never there is no opportunity the sport doesn't require a lot of space neither in these types of tests if you have the impact of tight she i can tell you it has reduced to periods of anger and maybe arguments and within a few minutes iran has a national team and an annual championship. i can tell you some 70 percent of people who engage in this activity in iran are women many people like it and practice it in many parts of the country in this competition those taking part were aged between 8 and 63 some have competed internationally on s.s.l. said. this is the 3rd year i'm attending the national championship last year i got a gold and 2 syllabus and i received an invitation to the national team. but it's in public places like this that the sport is getting most attention inspiring others to join in while some simply appreciate the art form such big al-jazeera that are on.

the headlines on al-jazeera egypt's president has ordered preparations to remove cargo from a ship that's blocked the suez canal for 6 days more than 300 vessels are waiting to transit the waterway the delays have for syria to russian fuel. a major rescue operation is underway to rescue survivors of a deadly attack in palma in mozambique among them or a 1000 workers of the french energy giant hotel an armed group laid siege to the coastal town on wednesday. $3000.00 people from me and more as karen state have fled across the border to thailand many spend the night in the jungle after the military launched airstrikes targeting an ethnic armed group and that's as dozens of funerals are being held in myanmar for some of the 114 people killed on saturday it was the bloodiest day since the military seize power on february the 1st peaceful processions were held across the country but there were port security

forces opened fire at one of the funerals in the town about go into knees in police say they know the identity of 2 suicide bombers who blew themselves up outside a cathedral they're believed to be part of a group which carried out previous attacks in indonesia and the philippines. on the terrorism act at the entrance gate of the cathedral church in microsoft today i strongly condemn the terrorism act and i have given the instruction to the police chief to take down the terrorist network to the root. nearly 5000 people have fled fighting in venezuela and taken refuge in neighboring colombia but as well as military is carrying out an operation against an armed group sudan's transitional government has signed a deal with a major rebel group it's agreed to a permanent ceasefire with the sudan people's liberation movement it also opens the possibility of the rebel force being integrated into the national military those are the headlines on al-jazeera will have more news at the top of the hour that's

coming up right after inside story thanks for watching. under siege in northern mozambique nearly $200.00 people are trapped in a hotel after fighters willing to eisele take over a town their major gas project why is the government struggling to secure the area and will outside intervention be needed this is inside story.

hello and welcome to the program. hotel has become the latest flashpoint in a long running conflict in northern mozambique ice a link fighters besieged the town of palma on wednesday that forced nearly 200 people to seek refuge in a resort many are foreign nationals working on a natural gas project owned by the french company total the firm had announced it was resuming operations just a few hours before the attack work has stopped again and total his sentence vessels to rescue its employees report say some civilians who try to escape have been killed. is monitoring developments from harare in neighboring zimbabwe. what we know from official sources in parma is that the attack happened on wednesday afternoon armed groups entered the town from different directions it seems the attack was coordinated they attacked a bank a business into and what sounds like an army or police post people in the town and then a neighboring village fled into the bush mozambican v.i.p.'s and some foreigners

are holed up in a hotel in parma we told some of them have been evacuated the attack happened hours after the french companies are tell an ounce that is resuming gas operations in the area so some analysts are saying that perhaps this attack has led me to do with that announcement another theory is that it had been quiet or it to be quiet in the area for some time so humanitarian workers were not able to bring in food and medicines for the community so there's a theory that these insurgents these armed groups are targeting those supplies the united states says it is going to send in special forces to help train the mozambican army portugal the former colonial powers it is also going to train the most and beacons of africa is being reported is also training the army as a while they are private armies in the area they many there to guard the gas installations where they've been helping evacuating some of the people who are being stranded in certain areas in parma in terms of the region leaders in southern

africa inside that have had meetings on and or virtually at in person decide what to do to help mozambique all they said is that there is a plan but they haven't said what their plan is going to the security analysts are saying that if there's going to be some kind of military intervention south africa which is the biggest economy in the region people assume it has the equipment could go in with a number of other countries in the region as well the concern the humanitarian workers have is that of course any violence on the ground any boots on the ground could affect the safety of people trying to run away from the fighting some of those people are trying to make their way to pym but. capital where they get food clothing and medicines for the men it didn't work because they the government of mozambique is trying to move those families managed to reach him but to other parts of the country that they believe is safe on. the inside story palma lies more than 1100 kilometers northeast of maputo in kabul delgado province and about 10

