancient city of or a significant site for christians muslims and jews earlier he met iraq's top shia muslim cleric and not just the pope's visit is meant to spotlight the heavy toll that years of war repression and instability have taken on the country's not diminished christian communities but some have questioned why he's choosing to make the trip now asshole as covert 19 and security fears make this the riskiest trip yet for any pope iraq is of course overwhelmingly muslim but host several christian communities the number of christians in iraq is estimated to. be roughly about 250000 compared to around 1500000 before the us led invasion in

2314 christian groups are officially recognized in iraq about 80 percent belong to the chaldean catholic church syria acts make up about 10 percent of christians in iraq they include catholics who form the majority and orthodox christians as well another 5 percent are members of the assyrian church believed to be the oldest in iraq. ok let's get going let's bring in our guests in nineveh in iraq is father karama shah mattia a chaldean catholic priest in london we have christopher lamb room correspondent for the tablet he's also the author of the outsider pope francis and his battle to reform the church and in baghdad we have the director of the think tank the house of iraqi expertise foundation gentlemen thank you all for joining us akhmed rushdie in baghdad coming to you 1st why is this trip happening now. well according to the

data that have been discovered by the vatican is that it's a story visit the pope want to do a real important message is that humanity. is one humanity can be united rather than to be divided and also to have some sort of mass it to the iraqi politicians to say it's enough you kind of just. a lot of hot high pressure on the people especially the christians who are actually in the peas or under the previous century was a part of 1400000 now it's on the 200 or 300 thousands so you've got to imagine how much pressure on christian people iraqi christians now in iraq that it pushed them to more outside iraq so all these messages need to be matched need to be managed and yet to be said face to face to all iraqi politicians and also to save society.

in a very what does iraq get out of this visit. of course. after supplant your part of this invitation this visit has many many significant. message sort of it all day and i keep people it's very important in this time because also is the 1st up i'll visit the 3rd of them in so when when the holy father about what photo about to go for the 1st. christians in iraq it to iraqi people because you know very well because he always prayed for our sport about 4 of them but of this country he's a he choose to come on board with this this can 3 to say that and you know if you will that i pray i pray that luck for you well and now i want to play with you from your country. to the east and to the fact there are many and. value human

human values crystalline in london sounds to me like this is not just a religious trip it's also a political trip bops we've got an instance an unstable country we've got the security situation in play constantly of course in iraq and we've got covert 19 in play as well how risky is this trip for the pontiff. well i think it's a very risky trip and there are some people in the vatican he suggested to the pope that he should postpone or delay it in in some way that pope francis has always prioritized the countries of the suffering the most for his travels and so he is not concerned about the risks to his personal security i think what he was most concerned about was visit spreading kovac 19 of their vents that would be around the visit that would would cause that but the iraqi

authorities they quite clear that the visit could be carried out safely in those terms but i think this trip is extremely powerful from a both a symbolic level theological level and political level the meeting. this morning prin the pope and ayatollah sistani's historic never before has a pope met the grand ayatollah in iraq and i thought our system is such a crucial figure for post invasion iraq but i think really at the heart of that encounter and at the heart of the pope's visit is this. point that he wants to make that religion can never be used for violence that religion is there to serve peace and in iraq which is such a diverse country of different religions this is a very very important and powerful message that is going out to the world because which other head of state has been able to travel iraq in this way so i think we

really see although despite this visit being very risky very very strong impact which is going to have reverberations for some time to come at me coming back to you would you say this is primarily a religious trip or is it primarily a political trip because if we look at those pictures again of the pontiff meeting the grand ayatollah. alsa stanny clearly in the meeting room nobody wanted to put a foot of supply base it was that big a deal well actually you dad really believed it is religion actually has a huge impact on the people of the luck of the peoples like in iraq so that's why it is a religion a religious action in a way to put some political pressure which which just as i said it's i think the pope said clearly too to the grand ayatollah is that you're sure making lots of

pressure to stop then the new separateness of the people of the iraqi people not only christian iraqis because eventually it will help to improve the people's life now that does not get the main message is that iraq richard has is actually in its diversity in a way to improve. the lack of the people in iraq and there's that's all good also that we have the most patients in australia which which if you can images from new or were. sounds so you can imagine is that it has yes a religious it is a religious action but it also has a political impact on i absolutely system and also on the iraq glocks because eventually it will say we are seeing you you're still corrupted you're still doing nothing to the people yet the christians iraqi christians it's also actually stop and go are you know there are about 400-5000 families migrate from maine about to