kilometers from the site of natural gas projects worth $60000000000.00 fighters captured a key port close to that site in the town of moore cymbalta prior in august last year a few months later i celing fighters beheaded more than 50 people in a nearby village the armed group in mozambique has been intensifying raids across villages in kabul delgado since 2017 the violence has killed more than 1500 people and displaced over 600000. all right let's bring in our guests in maputo machado is senior researcher at human rights watch in pretoria jasmine opperman is senior researcher at the armed conflict location and event data project also in a put off fernando lima is a journalist and political commentator welcome to the program so nato let me start with you today tell us a bit about how big is the armed group how strong are they and how much territory are they now in control of. all of those 3 questions are questions that we might be

unable to answer in these conversations. but what we can tell you is that for the past 3 years this group has gone it's gone inside and it's gone in its ability to to to to stage attacks syria's attacks it started by doing a game of cat and rat with security forces go into village attacking civilians destroying property and then running away was a security force that right then moved into being seen as any music use force and even time getting posts and while we have seen late notice the empowerment shows that the group is not ready to even stage the type of general that we have seen in other countries. which means arriving in the village making sure that foreigners are in fear but also putting us in a situation where we don't know where that will cause the people who are wanted you know before how much is fernando what's the latest information we have about the

siege do we know for example how many people remain trapped inside palma still. well as you probably heard. information coming out of palma it's not really much available so there is there are ongoing reports some of the information needs to be recalled for cross cross-checked skill. set today and this morning they have been very successful operations to rescue people specially people affiliated with. companies says they have more institutional ties and then they are also more organized support for these people in relation to citizens living

there plus thousands of refugees from the district of one god and other look ality is around the situation is is very bad it is known that the people got. trapped in the bush some others are not reaching a point when she is we are the total camp is located and people feel safer going to the top camp it is to make it at this point there are about $20000.00 people that reach reach key tuna key 2 days village next to the total camp and these are. local citizens fleeing from palma it's not also clear what is the operational system to ration in terms in paloma but according to the last reports there were still

ongoing fight in palma between. judges teams. sergeants and the mozambican army jasmine what does an attack of this scale say about the level of coordination among the fighters behind it and does this come at all as a surprise considering how much the situation has worsened in the past few years i think it leaves for someone that has been following me said jones in great detail highly for straight to us and i'll tell you whine for the last 2 years we've warned that they are some influences with in the insurgency have plenty of people with deep level experience and good around wolfie fighting that is being transmitted back into combat. we've warned that was a walk up my ass occupation for

a prolonged period game game that i dida opportunity not only for training better for crew recruitment the attack itself should never have taken place this is that a tragedy of paloma because they were there was every warning provided and i tweeted that specifically. and the question has to be raised why no action was taken but sadly as we've seen in the last 30 yes and we the mozambican government security forces are simply not in a position for various reasons and i'm not going to go into all of them now but they simply cannot stand up. oh count if we now talk about paloma yet and never defensive operation yet and another crisis management trying to get as many people am a bit as possible and now with a f.

tank when the rain surges and please i want to confirm the previous began as keep in mind facts a problem. we would king we'll have. a good hot information as they come in you look at your sources you tried to devon reliability but according to the report said nancy insurgents also still have running an appearance they nearly brought team. extras the insurgents extra arms and ammunition that you hold as you we we stand with the insurgency and that is the concern and i am afraid that the u.s. there is a nation has over this simplified this insurgency. specific agenda to suit militarization to suit their war darragh anything anyone thinks and then 2 months strength is going to make

a difference i've got some bad news the big it is need it dime is not there now is sight and sadly time is what we need zenaida didn't the government of mozambique declare just surmount a week ago that pomo was relatively safe what happened how did this happen. it's not just about the fact that hummer was relatively safe as they say but the insult of the fact that many people who are running away from other areas surrounding power that are being attacked tend to seek refuge in parma so pummels for not only of soldiers. people expire 3 years but also i think just from other places so one will ask how is it possible for a town that was heavily guarded. like just minutes playing that everybody knew could be target at any moment for distance if you see the explained in his