baghdad. just to get away from the slaughters of don't dash of i says so all those problems actually corruption unemployment. lack of services all those major problems actually within 17 years nothing's happened so i think the block visit it is it is historic ok also it has some sort of a soft power to have the pressure on all those subjects or all those sectors that are making that. decision makers it's also from that from those that are ok that's interesting use the phrase soft power there. are innovate when it comes to soft power if the message from the pope to alsa stanny is you can't carry on treating minorities in this country in the way they've been treated clearly the optics here we're talking about christians in iraq how long until al psystar me

could or should start signaling to the militia who are going after the christians still in iraq you've got to stop doing that. i mean we don't know what one day i was i talked about. the house of 5 plus a sunny but sure they were they they were talking a lot about how to make place of peace between the people of all the religion of iraq because it's not about just the many c.l. it is the mentality of a lot of people is. they want to change because a lot of the people they make so that's christianity. until now it. is not a true religion so i think it's there's a lot of message that's. a lot of things that. i think

it's going to be discussed in this many things but also to to say for for the for all the. people but they believe in the power of the latin else's time and that's when the leader of. the most important figure in in iraq it's sort of a like he she cheated in iraq and so when the leader has met our pope has met. a spiritual father it's mean that there is no problem between this 2 religion but the simple people they had to know the things they had to know that there is no difference between we don't we shouldn't kill each other but we should respect when our leader they displace in china when they speak about the peace so also all the people have to do this things if they believe this leaders crystalline in london

how much of a productive potentially overlap is that between the 2 religions if we view the 2 religions through the. the prism of these 2 individual men i mean they've both got basically the same kind of belief system at one level and the same kind of personality is that they're both humble men alsa stanny is paid for out of contributions from the diaspora of shia islam around the world he rents the house he lives in and he pays the rent from donations and he we understand like the pope absolutely believes in the separation of religion from the state and that's the difference between shia islam and what goes on across the border in iran which of course is a theocracy you know i think that's a very important point because of course the catholic church shares that that position about the separation between church and state but of course has only had

that position since the 2nd vatican council and in the in the mid 1960 s. which was the great reforming council of the church and so what we're seeing i think is this this new relationship between the church and islam and in particular more moderate thinkers but of course leading figures within the the different faiths and i think that clearly. when we see the pope and are standing together there is there is a kind of a meeting of minds here and that's why i think this visit and this that that meeting that that the 2 had is so. vitally important and opens up a new era for christian muslim relations in a way that the we haven't seen before and i think also that we have to remember that. when it comes to that that the church is relationship with with

islam there are particularly when it comes to the pope analysis done in there are a number of similarities in the sense that the pope announced on a both or 40 figures that have strong base a strong following and they both have a message that they can get out to their to their people and that's where the impact will will i think come through. we're hearing positive noises from the iraqi president directly off the back of this day one into day 2 heading towards day 3 of this trip by the by the pope is iraq at a presidential prime ministerial security services level very keen to be seen to be handling this properly and it goes off glitch free no problems at all because it's kind of like a a watershed moment for iraq that it can do this because it's been such

a dangerous country before there were 2 people visits planned in the past and they were canceled because somebody at the vatican said no it is simply not safe so it's not going to happen. well in a pragmatic way yes indeed the alliance between saleh and probably the president and the prime minister actually they were the worst hocks to made a successful visit for his holiness in 2 iraq it's obvious and to send a message to the west is that this alliance between the president the prime minister can be stronger can be more stronger or let's say can be the most strongest alliance in iraq in a way to say to the to the west is that we can do something in iraq and then at its end there is another message is that it's a way from the political of walks we're out away from the militia well away from the corrupted persons so that show you how much the president and the prime news

some try harder to will send those messages because you know we all know that we have elections in clover. maybe it was going to i don't want actually but it sure dug this alliance working hard to send those messages to say we haven't we can't meet the future of iraq that we can make the future of the relationship between iraq and the west iraq as a multi-religious country what the of that to can can survive if we stay on power except political message it can be understood and it can be understood in that way and i think it was a very successful visit from the iraqi side while it was very good but of gracious happened and the president and the prime minister actually where the successful of the shelves. in of a clearly everyone involved in the planning of the trip everyone involved in the

filming of the trip the broadcasting of the trip the reporting of the trip wants it to be seen as a success but the historical context of this goes back hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years christians in iraq have always been at an angle at a tangent to the mainstream of religious belief and religion in that part of the world and that aspect of christianity in iraq is not going to change overnight is it if course the presence of christianity in this country it's very very old and we are here from the fair stance or fair scott essentially. we are we are we where about the 1st charitable are by china and 3 yeah to. some for our foreign presence here it's that it's very important. this visit

it's about support this and this then. that would be. the christianity also to tell people who are also well that the christianity here it wouldn't it ha this this road it should be continue to be to be here but of course really we need the pope said the. dialogue between the religious some discounts faith supported by the know it supported by the. equality all this they say it would help the christianity in this this 'd fancy it's on t.v. or. course there's a lot of media has showed that this is a beauty off the bow wave coming up where the pope when he said i think i reported

it was a very very beautiful image if i can see how it turns then to those although all that's when is this this hard money between all the snakes in this country. includes of course the christians of the record all the people of this country on the things of this country we will see the beauty of this country and we hope this visit not just to be. this change of mentality not just to the main entire party so i'm very beautiful image but we want this image whole hog money and also. go around all the country all the mentality of the people. to be deceived and this hard money ok crystal i'm in london on that idea of hominy is this actually in real terms and in real time i guess international

recognition of iraq as a country as a sovereign state but on top of that the iraq eat. school of islam as opposed to. islam across the border in iran which clearly a lot of the rest of the world does have a problem with not least at the moment the united states and that idea of the overlap between religion and state theocracy. well i think it the church and obviously our other actors would like to see islam develop in the way that you point out to you have that separation between religion and state ridge the authority in state of course from the from the catholic churches point of view that's also something that they are pushing but it's also something that's relatively recent you know it's only in the last few decades at the catholic church has come to to that position so it's obviously going to take time but one of the things that the pope and the vatican have repeatedly called for. when it comes to

christians in the middle east and in muslim majority countries is for christians to be recognized as citizens not just to be protected or to be have their security looked after but to be full citizens because as we know christians in iraq have been there from the very beginning the christians in iraq also mentioned in the bible and in the acts of the apostles that the christians of mesopotamia witnessed the 1st pentecost so. there is from the vatican in the churches point of view a push to have muslim countries recognize that christians are citizens and that they can be part of the coexistence the healthy pluralism of a country and of course it works both ways and when pope francis signed a very important document on human fraternity in 2019 in abu

dabi. that document contains a paragraph saying that the that both minorities in the east and the west with a muslim or christian must be recognized as citizens and so it works both ways and the vatican is pushing for. the jurisprudence within islam to recognize minorities as citizens and that's something that can. we draw out from the muslim tradition ok christiane i'm going to put it there because we are heading rapidly towards the end of the program. very very briefly is iraq in effect through the vessel of religion overtaking other countries in the region because it seems to be recognizing religion can be used as a stepping stone into some properly grown up very high powered diplomacy it can really happen if we have the good and the right intentions rounding carrots especially measure and eventually we our full impact on the iraqi

government on the political will or to have some sort of reforms that can be had been if not just what a lot so question on the political and i'm sure is that if not jeff will say oh no they will they will end up well with the those stories that. they did ok last night i'm going to pause you there as well because i do want to put the last point to cure i'm sure musher in of a at the heart of the story karrar in 30 seconds for me please point presidents and prime ministers meet each other they generally extend a reciprocal invitation what are the chances that the pope has asked the stanny to visit him in the vatican do you think and might that actually happen not this year maybe next year or the year after. and then i don't know if he is healthy to help him but they already have a and they are open and. this is yeah. i think they already started they suggested to the start of that they are like commission i will

or something like that to start with then with no job it's also i'm very important point that it's there it's one of the fruit it's already it's already done. from this visit is that too often bush dialogue between no joke i better get it's already done. back to pan into it about the visit of course and about the counties it's always open but all the village and all waste everybody it's when it come to a county by the can they not but if the band. if they if they can and can't gentleman the clock has beaten us as i have on inside story thank you all very much they were our guests today father christopher lamb and i thank you too for watching you can see the show again any time with a website al-jazeera dot com full further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also follow the conversation on twitter at a.j.

inside story from the piece it'll be and everyone on the team here in doha thanks for watching we will see you very soon for the moment. we know what's happening i read and we know how to get the date there but others cannot and i was done but only the p.r. guy by the party the only purpose i did there had that time and he told romney to go live on the amnesty to go live to work another story that may not be mainstream if you have but the fires is going on more normative you. by.

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a woman 33 years older than him marriage to sail on al-jazeera. play an important role in acting it would. ringback face. this is 0. they're welcome to the news. coming up in the next 60 minutes. by the narrowest of margins a divided u.s. senate passes president joe biden's $1.00 trillion dollars coronavirus aid package

. unrest across.