conversation how was it was for his group to enter dishtowel fire indiscriminately killing people and a number that at this stage we cannot verify are many people that i. making people flee to the who put their foot off for help and then that i did questions around that much just the fact that the government is failing to protect people but also is failing in dain televisions to too stupid to be able to distinguish between the insurgents air and people generally think gee is that seeking help the other question that we keep asking but not just from palmer from. in place in the past 3 years yes when those attacks happen what is that i mean what are the soldiers why are they never there around to protect people immediately their only appeal once people have already died build of already ran away to seek refuge in the bush people shouldn't be let down to go to the bushes and seek help for themselves let

alone be forced to walk for kilometers on their own to reach safety for example in f 12000000000000000000000001 where the moment a question chad the place where people are going to so that a lot of questions that the government has to answer is not just about anything as a press conference in which they are going to tell as are many people that it's also about explaining what exactly happened what they could and what measures they're taking for a situation like common not to be repeated ever again fernando i want to ask you about the root causes of this conflict how much of this is driven by social grievances i mean there have been promises of wealth but poverty and unemployment are still rampant there correct. yes i agree with we did we did for you but it gives us not just a problem of come tell god this is a problem of the whole country in which there's a little number of people that don't have access to opportunities don't have.

access to 2 jumps and. creates grievances of course then on the top on the top of it you have 11 gaz projects and you add a kind of releases just to the cation debt gets also fuel to start to does do does in fighting because there are serious doubts if this is really a religious confrontation or days a cover for does grievance social grievances and then does are kind of being presented as a religious or religious crusade or debt i.z.'s just take the opportunity. to fight income delgado and claim that this is a portion of the isis site in this particular area of

of africa but i think the main problem is in fact poverty and inquire in quality and unfortunately for the government they are not been able to pass a message in order to explain people that they are dared to risk reverse that situation and of course this kind of. do not understanding what the situation is and i would say a bad management of expectations related to orland guest because it creates does idea that are out there mozambicans living in a 1000 that are benefits. from weiland yes in fact there is no island yes to that at this point yet jasmine earlier in the shows a native spoke about how much this group al-shabaab had grown and these past few years how easy has it been for the group to recruit members initially and i never

need to look at the last yet to answer your question otherwise it's going to be a long discussion but i do and if one looks at number one if one looks at me asa and if one looks getting the period of the occupation of was and what a pariah it is that when they wasn't deception initially death the fighters are forced into the insurgency days also a group that is free who willingly joining the inside you not use agency over the group. and when i think that's an important point because it does show that there isn't voice. of this contained against government that is finding finding creative ability among specific groups of people it seems to be talking about you know more young generation 20 to 50 to 35 you respect that but the east

definitely again a growth taking place and if you had to ask me to if there might be a strength and i look at the $900.00 cells active based on incidence and based on movements i would say if we're going to say and it's i it's always dangerous to play with numbers but i would say we're going to say these $2500.00 said gents i'll be conservative. zenaida you mentioned earlier how dangerous it is for civilians in the area and human rights watch of course has documented atrocities committed against civilians not just by armed groups but also by security forces so i want to ask you more specifically what are the types of abuses being committed against civilians there. one of the abuses is actually related media is an

inability to distinguish the gunman from this group called out from the residents and the locals of of the village that are being attacked and then that results for example enough to betray the danish and ill treatment of people that are detained each results in touch or for example when they are forcing people who might be nonsense to confess to a crime they use metal does that are illegal that people are clear human rights violations. and them do it is also the element of. summary executions that we have as human rights watch exposed in the past when for example when people do not confess to the crimes they expected to confess for example they are submitted to subjected to torture that them bizarre killings but also the fact that is problematic that the

governments to date in 3 years of conflict has not been able to present the public with the numbers of people who have been detained and faced a court of justice what we have heard from the government of the just over and over not as about how many people they have killed well this is not a competition of who kills most the government or the insurgents a government must be ruled by not by its own constitutions and by international laws in other words it has to be able to list better human rights including of those who are detained so that those are some of the abuse that we have seen on the side of the government but that is why that is particularly worrying that we have seen also opening in pumice since wednesday is the absence in the moment of danger and a moment of panic and moment of drama for example when we spoke to people on wednesday they were telling as. well the presence of the of the group that got many of the

group across. and firing at them indiscriminately nobody was able to tell us that if there were soldiers explaining people what to do if there was so just the trying to protect the people on the streets in front of the absence of soldiers to help population was very clear and that is an embarrassing for the government like mozambique that has been fighting this group for the past 3 years by now this should never learnt how to help their population and how to leave dental safety in a moment of the engine fernando as a d.c. nations had resolved to deal with the security threat posed by the situation in mozambique but has there been any visible movement when it comes to implementation of those plans. well this is a quite interesting question because in fact what we have or what we have learned from the past discussions is that side that is trying to

do to move forward the dole issue of the security situation and come delgado and mozambique providing. the kind of dubious answers related to related to debt meaning mozambique never came up publicly explaining what is their position regarding subject support and we see specially so to africa having a more aggressive stance in order to debug to discuss and debate what kind of rural subject can play in in mozambique so it's not clear. does the does it did this issue but situations like palma it will be we do forcing. was a big and it was a beacon government to define one kind of support they want either by sadegh

bio to be a new union by the americans because up to now it seems it seems to me that the only things that the mozambican government is ready to do to get is a military training was logistical support no other kind of support and of course a situation like palma it will be introduce odder type of discussion at the table namely out almost a big can answer a 2 disc on of challenges and of course jasmine already emphasized the nature of this conflict and the shortcomings of the mozambique an army to address these issues yes and i saw you nodding this i want to get your response but i also. i want to ask you more specifically if this conflict continues to get out of hand to spiral out of control what are the ramifications for the region. that going to take actions is already at play i think we cannot ignore what i think the ball incident

has shown and i might just if i may use 10 seconds what is interesting about the ball mindset and ease and that is the czech did turkey d.-o. of god who is rain expat expense gets talkative everyone goes crazy what about the 60000 people that had to freak and find a home some way like creaky or to safety quite quickly be it was somewhat a priority move it out be it you do be wary about it and i think it's a sad case but. that we cannot neglect in terms of kabul gotten but let's get back to your question. the expansion of the guard pretty self who will not happen overnight so that they all are held a lines of support can not be and should not be ignored but i think

the proper we are sitting where is the longer they say agency continues. their rescue to their region increases the issue of weapons the issue of sympathy the issue of id peacefully and the issue of. movement of of all illegal goods i'm talking about the area waiting simply no governance we days nobility anything but the major issue is that for every $26000000000.00 in basement for their region is desperately needed. it from an economic perspective it can't benefit any of it is not going to proceed the whole region nomic perspective will feel that jasmine i'm so sorry to interrupt you but we have run out of time we're going

to have to leave the conversation there but thanks so much to all of our guests for joining us thanks as a nato much ato jasmine opperman and fernando lima and thank you too for watching you can see this and all of our previous programs again any time by visiting our website al-jazeera 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 our handle is at a.j. inside story from him i'm a gentleman the whole team here by for now. vaccines

a promising paul thought of the pandemic but implementing the greatest inoculation in history is testing the global community around the world already a clear gap as the marriage between rich nations and poor ones when it comes to vaccinating their populations from the geopolitics to the pure economics the misinformation and the latest developments what's going on here is very different for a start the boxing comes in the form of the nasal spray special coverage of the coronavirus and the mc are not just. talking to i'll just say to. you tell me what the government you represent is now illegitimate and we listen we do not sell the fence material any country during a conflict and yet we meet with the global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on al-jazeera. a sister turned human rights activist the day her brother is locked in a notorious supposed back desert prison. puff fight for his freedom she's had

exiled surveilled and betrayed by those closest to her. but her resolve is unshaken. the need to devil lives without her. witness on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. you're watching the news hour live from a headquarters in. coming up in the next 60 minutes syria forced to ration its fuel supplies the knock on effect of a giant ship to remain stranded in the suez canal delaying the delivery of vital

shipments dozens of people are evacuated from mozambique's coastal town of palma after an armed group.